Rating: 
Summary: Engaging, if melodramatic
Review: "The Well of Loneliness" may use dated prose, may seem unlike our day and age, and may suffer from being all but overwrought with its message, but at its core it is a beautiful, insightful novel. The central theme - alienation - has the capacity to appeal to, and attract, nearly anybody. One need not be a lesbian (as I am not) to understand the message the story conveys.If the book has a single, major failing, it is that Hall dwells on reminding the reader as often as possible that Stephen, the protagonist, is "different"; indeed, the word "queer" turns up more times than some of the sensitive sorts may find tolerable. There is also more than sufficient melodrama, which will surely be a turn-off for some--the focus of the novel, rather than the execution, is its true strength. Nevertheless, the sincerity behind every delivery, no matter how drawn-out, makes this book a worthy addition to any collection. Hall lived this woe--survived the bitterness, anxieties, and, of course, loneliness--that, above all, is what makes this novel outstanding, and a personal favorite of mine.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging, if melodramatic
Review: "The Well of Loneliness" may use dated prose, may seem unlike our day and age, and may suffer from being all but overwrought with its message, but at its core it is a beautiful, insightful novel. The central theme - alienation - has the capacity to appeal to, and attract, nearly anybody. One need not be a lesbian (as I am not) to understand the message the story conveys. If the book has a single, major failing, it is that Hall dwells on reminding the reader as often as possible that Stephen, the protagonist, is "different"; indeed, the word "queer" turns up more times than some of the sensitive sorts may find tolerable. There is also more than sufficient melodrama, which will surely be a turn-off for some--the focus of the novel, rather than the execution, is its true strength. Nevertheless, the sincerity behind every delivery, no matter how drawn-out, makes this book a worthy addition to any collection. Hall lived this woe--survived the bitterness, anxieties, and, of course, loneliness--that, above all, is what makes this novel outstanding, and a personal favorite of mine.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating and Moving
Review: As a male, hetrosexual, I decided that I should read this classic. I found it slow, but was interested in the way the author portrayed society. I imagine that modern lesbians would be touched, but also annoyed by this dated classic.
Rating:
Summary: Not just for lesbians!
Review: I first read this book when I was 12 years old, (during WWII). I was fortunate that my father allowed me to read anything I desired. As a child in the early 1940's I didn't know what a lesbian was and had to ask my father. He explained that they were women who prefered the compamy of other women. I could understand that and it was enough of an explanation for a 12 year old. Over the last 50+ years I have often returned to the book. I am, in fact, on my third copy. I am heterosexual, a widow, mother of four, grandmother of nine. It took me many readings to realize why I identified with the character in the book. It is the relationship between the girl and her parents and not the sexual aspect, that drew me. I reccommend this book to anyone interested in family dynamics. Many of us have experienced loneliness, the feeling of not "fitting in", of not conforming, not measuring up to someone else's ideals and this is why I consider this book timeless. Sure, it is dated both in dialogue and in the experience of homosexuals today but that doesn't negate to feelings expressed in the book.
Rating:
Summary: Well Of Lonliness
Review: I found "The Well of Loneliness" to be a very interesting & affecting tale. I stumbled across the book in a used bookshop. My hardback copy was a 17th printing from 1933. So since the book was written in 1928, it had to have created quite a sensation to go through 17 printings in its first 5-years. When I bought this, I thought it was about paramedics in the early part of the last century. Of course, with Stephen Gordon's experiences during World War I, it was about paramedics, but not primarily as I soon realized. I found the writing to hold up remarkably well. The characters are fleshed enough to resonate. Sir Philip's love for his daughter and mother Anna's reserve and lack of attachment set the stage for a somewhat confusing childhood for Stephen Gordon. Bring to the picture her tutor Puddle who identifies with Stephen's struggle and understands her even before Stephen does, and add the flighty Angela Crossby as her first love interest against a backdrop of unfriendly townspeople; and Hall creates a quite interesting dynamic of unrequited love and betrayal. With Rafferty, she even writes a wonderful horse character! After Stephen's removal from Morton, the family estate, she begins a period of increasing self-sufficiency, assisted by the luxury of relative financial security from her father, and becomes a writer. The years in Paris after the war are an interesting period, peopled with more interesting characters from the parties and circles of outcasts. I found the subplot of the love relationship between Jamie and Barbara to be intensely dramatic, climaxed by Jamie's last act of despair. As for Stephen's letting go of her true love for that love's happiness, it was a rather sad ending. All in all, this is a novel that stands up as important for its sociological implications. It makes one long for a culture in which the pursuit of happiness is respected to be as individual as it is essential for all women and men.
Rating:
Summary: Paramedics Please
Review: I found "The Well of Loneliness" to be a very interesting & affecting tale. I stumbled across the book in a used bookshop. My hardback copy was a 17th printing from 1933. So since the book was written in 1928, it had to have created quite a sensation to go through 17 printings in its first 5-years. When I bought this, I thought it was about paramedics in the early part of the last century. Of course, with Stephen Gordon's experiences during World War I, it was about paramedics, but not primarily as I soon realized. I found the writing to hold up remarkably well. The characters are fleshed enough to resonate. Sir Philip's love for his daughter and mother Anna's reserve and lack of attachment set the stage for a somewhat confusing childhood for Stephen Gordon. Bring to the picture her tutor Puddle who identifies with Stephen's struggle and understands her even before Stephen does, and add the flighty Angela Crossby as her first love interest against a backdrop of unfriendly townspeople; and Hall creates a quite interesting dynamic of unrequited love and betrayal. With Rafferty, she even writes a wonderful horse character! After Stephen's removal from Morton, the family estate, she begins a period of increasing self-sufficiency, assisted by the luxury of relative financial security from her father, and becomes a writer. The years in Paris after the war are an interesting period, peopled with more interesting characters from the parties and circles of outcasts. I found the subplot of the love relationship between Jamie and Barbara to be intensely dramatic, climaxed by Jamie's last act of despair. As for Stephen's letting go of her true love for that love's happiness, it was a rather sad ending. All in all, this is a novel that stands up as important for its sociological implications. It makes one long for a culture in which the pursuit of happiness is respected to be as individual as it is essential for all women and men.
Rating:
Summary: Tough read, but an important one.
Review: I found this book difficult to get through at times, but when ever I thought about when it was published I just kept going. I'm glad that I finished it. It is an important milestone in the publication of literature focusing on a realistic lesbian relationship. I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially lesbians. It gives one an idea of how far we have come in achieving equal rights for everyone regardless of sexual orientation. We still have a long way to go, but we need to keep in mind where we have been.
Rating:
Summary: I'm on page 314 right now..
Review: I haven't finished reading the book yet, but I think I've read enough of it to say that it gives a pretty good account of what it's like being a lesbian. I wouldn't consider it a great literary work, but I think it is extremely revolutionary because it explores the emotional side of lesbian life and does that rather interestingly -- it is more an autobiographical piece than anything else..
Rating: 
Summary: an important but flawed piece of fiction
Review: i just translated the book into chinese so i guess i did some pretty close reading :). while the novel is undoubtedly a milestone in the history of english literature, lesbian culture, and the battle against censorship, its literary merits leave something to be desired. radclyffe hall's prose is ornate and even over-dramatizing at times, and i find the frequent insertion of french phrases and sentences redundant and affected. the situations and emotions are relevant, poignant, and often depicted with insight, but because the mood and the tone of the narrative is so persistently intensive it does tend to get tedious after a while--which can be well before one finishes the book. it seems quite obvious that stephen gordon, the heroine (or should i say hero?) of the book, would never have questioned the moral conventions and gender roles of her times, had she not been born to be what she was--in short, a male soul trapped inside a female body (though hall, true to her style, never just says so). for she totally identified herself with a (upper-class) society of so-called respectability, honor, refinement, etc., which constitutes a mentality not really, uh, let's say "progressive". while crying out against the outrage against and persecution of lesbians and gays, stephen remained disconcertingly vague in her attitude toward effeminate males (such as the character jonathan brockett), feeling much more at ease with and indeed seeking the acceptance of straight (and presumably manly) men. i'm not exactly saying that it's "reactionary" to long for the very "secure and happy" life of "the normal", but how she--and i wonder if also the author--repeatedly projected heterosexual marriage to be is way too idealized and dangerously so, not pausing for even one moment to reflect on what outrage and persecution that sort of marriage could also and did often turn out to be for perfectly "normal" women. one can't help feeling that she thought everything would've been just so fine, if only and only if she had been a man! so, while trying not to be anachronistic in my judgment of the novel and the characters in it, i suggest that it be carefully read *in context*, historically and ideologically.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books!
Review: I loved the way this book was written. It is haunting, bittersweet, sad and beautiful. The only thing I did not agree with was Stephen's forced choice at the end of the book. I did not feel it was her choice to make but I understand why she made it- out of deep love.
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