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48th out of 657 books
—
507 voters
The Grass is Singing
Set in South Africa under white rule, Doris Lessing's first novel is both a riveting chronicle of human disintegration and a beautifully understated social critique.
Mary Turner is a self-confident, independent young woman who becomes the depressed, frustrated wife of an ineffectual, unsuccessful farmer. Little by little the ennui of years on the farm work their slow poiso...more
Mary Turner is a self-confident, independent young woman who becomes the depressed, frustrated wife of an ineffectual, unsuccessful farmer. Little by little the ennui of years on the farm work their slow poiso...more
Hardcover, 208 pages
Published
March 6th 2000
by Flamingo
(first published 1950)
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Apart from the Shikasta series of scifi books, I'd always avoided Lessing. I thought she wrote heavily feminist tracts disguised as novels about the middle class. I don't know where I got that idea from.
This book is a stunning exposé of why Zimbabwe has Mugabe and why he, evil as he is, is certainly no worse than that great white hope, Sir Cecil Rhodes. The whites in this book, with one exception, are all devotees of Rhodes and his brand of racism - Rhodesia for the whites, the blacks are suita...more
This book is a stunning exposé of why Zimbabwe has Mugabe and why he, evil as he is, is certainly no worse than that great white hope, Sir Cecil Rhodes. The whites in this book, with one exception, are all devotees of Rhodes and his brand of racism - Rhodesia for the whites, the blacks are suita...more
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In her first novel, The Grass is Singing (first published 1950), Doris Lessing begins with a short description of a crime on a farm in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe):
MURDER MYSTERY
By Special Correspondent
Mary Turner, wife of Richard Turner, a farmer at Ngesi, was found murdered on the front veranda of their homestead yesterday morning. The houseboy, who has been arrested, has confessed to the crime. No motive has been discovered. It is thought he was in search of valuables.
For Lessing, the cri...more
MURDER MYSTERY
By Special Correspondent
Mary Turner, wife of Richard Turner, a farmer at Ngesi, was found murdered on the front veranda of their homestead yesterday morning. The houseboy, who has been arrested, has confessed to the crime. No motive has been discovered. It is thought he was in search of valuables.
For Lessing, the cri...more
30 likes · like · see review
I wouldn't say that I enjoyed this book (because how can you enjoy the telling of the slow but constant decomposition of a woman and her psyche) but I do have to say that it was an engrossing read. Although I could not identify with the characters and rejected their weaknesses and frailties, I could not put the book down. The author creates a wonderful psychological vortex in the hot and arid lands of the African bush and she is not afraid to take it to its ultimate conclusion. The book is also...more
10 likes · like · see review
Doris Lessing's first novel has the precision of a fine short story and the depth of a much longer novel. This portrait of the psychologial disintegration of a farmer's wife saddled with an ineffectual husband on a luckless South African farm is precisely realized and and completely convincing. The last quarter of the novel, however, is weaker than the rest. The character of the black house servant Moses is more of a symbol than a human being, and the ending--meant to be tragic--descends to melo...more
This book was Lessings' debut novel and a ballsy book with which to start a career. Depressing? yes. Unexpected? usually. Intriguing? hell yeah. Beware the hidden consequences of welding power over 'inferior' people, it's a miserable existence.
I find books about racism/xenophobia told from the 'master' POV very interesting. It's one of the reasons I like Faulkner so much.
I find books about racism/xenophobia told from the 'master' POV very interesting. It's one of the reasons I like Faulkner so much.
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2 likes · like · see review
Not the good time read of the year. In this book it's almost impossible to not pity and despise all of the characters. Set in Rhodesia, this is Doris Lessing's first novel and she pulls from her experience growing up in Africa.
Page 1. Mary Turner has been murdered on the farm where she and her husband Dick live. That's about as pleasant as the book gets. So be warned. Lessing goes back from this gruesome scene to explain how Mary left her pleasant single life working in the city and ended up mis...more
Page 1. Mary Turner has been murdered on the farm where she and her husband Dick live. That's about as pleasant as the book gets. So be warned. Lessing goes back from this gruesome scene to explain how Mary left her pleasant single life working in the city and ended up mis...more
This is a very powerful book that deals with racism in South Africa during apartheid. What impressed me about the novel is that she is able to convey the inherent fear and hatred that existed between whites and blacks in such a way that shows how subconscious their feelings were. The whites were self-righteous in their belief that the natives were subhuman and good for only serving the whites. They were offended if natives spoke English to them—many believing they shouldn’t be educated. The book...more
Jun 06, 2011
BoekenTrol
marked it as started-not-finished
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
mafarrimond
Recommended to BoekenTrol by:
soffitta1
I was very curious for this book, from the blurp it looked like an interesting read.
So, when Soffitta1's 1001-VBB came along, I decided it was finally time to read it and pass it on to another member.
Too bad, that I did NOT like it from the start. I decided to give it a try anyway, but did not get past page 50. Just not a book for me. I usually have a problem with books set below the equator. It is often the pace of the writing.
In this case to that the ignorance of the white characters, the wi...more
So, when Soffitta1's 1001-VBB came along, I decided it was finally time to read it and pass it on to another member.
Too bad, that I did NOT like it from the start. I decided to give it a try anyway, but did not get past page 50. Just not a book for me. I usually have a problem with books set below the equator. It is often the pace of the writing.
In this case to that the ignorance of the white characters, the wi...more
1 like · like · see review
IMHO, fantastic writing. An amazing first novel. Set in the 1950s. A white encounter with black Zimbabwe (nee, Southern Rhodesia) mediated and muddled by racist culture and economics. Easy to recommend based on the quality of the writing, story, description, psychological portraiture, and drama...but not easy to recommend due to the the vortex of despair, destitution, and destruction that sucks in the main characters.
Book Description
"Set in South Africa under white rule, Doris Lessing's first no...more
Book Description
"Set in South Africa under white rule, Doris Lessing's first no...more
May 17, 2008
James
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
lincoln-park-group,
fiction
While the title sounds rather lyrical the story is anything but that. This is the story of Mary and Richard Turner, who farm the land in South Africa in the forties when apartheid is the rule. Mary is an intelligent woman who makes a a fateful choice in Richard for her husband. Living with Richard, who is ineffectual and unsuited to the life of farming, soon leads Mary to depression. She grows progressively bitter and takes her frustration out on the black servants that help run the farm. In spi...more
This book is the perfect example of why people should not get married just because it is the social norm. While very happy living in the city and working as a secretary Mary caves into the gossip of her friends and decides to marry a farmer. She has no interest in farming or her husband. While initially successful at maintaining her home and a small chicken farm her one weakness is that she can not manage the natives.
She refuses to get involved in the community and so her only company is a husba...more
She refuses to get involved in the community and so her only company is a husba...more
Wow! I had never heard of this author, who happened to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 2000. Good old Carolyn Chapman passed this one onto me. I haven't read much about South Africa and this book certainly gives you a taste of it. So much tension in the book from the man/wife relationship, to race relationship, to mother earth vs. human. Interesting that this takes place in Rhodesia where natives were still being conscripted into labor in the 1950s. The book in the first sentence opens wit...more
Ever wonder who writes the synopsis on the back of a book? The particular edition I checked out at my local library heralded this book as one that deeply explores white supremacy through a despondent lonely woman, latched to a failing farmer, who seeks comfort in a black servant. This myopic synopsis narrows in on a relationship between two characters that doesn't unfold until 140-some pages into a 200 page novel. It would be like claiming that Maugham's The Painted Veil is strictly about an unf...more
A book I didn't particularly involve myself in after I pitched an absurd scene insisting that I be taken somewhere, anywhere, to obtain it. After a struggle I stretched out on a tattered sofa in a white room and prepared to read. The only reason was the title. I saw the book in the hands of someone I adored. I could not eat or sleep until I found a copy. My abnormally witty roommates became concerned. They came up with a location but it was in another city. We drove all afternoon in a much ruste...more
I found it impossible to put Doris Lessing's "The Grass is Singing" down. Her incredible writing instantly transported me to the farms of Africa where the heat is oppressive and the cicadas sing in the trees. Unfortunately, is colonial Africa, where the white men reign over black men, alternately treating them like servants, children or criminals.
The novel is about the disintegrating marriage of Mary and Dick Turner, who are ill-suited for each other and married for all the wrong reasons. Just a...more
The novel is about the disintegrating marriage of Mary and Dick Turner, who are ill-suited for each other and married for all the wrong reasons. Just a...more
Doris Lessing was born in what was then Persia in 1919 and later lived in what was then Rhodesia. The title comes from The Wasteland by T.S. Elliot "In a decayed hole among the mountains in the faint moonlight, the grass is singing."
A woman is murdered and a black man, the houseboy, is accused of her murder. "It was thought he was in search of valuables." a newspaper says. Most turned the page and their thoughts to something - what else could you expect, they thought. But others cut out the tid...more
A woman is murdered and a black man, the houseboy, is accused of her murder. "It was thought he was in search of valuables." a newspaper says. Most turned the page and their thoughts to something - what else could you expect, they thought. But others cut out the tid...more
I seem to have some sort of affinity with this book. It "haunted" me during my English Prelims, which made me, even through the exam period, go to the library to see if I could find it. When I finally found it (and even if the search took ten minutes, the ride back was fsst! as Huck would say) and started reading, I realised that an even earlier passage appeared in my secondary school unseen.
Is it that good? I'm not sure, but this what I know. The title of the book is taken from The Wasteland f...more
Is it that good? I'm not sure, but this what I know. The title of the book is taken from The Wasteland f...more
My brother-in-law loves to spend his weekend drinking with his buddies. They drink and swap tales. My mother, sister, wife, our househelps and a lot of women I know all have their favorite soap operas, movies, gossips and daily topics for discussion. A brother of mine is a voracious reader; the other, addicted to historical trivia. All these are just varied ways to satisfy the great human need for stories.
Great story, this novel with a title taken from T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land," that part wh...more
Great story, this novel with a title taken from T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land," that part wh...more
6 likes · like · see review
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Unremittingly grim from the first page to the last, this is an extraordinarily well-written first novel by one of our most enduring and gifted writers. This is the story of the Turners, a struggling couple trying to make their way as farmers on the South African veld. Unfortunately, Dick Turner is simply not a very good farmer, and Mary is a city woman constitutionally ill-suited to the life of a farmer's wife. Add in the volatile relationship the whites have with the native South Africans (and...more
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This is the third book by Lessing that I have read so far and in lieu of writing a profound thesis on the not very confounding, apparent but numerous themes it seems to envelop itself in, I will be simply happy to proclaim that not all men fit into the stereotypes emphasized in her works. It is truly ironic because this book addresses the stereotypes prevalent in the racial organization since the nineteenth century, but in its attempts to point out their fallacies {which are embedded in every ty...more
Okay, I know I am giving only 4 and 5 star ratings today. But that's because I haven't read any crap books recently!
This is Doris Lessing's first book, and it's pretty astounding with that in mind. Lessing has a quality I don't quite know how to describe, where she is able to tell a story without spelling out all of the details for you like most, lesser authors do.
This book is brutal in its depiction of racism in 1940s Africa, and if I didn't know more about the author, and if I hadn't caught o...more
This is Doris Lessing's first book, and it's pretty astounding with that in mind. Lessing has a quality I don't quite know how to describe, where she is able to tell a story without spelling out all of the details for you like most, lesser authors do.
This book is brutal in its depiction of racism in 1940s Africa, and if I didn't know more about the author, and if I hadn't caught o...more
The start of the book was a bit slow; either that or I couldn't get into it, but after the 2nd page I found myself reading with ease. This isn't a book I enjoyed and it isn't one I am likely to read again but it was an interesting story to read.
A young woman grows up to fend for herself and enjoys her comfortable job and social life style. She sees herself as a fun person but it's not until her friends move on in life and settle down that things start to change. Clearly Mary (the main character...more
A young woman grows up to fend for herself and enjoys her comfortable job and social life style. She sees herself as a fun person but it's not until her friends move on in life and settle down that things start to change. Clearly Mary (the main character...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This was the first novel (1950) from Zimbabwe Rhodesian writer Doris Lessing (who won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature) and it packs a wallop. The setting is southern Rhodesia when colonial white British farmers ruled and farmed the land and the natives were kept firmly under their heel. This is the tragic story of a farm and a marriage.
You will not soon forget the husband and wife, Dick and Mary Turner, who are poor British farmers struggling to make ends meet on their unprofitable farm. We...more
You will not soon forget the husband and wife, Dick and Mary Turner, who are poor British farmers struggling to make ends meet on their unprofitable farm. We...more
I have a hard time liking books when I dislike the characters, so I didn't like this book very much. Mary is one of the most despicable female characters I've read. She blames her fate on society—she marries because it is expected of her even though she doesn't want to, she treats her husband badly because that's what her mother did, and she refuses to help Dick get them out of their horrible situation because it wasn't a woman's job. Still, she longs for power and she exerts it the only way she...more
“The Grass is Singing” is one of those books that can be painful to read because of its honesty — the true story of what was — the brutal spell of an unforgiving history. I truly love Doris Lessing’s writing — after reading “The Golden Notebook” a few months ago, I decided I needed to start from the beginning and read her very first novel. She’s consistent, gritty and grim — honest — isn’t it strange that such authenticity can emerge from fiction? Stories that are made up and full of a writer’s...more
This is an amazing book! I can't believe I have never read it before. I have 9 Doris Lessing books on my shelf but must have read them a long time ago because I can't remember them at all. 'The Grass is Singing' is Lessing's first novel, a powerful and moving book about personal disintegration and despair, set against a backdrop of colonialism and racial tension. The contrast between the husband Dick with his profound love of country and Mary's disinterest and fear of the land she lives in is su...more
No podía parar de leer este libro. Hasta leí un capítulo usando el brillo que emite la pantalla de mi teléfono celular en un momento que no había luz porque no podía detenerme, quería saber más sobre el matrimonio de los Turner.
La historia tiene lugar en Sudáfrica (en lo que entonces era Rodesia) durante los 40's y arranca a partir del final. Mary Turner ha sido asesinada y el responsable, un nativo de nombre Moses ha confesado su crimen. Dick Turner, esposo de Mary, ha enloquecido a causa del c...more
La historia tiene lugar en Sudáfrica (en lo que entonces era Rodesia) durante los 40's y arranca a partir del final. Mary Turner ha sido asesinada y el responsable, un nativo de nombre Moses ha confesado su crimen. Dick Turner, esposo de Mary, ha enloquecido a causa del c...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mary and Moses | 4 | 3 | May 02, 2013 02:29pm | |
| What type of relationship between Moses and Mary? | 1 | 13 | Aug 05, 2012 09:50am | |
| SOcial setting | 1 | 19 | Jun 16, 2008 02:18am |
Both of her parents were British: her father, who had been crippled in World War I, was a clerk in the Imperial Bank of Persia; her mother had been a nurse. In 1925, lured by the promise of getting rich through maize farming, the family moved to the British colony in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Like other women writers from southern African who did not graduate from high school (such as Oliv...more
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“If she had been left alone she would have gone on, in her own way, enjoying herself thoroughly, until people found one day that she had turned imperceptibly into one of those women who have become old without ever having been middle aged: a little withered, a little acid, hard as nails, sentimentally kindhearted, and addicted to religion or small dogs.”
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19 people liked it
“Perhaps it is not such a bad marriage after all? There are innumerable marriages where two people, both twisted and wrong in their depths, are well matched, making each other miserable in the way they need, in the way the pattern of their life demands.”
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12 people liked it
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