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Jun 06, 2008

Kersplebedeb rated it:

i first read Shikasta fifteen years ago, and found it fantastic but very difficult. Rereading it now i felt differently, it was both a lot easier but also a lot less impressive.

A white woman who grew up in Zimbabwe back when it was Rhodesia become a nobel laureate in literature last year. Amongst her reactions were something like "what took you so long" and "my science fiction was my most important work."

Shikasta is the first book in Lessing's science More...

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Jan 20, 2012

Corie rated it:

I've read some critics's reviews of Shikasta which suggest that the book is different from most science fiction in that it has well developed characters and a deeply meaningful plot. (!) Of course, the critics still hated the fact that Doris Lessing "demeaned" herself by writing science fiction at all, so I guess no one can win. I really wanted to love this book because it is so highly regarded and a friend of mine loved it, but those were in fact the only reasons I finished it. The fi More...

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Aug 07, 2011

Mel rated it:

I borrowed this book from the library, I noted that while it had been borrowed on at least 10 different occasions (going by the date stamps at the front) no one had seemed to have gotten further than the first 100 pages or so! (judging by the creases in the spine). I have to admit I found the first half of this book really annoying. The first 100 pages or so were quite confusing, the different levels of the planet and the different forces, once it became clear that it was Earth it started to mak More...

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Apr 05, 2011

Ian rated it:

Where Science Fiction Goes Wrong.

Shikasta Re: Colonised Planet 5
By Doris Lessing
Alfred A. Knopf Inc.
New York 1979

I walked into my reading of Doris Lessing’s Shikasta Re: Colonised Planet 5 with a unprecedented optimism for a book and author I had neither heard of or read about before. I have read many science fiction books and even taken a class on the type of fiction before. Cracking open the book and reading into the beginning portion I saw the specul More...

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Sep 05, 2010

David C. rated it:

This novel is the first of Lessing's classic "Canopus in Argos: Archives" series. It differs from much modern science fiction in that is defies classification. In part science fiction, in part psychological-religious exploration, in part modern doomsday tale, in part pseudo-historical documentation, the story follows the earthly life of Geoge Sherban, human incarnation of the Canopan being Johor. George/ Johor visits a near future Earth where human society is on the brink of total brea More...

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Oct 13, 2009

Brendan rated it:

Sigh. I picked this book for my book club and it’s a bear. I didn’t really like it much until the last 100 pages or so, and even then I only kinda liked it. The book moves glacially, without much in the way of character to capture your imagination. In all honesty, I only remember the last portion very well, since it’s in that last part that the story solidifies with a narrower set of characters.

Shikasta tells the story of a world (which we come to discover is Earth) that’s being More...

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Jan 07, 2010

Richard marked it as to-read

I've had an email to myself sitting at the bottom of my inbox since before joining Goodreads, and I finally took a look at it again. Back in late 2007, Verlyn Klinkenborg started an essay (entitled When Doris Lessing Meets Lady Mary Wortley Montagu ) thus:

This past week, I’ve been reading two books side by side, coincidentally at first and then more and more intently. They are the letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, perhaps the most accomplished Englishwoman of the 18th century, and “Shikasta,

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Feb 13, 2010

Peter rated it:

The premise of the book is that Earth was visited and influenced by aliens. Some aliens are good and try to help humanity live in harmony, others are bad and feed off the tension caused by unrest. It sounds (is) hokey, but overall Lessing pulls it off. She has a very engaging and simple writing style which does not make the book a difficult read.
The book starts off well but then quickly becomes a social commentary. Lessing, who was born in Persia (now Iran) and grew up in Rhod More...

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Nov 30, 2008

Joe rated it:

This is a very depressing book, an alternate take on human history, but I like being miserable so I dug it. It is very well-written and I don't feel it is slow-moving at all. Ms. Lessing does a great job of making such a ( seemingly ) far-fetched story believable.
One thing--Am I the only person who noticed the similarity to "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" by G.I. Gurdjieff? The plot and even some of the writing style are so much alike. Since Ms. Lessing was a student of Sufis More...

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Mar 03, 2010

Janet rated it:

This was a rather tedious read. For SciFi/Fantasy, it was remarkably dull. Perhaps because the main narrator is an alien (Johor) from another galaxy who has repeatedly visited Earth/Shikasta over the course of the course of the entire history of humans (or hybrids, as the narrator refers to them). Johor's official reports to his home planet are dry, and sometimes confusing.

I stuck with it, though. It turned out to be consistent with my ideas on ecopsychology, spirituality and socia More...

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Jan 27, 2012

Artnoose rated it:

This is the third Doris Lessing book that I've read, and I feel now like I kind of have a handle on what her work is generally like. She has recurring themes and settings. I started reading this on a trip, and it was probably only because I was on a trip that I powered through it. That is to say, I didn't have anything else to read. When I got back, I put it down and didn't touch it for a month, when I finished it while on another trip.

That's not to say that this is a terrible book. It More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Oct 14, 2011

Ryandake rated it:

oh, it hurts to give a Doris Lessing book a two.

but this one just doesn't work as a story. i think it is a fabulous extended world-building, but not really a story. i like my stories to have real flesh-and-blood people in them, and this one just doesn't.

contrast this one with The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, and Five--same universe, totally different feel. More...

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Jul 13, 2011

Ben rated it:

More C.S. Lewis science fiction than Asimov. This first of a series is broad is scope, the course of human history written with an outsider's perspective. This could skew toward moralizing, I suppose, in the same way my sister accuses John Steinbeck of doing in his broad scope chapters of Grapes of Wrath. But Lessing's prism through which she views and judges humanity is pretty abstract and nuanced, or at least, it can't be written off as socialist propaganda (I love Steinbeck and think those bi More...

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Jan 29, 2012

Gottlieb rated it:

I enjoyed this; science fiction rather in the direction of Stanislaw Lem. Lots of diplomacy and secret agents involved as well, hardly any sci-fi-typical technology. A little dated now in some aspects, perhaps. but the general concern about humanity is hardly ever out of time.

Somehow the book also presents a kind of theodicee, in that the reason of Man's depravity is due to 'cosmic forces', beyond the control even of the 'supervisors'. The foreseeable resolve of the story into a kind More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Erik rated it:

Doris Lessing was first recommended to me by Karen Spilke, my next-door neighbor in the senior year at Union Theological Seminary, who read part of her Golden Notebook aloud while I was driving her car up to visit her parent's summer house near Leeds, New York. I had certainly heard of Lessing before and this reading put it back in my head to get down to reading her fiction.

Then, Shikasta came out, a science fiction novel by the intended. Great! I bought it in hardcover and two of t More...

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Nov 12, 2011

Frank rated it:

An ambitious book, Lessing offers an explanation of humankind’s well-documented social flaws (war, environmental despoilation, disparate wealth distribution, racism, etc) being due to angels, devils, and what amounts to a network problem (denial-of-service attack) in the transmission of the cosmic love vibe (CLV). Lessing uses the new (at the time) legitimacy of the sci-fi (SF) genre to justify a framework of advanced galactic empires and their influence on our planet thru history. DL is not, to More...

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Mar 08, 2011

Manny rated it:

My favorite quotes from this book both come from the introduction:

"Shikasta has as its starting point, like many others of the genre, the Old Testament. It is our habit to dismiss the Old Testament altogether because Jehovah, or Jahve, does not think or behave like a social worker."

"I do think that there is something very wrong with an attitude that puts a 'serious' novel on one shelf and, let's say, First and Last Men on another."

And, indeed, the overall effect i More...

6 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2008

Emily rated it:

I really wanted to love this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Golden Notebook and was excited when I found out that Doris Lessing had written a series of science fiction novels.

The idea of this novel is interesting. Shikasta is the planet Earth and the book is basically the story of the planet from Old Testement times to the World War III, told through the perspective of envoys from the planet Canopus. Earth (Shikasta) is caught between two planets trying to control it More...

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Jul 26, 2008

Stephanie "Jedigal" rated it:

Wow. I am happily surprised how much I liked this book. My 1st try at D. Lessing was THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK, and I could not get myself into it, gave it up pretty quickly. When I was researching her work, I was curious to hear she had written a series of sci fi titles.

The "sci" in this sci fi is on the light side. As is the case in much of the finest science fiction, distancing us from the known world can help an author frame a story the better to make points about that More...

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Mar 03, 2008

James rated it:

Doris Lessing who was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature wrote Shikasta, the first volume of her series Canopus in Argos, in 1979. Having read many science fiction novels over the years I was not prepared for this unique approach to the genre. Lessings' space novel is told from the point of view of the alien Canopeans who compete with their rivals from the planet Shammat for the guidance of civilization on Shikasta (Earth). A cosmic accident of some kind (not caused by Shammat) disrupts More...

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Feb 07, 2009

J.ed. rated it:

I thoroughly enjoyed this, the first of a series that blew my mind. I like all flavors of science fiction but perhaps this kind of science fiction as social commentary best. Lessing makes the directness of her message and symbolism palatable by employing a dramatic situation and exotic flavor which are diverting enough to compensate.

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Dec 16, 2008

Philip rated it:

A very quirky, allegorical story that somehow rings "truer than reality." The theme has stuck with me over the years. You'll either love it or hate it. Lessing was criticized by many for her foray into "science fiction" but I'm glad she took the risk with this wonderful, very original, enigmatic novel.

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Jan 13, 2011

Iida rated it:

Very non-typical sci-fi, with somewhat separate perspectives and themes in each book. A lot about mankind’s spiritual, cultural and philosophical development, more than technology. In some books I remember hazily about observers sent from elsewhere to learn about cultures on Shikasta. Geometrically harmonious cities. Almost magical realistic zones in undefined time and space with populations on different levels of.. spiritual evolvement or similar.

The Canopus in Argos: Archives serie More...

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Apr 11, 2010

Joje marked it as to-read

I own all four books and still bravely intend to start them, not to mention finish. Too bad they are sitting so comfortably in Paris where I can't see them to remind me, and that so many other readings come between. I did see a very positive review of them the other day, but....

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Jul 29, 2008

Alison rated it:

I first read this book, and its series, over twenty-five years ago. I loved the way Lessing told the same story from different angles, from far away, from very close, from one character and time period to another. When these books came out, she criticized for writing "science fiction," but this is more than science fiction. This is an interpretation of the world and what we're doing here. These books, Lessing said, were inspired by her interest in Sufism, particularly the work of Indre More...

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Feb 04, 2010

Jeremy rated it:

This book is gorgeous, intelligent and infuriating. The plot is sweeping, starting in the distant past and ending sometime last Century. And there are multiple scenes that take place in strange, timeless dimensions.

It's a book filled with ideas -- I mean, really interesting ideas -- marred by its presentation as a collection of reports, dispatches and diaries. This choice to go with a compilation style, while quite naturalist, makes for too many long boring passages and is unneces More...

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Apr 06, 2009

Amanda rated it:

Some imaginative elements. I found I did become somewhat attached to the character Johor.
But overall it seemed more like a criticism of humanity thinly veiled as sci-fi. Lessing says in her intro that it is based on the Old Testament, but much of the book seems merely a retelling of human history from a very specific and judgmental point of view (not that I think she is entirely wrong).

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Oct 21, 2009

Erssie rated it:

Started it in my Sci Fi stage, and my feminist stage....never finished but think life just got in the way of reading (and lack of food leading to low concentration)

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Feb 16, 2009

Simon rated it:

History of the world according to Lessing. Not my cup of tea. For science fiction I prefer Vonegut or Heinlein.

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Oct 12, 2011

Toby rated it:

Loved the whole series in the 1980s. I should reread and see how I feel about it now.

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