In the last years of his life, a contemplative Roman senator embarks on one last epic endeavor: to retell the history of human creation and reveal ...
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Aug 27, 2008
elisa
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i was really disappointed in this book. i had high expectations based on the idea of the story, but i wish i wish i wish ... a lot of things. i wish the story was better. i wish she hadn't fallen back on gender stereotyping and gender roles. i wish i liked her style better. i wish someone like marge piercy had written this story instead...
"I have always found it entertaining that females are worshipped as goddesses, while in ordinary life they are kept secondary and thought More...
"I have always found it entertaining that females are worshipped as goddesses, while in ordinary life they are kept secondary and thought More...
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Aug 19, 2010
Seth
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I did not finish this book. In fact I could not. It was my taste as a consumer of books that prohibited me.
Oh sure, I've set aside books before. I've even set aside books with no intention of continuing them in the future. But never with as adamant a certainty that I would never again pick up the book in order to give it a second chance.
Some may question my ability to judge a book based only on a partial reading, which is fair, but trust me: this book is Bad.
D More...
Oh sure, I've set aside books before. I've even set aside books with no intention of continuing them in the future. But never with as adamant a certainty that I would never again pick up the book in order to give it a second chance.
Some may question my ability to judge a book based only on a partial reading, which is fair, but trust me: this book is Bad.
D More...
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Apr 20, 2008
Eileen
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A Review…and a Few Questions
In June, 1992, Doris Lessing wrote an Op-ed for the NY Times entitled, “Questions You Should Never Ask a Writer.” The questions that Lessing especially does not want to hear are, “What is the story really about? What does it mean?” In other words, we must take her stories at face value and see them as just that – works of her imagination, nothing more.
After finishing “The Cleft,” however, it seems impossible not to ask those questions. On the s More...
In June, 1992, Doris Lessing wrote an Op-ed for the NY Times entitled, “Questions You Should Never Ask a Writer.” The questions that Lessing especially does not want to hear are, “What is the story really about? What does it mean?” In other words, we must take her stories at face value and see them as just that – works of her imagination, nothing more.
After finishing “The Cleft,” however, it seems impossible not to ask those questions. On the s More...
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Feb 25, 2008
Genevieve
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An interesting alternative view to evolution, but at its heart it was "Men are From Mars Women are from Venus" meets "The Lord of the Flies". A quick read that seems to drive home the differences between the sexes, sometimes annoyingly so. I enjoyed the narrator's viewpoint as a male in the Roman society illustrating, in a much less hit-you-upside-the-head style, that the differences remain. And of course as a modern reader it causes one to consider that if not much change
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Jan 21, 2008
Jen
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I should caveat this review by saying that I did not finish this book. While it was an interesting premise (a society entirely comprised of women begins bearing males), its message was very obvious and heavy-handed. It was also very repetitious (the narrators continually define and redefine the terms they use for male and female). I would have enjoyed it much more as a short story as it became wearisome to read, but it did have a lot of interesting suggestions about how groups of people react to
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Jul 29, 2008
Marjanne
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This book was ok, but it really didn't do anything for me. Essentially it is a creation story where women are the original humans and can spontaneously conceive, until baby boys start being born. Anyhow, I think the story is supposed to be revolutionary, but it really wasn't. It has a 'Lord of the Flies' feel, but not nearly as good a read. This is the first novel I have ever read by Ms. Lessing. I hope her other books are good, because she won a Nobel for her writing. Personally, this book woul
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Jun 02, 2008
Kartix
rated it:
I actually liked the premis of the book but as I was reading it, I found it hard for me to finish.
Basically, the book is about the world which the first sex was female and others than that are freaks. Told by a historian from the Roman empire, this book become so boring I barely finish it.
I have no experience reading Doris Lessing and this was not an impressive first encounter. I would like to read her short stories though, even if it turns out to be a boring, it will not
Basically, the book is about the world which the first sex was female and others than that are freaks. Told by a historian from the Roman empire, this book become so boring I barely finish it.
I have no experience reading Doris Lessing and this was not an impressive first encounter. I would like to read her short stories though, even if it turns out to be a boring, it will not
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Nov 19, 2011
Jeanne
rated it: 
I love to go to library sponsored book sales. And whenever I find books at these sales that have won a nobel prize or a pulitzer I shell out the $1 (or in this case 75 cents) and buy it. What the heck! It can't be that bad and I may learn something! "The Cleft" won the Nobel prize for literature in 2007 and it fulfilled its obligation to be interesting and memorable. The premise is that in the beginning there were only women, no men, and they reproduced asexually. Women of course
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May 23, 2010
V.
rated it:
I'm on page 243 of this book, but I'm going to call it "read" because even though every line has been a struggle, I'm going to finish it this week.
The book is an alternative creation story shared by a narrator writing during Roman times. It is the story of the Clefts, a society of women who live within the cracks and crevices of the coastline of some unknown island (or is?).
Transcribing from historical documents, the narrator, an older, upper class gentleman, muses More...
The book is an alternative creation story shared by a narrator writing during Roman times. It is the story of the Clefts, a society of women who live within the cracks and crevices of the coastline of some unknown island (or is?).
Transcribing from historical documents, the narrator, an older, upper class gentleman, muses More...
Jan 21, 2010
Sammy
rated it:
Well that was certainly unique. That's probably about the nicest thing I can say about this book. This was my first foray into the writings of Doris Lessing, who I can see has a brilliant skill worthy of all the recognition she's received, so I don't know if this is a typical Lessing book or something completely different.
For me the book was just too hard to follow. I didn't find any connective thread linking everything together, no story arc, no real central conflict, no climax, no More...
For me the book was just too hard to follow. I didn't find any connective thread linking everything together, no story arc, no real central conflict, no climax, no More...
Oct 16, 2009
Thurston
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This may be a book better served upon a second reading, or perhaps assigned in a class to really pour over it? Or maybe not? Seems to me a bit overly ambitious in retrospect. Perhaps the author's drive here is to connect the fount of history and myth, and show how blurred both can be? According to a fellow book club member, Lessing has stated that her next book will be her last. So maybe Lessing is looking out over the chasm of time more than most of us, and closer to the edge of it.
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Feb 11, 2011
Kimi
rated it:
i'm surprised this book has such a low rating on goodreads. maybe i shouldn't be. lessing's idea here, that women came first, and men evolved later, might be shocking or disgusting to some people. this isn't a 'normal' novel in that there aren't characters, per se, that one follows their development (though lessing does give a few names to key players in her narrative). the story is told by a roman historian who is sifting through documents, trying to make a cohesive story of the beginning of
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Sep 21, 2010
Kinga
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there were moments when I truly enjoyed this book. It grabbed my attention and made me think a lot. Mostly about it's flaws.
The book seems to be written by an amatheur. It is fragmented and poorly composed, the tale seems to have no credibility at all, and the narrator constantly repeats himself (which has been driving me mad). On top of that, the author seems to be strongly influenced by stereotypical thinking.
However, I cannot believe she would write something this bad if it weren More...
The book seems to be written by an amatheur. It is fragmented and poorly composed, the tale seems to have no credibility at all, and the narrator constantly repeats himself (which has been driving me mad). On top of that, the author seems to be strongly influenced by stereotypical thinking.
However, I cannot believe she would write something this bad if it weren More...
Apr 24, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
This book ended up being better than I thought it would be. At the half-way mark I really wanted to chuck it through the window! It was full of silly gender stereotypes with no intelligent gender commentary. After this point, the book really became the story of Horsa, the first real leader of men. His story took him away from his home, away from his mother and sisters and "taught him life lessons". What were these lessons? Value women, listen to your mother and remember that she will
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Jan 15, 2011
Jenny
rated it:
This is not so much a novel as a fantasy wrapped around a theory. The theory is that humans came from the sea and started off by reproducing parthogenetically. Here, a Roman historian describes the quirks of early humanity, based on old written documents which are a transcription of still older oral histories.
The story is that women started giving birth to men, and, considering them deformed, put them out to die. Some of the men survived and then began rescuing the new male ba More...
The story is that women started giving birth to men, and, considering them deformed, put them out to die. Some of the men survived and then began rescuing the new male ba More...
Dec 22, 2008
Ouise
rated it:
I liked the unusual, story-telling, almost biblical style of this story. You have the feeling that you are sitting near the chimney at a time when tv, radio and the internet did not exist and that you are listening to a story told by a wise elder.
I also liked Doris Lessing's observation of the human nature, the description of women that "are" and men that "do", of women that give and care about life and men that are restless and seek to discover and conquer. The descri More...
I also liked Doris Lessing's observation of the human nature, the description of women that "are" and men that "do", of women that give and care about life and men that are restless and seek to discover and conquer. The descri More...
Nov 22, 2011
Nicole
rated it:
I must say, when I started this book, I didn't quite realize what I was getting myself into. Half the time I don't quite take the time to know what my school books are about. So finding out I was reading something along the lines of a fictional novel depicting how the human race first began and what it was like for them to exist is one thing. A completely altering addition is that Doris Lessing, our author, stood by the claim that women were the first people to have existed--not men. This odd tw
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Jan 25, 2011
Josh
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A mythical retelling of the origins of the human species, albeit with a feminist slant expected of Lessing... This strange 'new/old' society is made up entirely of women, the titular 'Clefts', whose birth cycles are entirely independent of sexual procreation... until one of them gives birth to a 'Monster' (or a 'Squirt' as the first male is called in time).
The rest of the story centres round the attempted extinction of the squirts by the Old Shes (hoary matriarchal beings), and how More...
The rest of the story centres round the attempted extinction of the squirts by the Old Shes (hoary matriarchal beings), and how More...
Sep 05, 2009
Anya
rated it:
I really want to like Doris Lessing. A long time ago, I read the myth of The Cleft in the New Age bookstore where I worked in beautiful downtown Pasadena, so I was very interested to read her take on it. This book is written in two voices....the voice of a Roman historian, and one or more Cleft people from the distant past. It doesn't fit together as one book, and it is very distracting to read it written this way. Like, what does the life of the Roman's young wife and her brushing off her
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Jul 30, 2011
Josh
rated it:
A mythical retelling of the origins of the human species, albeit with a feminist slant expected of Lessing... This strange 'new/old' society is made up entirely of women, the titular 'Clefts', whose birth cycles are entirely independent of sexual procreation... until one of them gives birth to a 'Monster' (or a 'Squirt' as his kind is called in time).
The rest of the story centres round the attempted extinction of the squirts by the old shes, and how the 2 sexes eventually find a way to live inte More...
The rest of the story centres round the attempted extinction of the squirts by the old shes, and how the 2 sexes eventually find a way to live inte More...
Aug 30, 2008
Kate
rated it:
I'm within 80 pages of being done with this book and I just can't bring myself to finish it. The premise sounded so interesting. But the author's generalizations about men and women were almost comical...and I don't think that was her intent. Anyway, I give up!!!
Jan 05, 2010
Frederick
rated it:
This is a delightfully told reimagining of the origins of the species ultimately betrayed by its old-fashioned stereotypes of men and women. The story of women, capable of parthenogenesis, as the first humans who had their idyllic existence destroyed by the birth of men, is unexpectedly interesting. Unfortunately, also unexpected is the book’s ridiculous portrayal of women as uniformly sweet, nurturing and wise, and its portrayal of all men as rakish, selfish and slightly stupid. Does the aut
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Aug 18, 2009
Derrick
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This is my first Lessing novel. It is an historical construction, similar to Deepak Chopra's recent "Jesus," where the author takes some historical and scientific facts and builds around them a new historical narrative. Narratives that are not necessarily, perhaps rarely, contradictry to our current understanding of our past and evolution. Regrettably, I found both Lessing's Cleft and Chopra's Jesus too simplistic. While character development of the respective protagonists is healt
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Jul 16, 2011
April
rated it:
An interesting book. It read like a historical research paper, but it was unique. I didn't particularly like the historian's intrusions, every time he saw fit to add something. I got bored half way through the book, but trooped on. I owe Doris Lessing that much. I didn't learn anything new, which is a prerequisite for any book I read. This book reminded me of that movie that came out last year, "The Wicker Man." I'm not sure what Lessing was doing here - perhaps experimenting? (chuckle
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Mar 12, 2011
Graham
rated it:
Doris Lessing is normally a captivating and talented authoress. In this book, however, she tackles the age old story of the origin of man from a somewhat unusual and simplistic point of view. Her viewpoint is interesting and different but the story itself lacks her usual powerful drive and emotional impact. The reader is unable to connect with any of the characters satisfactorily nor does the plot have enough credibility to carry the narrative to a satisfying conclusion. If this were to be the f
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Dec 01, 2008
Arf
rated it:
I guess when you are nearly ninety and have won awards including the Nobel Prize and written a couple of dozen novels and other works you can write (and publish) whatever you want. This book begins as though it is a parable, but really it's an odd fantasy. The narrator is a Roman senator assessing and amassing an uncertain "history" that purports to account for origins presumably of the Romans or of humans in general. It begins with a society of parthenogenic females. There are few nam
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Jul 31, 2010
Katie
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I read this book right after I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, and was struck by the fact that they’re both written on about an 8th or 9th grade reading level, so that they both read pretty quickly. But this one is so much better than Guernsey. It’s like coming up out of a musty basement and breathing deep again. Lessing’s prose is strong and quiet and clear, and next to her, Mary Ann Shaffer is a dime-novel hack.
But while Guernsey annoyed me, I also knew More...
But while Guernsey annoyed me, I also knew More...
Jan 13, 2011
Victoria
rated it:
I really wanted to enjoy this book. It was my first foray into the work of Doris Lessing, and the premise of the story sounded fascinating: an all-female, parthenogenic society (the Clefts), thrown into upheaval by the birth of strange new creatures - baby boys.
The story is written from the perspective of an elderly Roman historian, who is studying the origin of human beings. Throughout the book, we are given glimpses into his own life and family. I personally found this distracting. More...
The story is written from the perspective of an elderly Roman historian, who is studying the origin of human beings. Throughout the book, we are given glimpses into his own life and family. I personally found this distracting. More...
Jan 28, 2012
Kinga
rated it:
there were moments when I truly enjoyed this book. It grabbed my attention and made me think a lot. Mostly about its flaws.
The book seems to be written by an amatheur. It is fragmented and poorly composed, the tale seems to have no credibility at all, and the narrator constantly repeats himself (which has been driving me mad). On top of that, the author seems to be strongly influenced by stereotypical thinking.
However, I cannot believe she would write something this bad if it weren't o More...
The book seems to be written by an amatheur. It is fragmented and poorly composed, the tale seems to have no credibility at all, and the narrator constantly repeats himself (which has been driving me mad). On top of that, the author seems to be strongly influenced by stereotypical thinking.
However, I cannot believe she would write something this bad if it weren't o More...
Feb 24, 2011
João
rated it:
"A Fenda" é o primeiro livro que leio da Nobel da Literatura, Doris Lessing, sendo até um dos mais comentados dentro da sua obra. Em poucas palavras, fala-nos duma história alternativa ao nascimento e evolução dos humanos, com base em relatos antigos e esquecidos e nas primeiras "Memórias" da nossa génesis. Esta ideia é-nos apresentada num contínuo rol de palavras dum velho historiador romano, pontuadas, aqui e ali, por parêntesis desse mesmo historiador.
Ao partir More...
Ao partir More...
