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The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels
In the title novel, two friends fall in love with each other's teenage sons, and these passions last for years, until the women end them, vowing a respectable old age. In Victoria and the Staveneys, a young woman gives birth to a child of mixed race and struggles with feelings of estrangement as her daughter gets drawn into a world of white privilege. The Reason for It tra
...morePaperback, 311 pages
Published
January 1st 2005
by Harper Perennial
(first published 2003)
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I can't remember what made me pick this book up, but I'm glad I did. It consists of four novellas, not linked together in any way. The first one (The Grandmothers) was my favorite. Lessing has a real knack for exploring the complexity of the human heart and I was intensely interested in these flawed and sympathetic characters. The one story that didn't work for me was the third one. I appreciated it intellectually but I couldn't emotionally connect. It was set in an ancient community where...more
I’m still trying to work out how long a piece of writing has to be if it’s called a novel. The Grandmothers is a set of four “short novels,” according to its cover. But how is that different from four novellas?
The first, and title, story is an intriguing family tale of just 53 pages. Two fathers. Two daughters. Two grandmothers. And two mothers who enter only peripherally into visits to a seaside restaurant. The waitress envies their perfect lives, which maybe aren’t as perfect as th...more
The first, and title, story is an intriguing family tale of just 53 pages. Two fathers. Two daughters. Two grandmothers. And two mothers who enter only peripherally into visits to a seaside restaurant. The waitress envies their perfect lives, which maybe aren’t as perfect as th...more
Lo primero que me ha llamado la atención de esta recopilación de cuentos es la riqueza de registros de la que hace gala Doris Lessing, lo que demuestra que tiene cosas que contar y no se ciñe a un mismo tema del que da diferentes versiones.
Desde que terminé el relato que da título al volumen Las abuelas, no dejo de darle vueltas. Los silencios cerriles, esas miradas que son como radiografías, importan tanto o más que las palabras. Doris Lessing maneja estupendamente ese recurso. En Las abu...more
Desde que terminé el relato que da título al volumen Las abuelas, no dejo de darle vueltas. Los silencios cerriles, esas miradas que son como radiografías, importan tanto o más que las palabras. Doris Lessing maneja estupendamente ese recurso. En Las abu...more
The Grandmothers is made up of 4 novellas that cover 4 quite different stories. I really enjoyed 3 of them, while I thought the other was less successful (guess which below!)
The Grandmothers: this tale of 2 women who have affairs with each others sons - starting when the men are teenagers and continuing for about 20 years after - held my attention for the entire story. Starting in current time, it then went back 20 years and followed the relationships through to current time once more....more
The Grandmothers: this tale of 2 women who have affairs with each others sons - starting when the men are teenagers and continuing for about 20 years after - held my attention for the entire story. Starting in current time, it then went back 20 years and followed the relationships through to current time once more....more
This is the second Doris Lessing I've read. I still can't quite understand the rave critics - I know she's a good writer in the practical sense, but I don't find it particularly absorbing or engaging. I enjoyed the first two stories in this book, skipped the third after a couple of pages, and gave up halfway through the last. I seem to struggle to identify with Lessing's characters - the most personable one to me was Victoria, in the second novella. I did feel rather that I was reading the first...more
Fans of Lessing will find her trademark themes, times, and places in The Grandmothers. In these stories, as in her previous novels and memoirs, Lessing successfully captures the joy and pain of the human condition. This collection, coming from a writer nearing the end of her career, is impressive but uneven. Readers will find four very different and appealing narratives, from a surprising story about parental relationships to a dark comedy about social inequalities. Critics generally agree that
...more
The first of the four short stories The Grandmothers,two close friends fall in love with each others sons. They seem to live in a kind of hazy oblivion,protected by wealth and beauty. It was beautifully written but where was the drama,the soul searching and torment of living on the "outside". It does however come to a rather predictable conclusion and smidgen of reality intrudes. The second was about a poor black child who mainly because of her beauty is taken in by privileged white pe...more
Four short novels, each readable in one sitting, on widely different topics. What an amazing author, who can wrie so well from the perspective of aging women, a young impoverished black girl in England, an Elder from a fictional fantasy-type of civilization, and a young officer in the British Army in India during World War 2. Beautiful and thought-provoking, particularly (for me)the last story, "A Love Child." I couldn't begin to understand a woman the way she completely sees throu...more
I thought all four of the short novels were well written and interesting.
The first, The Grandmothers, held my interest the best, dealing with inappropriate relationships in a laid-back seaside town.
The seemingly perfect family in the second, the Stavenys, were a lot like the Chalfins in White Teeth. An affluent, white, liberal family whose behavior when interacting with the main character, Victoria, caused me to cringe constantly especially when they refer to her skin color...more
The first, The Grandmothers, held my interest the best, dealing with inappropriate relationships in a laid-back seaside town.
The seemingly perfect family in the second, the Stavenys, were a lot like the Chalfins in White Teeth. An affluent, white, liberal family whose behavior when interacting with the main character, Victoria, caused me to cringe constantly especially when they refer to her skin color...more
I haven’t read many of Doris Lessing’s books for the simple reason that one can’t read everything. There are just far too many good books out there. I did like the “Lessing novels” I did read, though, especially The Grass Is Singing, and I’ve had The Grandmothers on my bookshelf for several years now, just waiting to be read.
Though Lessing was already well into her eighties when she wrote the four novellas (some call them short stories, but I call them novellas) that comprise The Grand...more
Though Lessing was already well into her eighties when she wrote the four novellas (some call them short stories, but I call them novellas) that comprise The Grand...more
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There's definitely something I'm not able to get in the success gained by Doris Lessing.
Am I the only one who find her way of writing plain and, somehow, racist?
One year after having read this one, the only short story I remember of the three forming this book is the first one: "The Grandmothers".
It was not a bad short story, overall. But there was something of unquestionably "Aryan" in it I really couldn't stand.
I mean, Doris, are you fr...more
Am I the only one who find her way of writing plain and, somehow, racist?
One year after having read this one, the only short story I remember of the three forming this book is the first one: "The Grandmothers".
It was not a bad short story, overall. But there was something of unquestionably "Aryan" in it I really couldn't stand.
I mean, Doris, are you fr...more
Out of the four short stories, I read 3. The first one, The Grandmothers, was the best. I was involved with the characters and the plot was intriguing in a can't tear your eyes away from a car crash sort of way. The second story, Victoria and The Staveneys was also good. But not quite empathy evoking enough, felt like I was on the surface only and didn't feel enough for the character's plight, though I feel we should have been pulled in more to the sadness of it. The third one, The Reason For It...more
Doris Lessing won the 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature. To celebrate this accomplishment my small book group decided to read one of her novels. We chose The Grandmothers (4 novellas) because that is where we all are in our lives. I read 3 of the 4 novellas: The Grandmothers, Victoria and the Staveneys, and The Love Child. Most reviewers panned the third, Sci-Fi story, so I didn't bother with it. Lessing shows her versatility in these novellas so if you feel the need to read Lessing, these ...more
The stories in this book felt so astoundingly different from each other that I couldn't believe they were all written by the same author. The first story (after which the collection is titled) is creepy in a very unexpected way.
This collection of four novellas has the signature Lessing elegance and stateliness of expression on the surface, but all are surprising and edgy under the surface. In the case of the title characters of the novella that gives the collection its title, under the surface lies a perhaps improbable, perhaps disturbing but still compelling sexiness, too. While somewhat uneven in terms engaging the reader (particularly the dystopic "The Reason for It"), there is something to satisfy in plot...more
Four novellas - all very different and all intriguing. I could barely find this book on any of the sites to put in Good Reads. Doris Lessing in a prolific British writer. I will read more book by her.
I liked the first two novellas better than the last two. Her writing is beautiful, but at times a lot of 'telling,' which I guess is necessary for short novels. I'd be interested in reading more by her. Unfortunately the last two stories didn't pull me in as much as I'd have liked.
Very good. Atmospheric. Non-time-specific. Totally skipped out on the third story as it was science fiction. I enjoy sci-fi but it seemed out of place compared to Doris Lessing's other work.
The writing style is lovely. She is very talented. I just couldn't get past the subject matter to really enjoy the writing. The subjects were just a little too provacative for me.
J'ai enregistré un livre sur BookCrossing.com !
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10299714
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10299714
I'm liking this so far--not too far into it. I remember reading The Golden Notebook in college, and saw this at Powell's and thought I'd give it a try.
AWFUL.....AWFUL....AWFUL....AWFUL...zero out of five and even worse
I just read "The grandmothers" and it was awful...I don't know how such people write such things?????!!!!!! I don't know how such people generate their ideas and create it ???!!!! Such stories are forbidden on our religion I know it's something common on WEST but not to that average....Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh..I can't complete reading it....it's really disgusting and horrible...
الحمد لله على نعمة الاسلام..... أستغفرك ...more
I just read "The grandmothers" and it was awful...I don't know how such people write such things?????!!!!!! I don't know how such people generate their ideas and create it ???!!!! Such stories are forbidden on our religion I know it's something common on WEST but not to that average....Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh..I can't complete reading it....it's really disgusting and horrible...
الحمد لله على نعمة الاسلام..... أستغفرك ...more
So far I find Lessing outrageous, and I'm not sure how much more I'll read, but I did find "Victoria and the Staveneys" rather masterful.
My first Lessing. 4 novellas, each very different, each surrounding a very specific conflict/"what if" question.
First two stories were engaging, but started/didn't finish the last two.
Simple, directa, real...
Short pieces combine well.
Only read two of the stories.
What crap! I loved The Golden Notebook, but this is ridiculous trash.
Ho hum. I know I'm being contrite and irreverant here, but for my introduction to Doris Lessing this title did not impress at all. The shocking relationship hinted at by the blurb is not unpredictbale from the incestuous behaviour of the main characters. The following 2 stories also failed to make me think I was reading a great writer, great prose or interesting novellas. Very disappointing all round. So much so that I did not bother with the 4th and final story.
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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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