Week 81- The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

[[deleted user]]

Week 81 is The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

From the article

The Oxford Companion to English Literature describes this novel as “one of the key texts of the women’s movement of the 1960s”, a reductive description that would have infuriated Lessing, partly because she hated to be pigeonholed, and also because she understood fiction to be infinitely more varied and complex than one “movement”. Lessing’s work has always been difficult to define: a mix of classical realism, science-fiction, parable, memoir, fantasy and polemic. The Golden Notebook has many of these elements

The full article can be read here

[[deleted user]]

I haven't read this but I read The Grass is Singing last year and enjoyed it. We had a group read of this one, I think, and I remember it not being very popular

[Alice]

I read this many years ago and remember having quite enjoyed it.

[Greg]

I have read (and mostly liked) several books by Lessing, but I've never read this one. I've always intended to, but I haven't yet.

I liked The Grass is Singing a lot when I read it some years ago. I also liked The Fifth Child. The somewhat peculiar The Memoirs of a Survivor and the extremely peculiar Briefing for a Descent Into Hell were intriguing and worth reading, though I wouldn't necessarily recommend them.

[Jenny]

I've read this some years ago and quite liked it, though somehow I can't fully warm to Doris Lessing's writing. This is well worth a try though. Maybe best to start with The Grass is Singing before tackling this rather big book though.

[Leslie]

Heather wrote: "I haven't read this but I read The Grass is Singing last year and enjoyed it. We had a group read of this one, I think, and I remember it not being very popular"

I think Laura and I were the only 2 who read it in the group read, or at least were the only ones who commented. I found it a bit of a struggle to get into but I liked it more than Laura I think.

You can read my longer-than-usual review here.

[Greg]

Has anyone else ever read Briefing for a Descent Into Hell by Lessing? I think it was hands down the wierdest book I've ever read, not entirely in a good way but not entirely in a bad way either. One day I want to meet someone else who read it and hear what the heck they made out of it. :)

[Shirley]

Greg wrote: "Has anyone else ever read Briefing for a Descent Into Hell by Lessing? I think it was hands down the wierdest book I've ever read, not entirely in a good way but not entirely in a bad..."

Sounds intriguing, Greg!

I liked The Grass is Singing so may give another book a try, but this one sounds very different, Greg!

[LauraT]

Read it last year - I think it was a read-a-long in here. Didn't like it that much, in parti because as Jenny said her writing is not so "friendly", but also the themes were in my opinion too extreme. I preferred The Sweetest Dream

[Greg]

Shirley, I loved The Grass is Singing too, but yes, the other books I've read by her were very different. I would not recommend Briefing for a Descent Into Hell unless you're in the mood to read something extremely difficult, weird, and disjointed.

In fact, each of the four books I've read by Lessing were completely different from each other. The Fifth Child touches on some serious issues, yes, but I remember it reading more like a thriller.

[Carolyn]

A lot of it was interesting but this was very difficult read for me! I may reread it here, so I can get the comments of other readers as I go: http://www.thegoldennotebook.org/.

I hadn't read any Doris Lessing before. Based on other comments, I might give The Grass is Singing a try.

[Leslie]

Carolyn wrote: "A lot of it was interesting but this was very difficult read for me! I may reread it here, so I can get the comments of other readers as I go: http://www.thegoldennotebook.org/.

I hadn't read any..."

I found it a difficult read too Carolyn - I suspect that most people find it so.

[LauraT]

Definitly so!