Since Goodreads, the world’s largest book club site , honed my appetite for reading books, particularly gave me the ideas of what books I should read, I have been updated with the famous and acclaimed literary writers , not only with the classic but also with the contemporary writers-I have the list of 1001 Best Novels of All Time as well as the magazine, TIME’s 100 Best Novels since 1925, and now I want to include the Most Banned Books- I tend to be getting more familiar with the authors ‘ names ;and at the same time, I search for them in the Wikipedia. I can know them more when I read and hear them in the news. One of the writers known to me now is Doris Lessing. Doris Lessing is considered as one of the most celebrated and distinguished writers of the second half of the twentieth century. She is mostly known for her novel The Golden Notebook- the novel , not to mention her other books, that has been elusive at my stomping ground. If I lucked out to spot it there, I would definitely, without balking, make a grab for it and fork out at any cost. Nevertheless, I am fortunate to have found it. This is the collection of Lessing’s four novellas: The Grandmothers ( Rating: 3/ 5 stars )“ Lunacy is one of the great invisible wheels that keep worlds turning .”-Dorris Lessing, The Grandmothers-This is the story of two mothers, Rozeanne and Liliane, bestfriends since high school, become neighbors upon their marriage. Their friendship will remain solid despite their family lives crumble: Rozeana will divorce her husband whereas Liliane’s husband dies of a car accident. But the real center of the story that readers will definitely find repulsive on account of conventional belief in our society is that Rozeana is infatuated with Liliane’s son, and so is Liliane with Rozeana’s son. If I were such a deep-seated moralist, I would give it 1 star out of 5 stars to express how disgusted I could be. To demonstrate my dismay more, I would scream bloody murder by setting this book on fire or by singling it out on social media that Doris Lessing is such an immoral writer. How dare Doris Lessing write such a story educating people that irrational infatuation with someone whose age gap is beyond your sexual needs? Ridiculously reactionary I could be. But in the name of literary value, Lessing intends to write out such situation which could really exist beyond our customs. In fact, the lesson behind the story is that life could be complicated when your moral choice is out of the sanity. Victoria and The Staveneys ( Rating: 4 / 5 stars )“I If I say I am going to eat you all up, you must not take it as more than a legitimate expression of my sincere devotion.”-Doris Lessing, Victoria and The Staveneys-A big challenge for a writer is how to make a very simple concept of the story he/she has thought explode into a pyrotechnic novel- a novel that is so impressive that the author is almost put on a pedestal. So writers could have their own alternative styles; it could be chronological, in a way that the story goes from the beginning to the ending; manipulating, in a way that the plots are jumbled until you get lost the track; symbolic , in a way that the novel appears to be enigmatic, deciphering that you are at your wits ’end, and many, many more. The examples of the novels - as far as I observe from the books I have already - which styles are chronological are the classics such as Charles Dickens’ and Leo Tolstoy’s’, manipulating; Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin ( 4 stars ), symbolic; Martin Amis’s The Information ( 5 stars ). In other case, there are some writers whom I find genius, for not that can they write with the styles above, but with the way that appears simple, but others are not very much used to , they put into their thoughts a story, as though writing is a piece of pie for them. So far , I have known one good example of those writers, Toni Morrison. And Doris Lessing has proven me that she could be as good as Toni Morrison upon reading this novel. I was dumbfounded.The concept of the story is very common among us readers. A black and orphaned woman gives birth to two children with different men. Her first child is of a rich white man while the other one of a black man. In the end, she will find her first child slowly absorbed in the world of white privilege until she becomes estranged from her. As you know , a common situation on TV dramas, such situation exists in reality, but this novella impressed me , for the writing finesse of Doris Lessing made it fantastic. She divided the story into different time and place with beautiful plots and settings- a style I bet my boots only she has. Furthermore, she wrote it with beautiful sentences- sentences which are so light and meditating to read.The Reason For It ( Rating 4/ 5 stars )“ Tell it. Call The Cities together and tell it . Then it will be in all their minds and cannot disappear.”Doris Lessing, The Reason For ItAmong four, this is quite deeper and more enigmatic and philosophical which requires higher level of critical thinking and a little background in history to connect with what Doris Lessing is trying to drive at.Simply put, the story is about a member of Twelve, tells of the history of his civilization and of how his said civilization is slowly disintegrated after choosing the son of Queen Destra, DeRod as her successor and who turns out to lead the barbarous life . After much reflection, the narrator comes to the conclusion that DeRod should not much be attached to the blame, for he is an idiot . Thus, he , DeRod, does not know what he is doing.In the context of literary analysis, the theme is probably about Barbarism and Civility: People tend to be simpletons when they lead the life of barbarity, but when they embrace the life of Civilization, life becomes rational as the title puts it, “ The Reason For It”Once again, I read in awe, not even able to put my jaws back , of the writing styles as Doris Lessing did in Victoria and The Staveneys. Dear me! I could have even almost tossed it in the air.A Love Child ( Rating : 3/ 5 stars ) “ I’m not living my own life. It’s not my real life. I shouldn’t be living the way I do.”Doris Lessing, A Love ChildJames, a young British soldier, gets drafted and dispatched to South Africa and India during World War II. There in South Africa, he has a love affair with a British woman, Daphene, She gets pregnant , but James never knows it until he receives a letter in reply to his first letter to Daphene expressing how he misses her. After twenty years, he flies to South Africa to look for his son; however, he ends up merely with his picture he will keep, but remain incomplete and stagnant.Comparatively, this is the heftiest among four. I could feel not only the abject misery of the soldiers but also the burden the protagonist keeps to himself. Perhaps, Lessing’s beautiful craft of writing conveyed her target feelings in the sentences. I have nothing to say more.Indeed, Doris Lessing is one of the most celebrated writers in this century. There is something in her books, in her writing styles of which only she bears all the hallmarks, at which some readers might not get, so they would end up finding this boring. I may have compared her with Toni Morison, but Doris Lessing is Doris Lessing whereas Toni Morison is Toni Morison. I wonder if I can still find this so-called “only-the-writing-style-she-has “ in her The Golden Notebook. Upon reading it, I have shattered all my illusions that , “ Writing at any cost is not impossible. “ Eureka! ^^
Only the mind of a genius has the capacity to write with the precision, lucidity and provocation displayed in this collection with 85 years of age. Yes, you read that right. Doris Lessing was 85 years old when she penned the four stories that compose this collection. Stories which are dissimilar in length and setting, characters and writing techniques, shifting viewpoint narrators and, believe it or not, genres. Even though the common thread that links these four pieces together appears elusive at first glance, Lessing’s mastery of nuance and intellectual clairvoyance provides a unifying quality that undermines the superficial divergences of the stories.The paradisiacal scenario of the virginal Australian coast in the present day frames the setting for the uncategorizable friendship between two women, also Grandmothers, and their sons, who cross the limits of morality and develop unhealthy, almost incestuous sexual affairs with their respective offspring. Blatant defiance against social conventionality or sardonic criticism of a superficial lifestyle corrupted by hedonistic excesses? A black girl is swirled about by the blowing winds of chance and discovers a world where The Staveneys, a white and liberal British family, sleep in separate alcoves, have a lavatory and a kitchen instead of living crammed into the space of a single room. Victoria is a word the black community won’t ever experience, despite the hope that filters through the cracks of three generations of black women trapped in a white class system.Colonial Africa and the British rule in India during WWII allow a young soldier to survive the horrors of war clinging to the illusion of a Love Child, product of a mirage of four days smudged with humidity, salty waves, unhinged desire and the prospect of certain death. Even the first-person narrator of the dystopia that portrays the downfall of an ancient civilization ponders about The Reasons Why a flourishing oligarchy might irreparably evolve into a directionless totalitarian dictatorship because of the intricacies of generational replacement.Four stories where the perpetual clashes between social classes, races and genders, the insurmountable gap between parents and children, the understated denunciation of legal abuse endorsed by duplicitous democracies and the absurdity of war, are ever present and personified in the future generations that are designated with the double-edged role of victims and perpetrators. The characters in Lessing’s stories project an idolized image of their own expectations on the ones they covet, not fully realizing that the ghosts lurking in the shadows of their lives are only invoked by themselves.In a world infected by dissatisfaction, Lessing’s expert use of cadence, timeline and narrative wisdom tempts the reader with the vision of a happy ending, luring him with sporadic hints of promise, only to snatch the fairy tale away unceremoniously and bring forth an existence in survival mode, which brims over with abnegated conformism that stinks of familiar reality.“You see, I’m not living my own life. It’s not my real life. I shouldn’t be living the way I do.” (307)How many times has that thought crossed your mind?I dare say the notion of living according to one’s ideals obsessed Lessing, yet she kept on climbing up the mountain of ageing, ignored the weariness, the breathlessness and the vertigo of thwarted illusions, and aimed for the highest and least comfortable of peaks. Quite an arduous ascent, yes, but how imposing, life-altering and liberating the view!
Do You like book The Grandmothers (2015)?
I'm not even finished yet but I really love Doris Lessing's style...it's like this prude British fuddy-duddy dancing-around-the-truth stuck up writing about some really salacious shit and it makes you fill in your own blanks. It takes ages and ages in The Grandmothers for her to actually write that "lovemaking" happens between the older women and their swapped sons, and even then it feels like that's not a hard enough word for what's going on. This is some dark shit written in a PG newspaper friendly way. Love it.
—Tasha
I recently watched the movie adaptation of The Grandmothers. The film is entitled Adore, starring Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, James Frecheville and Xavier Samuel (who is super hot by the way). I thought that the story is really something! It's disturbing and provocative... and although I feel like it's too absurd to be true, the plot is somewhat convincing/awakening. It makes you realize that although love can be in various forms...most of the time, we can only express love in a way that is acceptable to the society. I also did think about women, who were once young and beautiful then got replaced by the younger and more beautiful. It reiterates the fact that time and gravity are two things that just couldn’t be defied. The story reminds me of some cougar couples.. and when the younger guy left the older lady for a girl his age. It's just really...sad. My favorite Character here is Ian (Xavier Samuel, I told you he was really hot :P). It's evident that his love for Roz is really genuine. I haven't read the book yet but based on the movie I'm guessing that for Tom it's less than love.Well, the story is good, it's a romance with heavy drama... if you're up to that (and if you like Xavier Samuel too or just curious who he is) then I recommend this. :)
—Maria Ivona
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 they seem, and the reader is drawn to view images of past innocence with almost reluctant curiosity. A startling, odd, sad tale, and a fascinating read.The second story, of Victoria and the Staveneys, is an all-too-real description of a promising life turned around by circumstance, and a vivid depiction of the tolerance, love and affection that accompany expectations. I wanted more for Victoria, and in the end, I guess she got more than she was offered. In the end she wasn’t who anyone tried to make her, but maybe she wasn’t all she could have made herself either.The Reason for it is the shortest tale of the four, an odd story of how quickly a culture falls apart. It reads innocently and tragically through the eyes of an elderly man, but it’s echoes of modern life can’t be entirely accidental.And finally, A Love Child, at 117 pages, is an amazing depiction of wartime Britain and the life of a man who grows up between the wars. Introduced to communism, he finds poetry. Introduced to sickness, he finds love. Introduced to success, he keeps himself to himself and tries to analyze the reason others care for him. But through it all he misses the truth of how he should care for others. A sad story, but totally engrossing.So now I still don’t know how long a novel has to be. But perhaps if you’re a writer of Doris Lessing’s caliber it really doesn’t matter. I’d certainly recommend the book, and I enjoyed the time spent meeting her characters.
—Sheila
