Blog this item

The Grass Is Singing

(Paladin Books)

By Doris Lessing

(69)

| Paperback | 9780586089248

Like The Grass Is Singing?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Book Description

Set in South Africa under white rule, Doris Lessing's first novel is both a riveting chronicle of human disintegration and a beautifully understated social critique. Mary Turner is a self-confident, independent young woman who becomes the depressed, frustrated wife of an ineffectual, unsuccessfulContinue

6 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

A very profound narrative and I love to imagine the South Africa thru Lessing's eyes. But I'd say I do expect more from a Nobel laureate. This is what made Lessing a professional writer, now I wanna read her Golden Notebook.

Is this helpful?

fruit said on Aug 9, 2008 | Add your feedback

A beautiful and depressing portrayal of a lonely woman in South Africa- very descriptive landscape, typical to Lessing works.

Is this helpful?

OleArch said on Sep 21, 2009 | Add your feedback

After all, though I am not impressed by her writing, the book stays in the mind, it makes go back to it and think about the story.

Is this helpful?

Altea said on Apr 18, 2009 | Add your feedback

I've only discovered Doris Lessing in the past couple of years, and she's fast becoming one of my favourite writers. Interestingly, both of my favourite reads were ones I wouldn't have initially chosen from the shelf: I dissed Shikasta for being science fiction until my friend forced me to tr ... (continue)

I've only discovered Doris Lessing in the past couple of years, and she's fast becoming one of my favourite writers. Interestingly, both of my favourite reads were ones I wouldn't have initially chosen from the shelf: I dissed Shikasta for being science fiction until my friend forced me to try it and I ended up loving it. Similarly, my copy of The Grass is Singing was an old edition that looked like something only one step up from a cheap romantic novel, but I ended up loving it too. Something in it spoke volumes to me about getting on (or not) in life, and how resisting our circumstances can influence our lives. Read it if you like Lessing, read it if you like South Africa or farming, or read it if you simply like reading about other people's lives.

Is this helpful?

zbrntt said on May 18, 2008 | Add your feedback

If she aimed to portray inertness, she did it. If she wanted to present a realistic cross-section of Rhodesia's society, she did it. If she wished to introduce atypical characters in a typical setting, intense psycology in tense situations, she did it. But I'm afraid I decided to finish it just beca ... (continue)

If she aimed to portray inertness, she did it. If she wanted to present a realistic cross-section of Rhodesia's society, she did it. If she wished to introduce atypical characters in a typical setting, intense psycology in tense situations, she did it. But I'm afraid I decided to finish it just because it was written by her. Tedious. No, not tedious, tiresome.

Is this helpful?

e. said on Apr 18, 2008 | Add your feedback

萊辛透過寫作，獲得自由，然而她筆下的女主角，却在婚姻的僵局中無以自拔，一至於死： “long, long ago, she had turned toward another young man, a young man from a farm, when she was in trouble and had not known what to do. It had seemed to her that she would be saved from herself by marrying him. And then she had felt this emptiness when, at ... (continue)

萊辛透過寫作，獲得自由，然而她筆下的女主角，却在婚姻的僵局中無以自拔，一至於死： “long, long ago, she had turned toward another young man, a young man from a farm, when she was in trouble and had not known what to do. It had seemed to her that she would be saved from herself by marrying him. And then she had felt this emptiness when, at last, she had known there was to be no release and that she would live on the farm till she died” (231).

Is this helpful?

南鵲 said on Jan 18, 2007 | 1 feedback