I wanted to like this book. It’s very well written, flows easy and grabs you in the first 50 pages.
This is a story of two women with a slanted view of life, cup half empty types. Richard, the ex-husband of one of the women is self absorbed and actually unlikeable. We follow the lives of the three as they act without remorse and direction.
This is a story of two women with a slanted view of life, cup half empty types. Richard, the ex-husband of one of the women is self absorbed and actually unlikeable. We follow the lives of the three as they act without remorse and direction.
I enjoyed the idea of the four notebooks and Anna’s struggle to keep sanity in her life. I also enjoyed the historical references, the idea of feminism and living a messy life. What I didn’t enjoy was the lack of emotion for decisions made, the idea that having multiple affairs being okay as long as it makes you happy. This is how the book read for me. I wonder how I would feel reading this book in college and unmarried. It might be a different experience.
From Wikipedia: In 2007, Lessing won the Nobel Prize in Literature. She was described by the Swedish Academy as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny".[1] Lessing is the eleventh woman to win the prize in its 106-year history,[2][3] and also the oldest person ever to win the literature award
Because of her campaigning against nuclear arms and South African apartheid, Lessing was banned from that country and from Rhodesia for many years.[12] Lessing moved to London with her youngest son in 1949 and it was at this time her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, was published.[10] Her breakthrough work though, was The Golden Notebook, written in 1962.[9]
If you are thinking about reading this book or have read it, there is an interesting website dedicated to The Golden Notebook. The comments are insightful.
BWAV rating of this book: 3.5 stars
Type: Fiction, 672 pages, Trade paperback
Synopsis:
Anna is a writer, author of one very successful novel, who now keeps four notebooks. In one, with a black cover, she reviews the African experience of her earlier years. In a red one she records her political life, her disillusionment with communism. In a yellow one she writes a novel in which the heroine relives part of her own experience. And in a blue one she keeps a personal diary. Finally, in love with an American writer and threatened with insanity, Anna resolves to bring the threads of all four books together in a golden notebook.
Doris Lessing's best-known and most influential novel, The Golden Notebook retains its extraordinary power and relevance decades after its initial publication.
Reviews:
“No ordinary work of fiction…The technique, in a word, is brilliant.” – Saturday Review
BN.COM Review: I was really disappointed. The story is too wordy and doesn't grab the readers attention. Definitely not worth the effort of reading 600 pages.
BN.COM Review: This is a really great book for anyone but I guess its for girls you could say anyway I loved this book it was so good and such a great page turner.
Synopsis:
Anna is a writer, author of one very successful novel, who now keeps four notebooks. In one, with a black cover, she reviews the African experience of her earlier years. In a red one she records her political life, her disillusionment with communism. In a yellow one she writes a novel in which the heroine relives part of her own experience. And in a blue one she keeps a personal diary. Finally, in love with an American writer and threatened with insanity, Anna resolves to bring the threads of all four books together in a golden notebook.
Doris Lessing's best-known and most influential novel, The Golden Notebook retains its extraordinary power and relevance decades after its initial publication.
Reviews:
“No ordinary work of fiction…The technique, in a word, is brilliant.” – Saturday Review
BN.COM Review: I was really disappointed. The story is too wordy and doesn't grab the readers attention. Definitely not worth the effort of reading 600 pages.
BN.COM Review: This is a really great book for anyone but I guess its for girls you could say anyway I loved this book it was so good and such a great page turner.