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jfcc's review against another edition
3.0
"A Fenda" é o primeiro livro que leio da Nobel da Literatura, Doris Lessing, sendo até um dos mais comentados dentro da sua obra. Em poucas palavras, fala-nos duma história alternativa ao nascimento e evolução dos humanos, com base em relatos antigos e esquecidos e nas primeiras "Memórias" da nossa génesis. Esta ideia é-nos apresentada num contínuo rol de palavras dum velho historiador romano, pontuadas, aqui e ali, por parêntesis desse mesmo historiador.
Ao partir para a leitura desta obra, as minhas expectativas eram praticamente inexistentes, excepto o facto de a classificação do livro, aqui no Goodreads, não ser das melhores, contudo não foi algo que dirigiu a minha leitura.
Agora no fim desta, depois de vários dias, chego a uma miscelânea de sentimentos que não sei como classificar. Em termos puros de escrita, esta foi bastante acessível e nem o facto de se tratar duma narração contínua, sem interrupções, me desviou a atenção.
Contudo um livro é uma "poção" de vários ingredientes: a escrita do seu autor, a voz que nos "fala" ao lê-lo, o momento em que decidimos pegar nele e o que estamos disposto a tirar deste... Bem, "A Fenda" tratou-se, não diria dum obstáculo naquilo que é o caminho que percorremos na literatura, mas antes, uma paisagem deslocada que, momentaneamente, nos prende o olhar e traz consigo à superfície sentimentos que nunca experimentamos e, como tal, não compreendemos.
Poderia recomendar o livro, mas sinto que a decisão para o ler deve partir exclusivamente de cada um no momento que a este parecer mais oportuno…
Fica contudo a vontade de ler outras obras de Lessing.
Ao partir para a leitura desta obra, as minhas expectativas eram praticamente inexistentes, excepto o facto de a classificação do livro, aqui no Goodreads, não ser das melhores, contudo não foi algo que dirigiu a minha leitura.
Agora no fim desta, depois de vários dias, chego a uma miscelânea de sentimentos que não sei como classificar. Em termos puros de escrita, esta foi bastante acessível e nem o facto de se tratar duma narração contínua, sem interrupções, me desviou a atenção.
Contudo um livro é uma "poção" de vários ingredientes: a escrita do seu autor, a voz que nos "fala" ao lê-lo, o momento em que decidimos pegar nele e o que estamos disposto a tirar deste... Bem, "A Fenda" tratou-se, não diria dum obstáculo naquilo que é o caminho que percorremos na literatura, mas antes, uma paisagem deslocada que, momentaneamente, nos prende o olhar e traz consigo à superfície sentimentos que nunca experimentamos e, como tal, não compreendemos.
Poderia recomendar o livro, mas sinto que a decisão para o ler deve partir exclusivamente de cada um no momento que a este parecer mais oportuno…
Fica contudo a vontade de ler outras obras de Lessing.
martinclark's review against another edition
2.0
I expected to find some insights or thoughts of the nature of and differences between men and women, but if there were any I missed them. Nor was the content thought provoking. Starting from the premise that the first humans were women and it was a while before men appeared, you might expect some alternative world view, but instead there was only a run of dull anecdotes suggesting over and over that women are by nature nags and men are foolish. There was no story to speak of and the writing style was annoying, a long series a short sentences and endlessly repeated rhetorical questions from the narrator. Very disappointing.
jackolta's review against another edition
2.0
Ideias interessantes, as personagens não acho cativantes e a história é chata.
pode ler a opinião completa aqui
pode ler a opinião completa aqui
wordnerdy's review against another edition
5.0
I have the say, the best part of being a book reviewer is getting to read these totally unexpected books. I don't think I'd ever have chosen this one, but it was a fascinating and thought-provoking story within a story deal--an aging Roman historian telling a tale of human origins, where the first people were all females and were horrified and confused when the first boys were born. I really enjoyed it--A.
purplcrosswords's review against another edition
4.0
Now! What is it about all these terrible ratings? Accusations of sexism? Of the text lacking quality/being boring? I can identify so little with previous reviews of this work that I made it a point to write a review for this one.
I had never read Lessing before and when I read the synopsis for this one I knew that it was just meant to be. It is definitely not what I had expected – I had hoped it would be a cleverer version of Herland, maybe. It does share certain similarities with Gilman’s separatist female utopia, such as the usage of type characters instead of actual people, which further identifies both works as fables of humanity. However, The Cleft is very little like Herland as in it does not focus on the ‘before men’ but instead on the ‘after’; and there is close to none utopic elements in this scenario.
The premise is simple: women came first. Then one day, a boy was born. They think the child’s defective, but then ‘monsters’ keep being born, until the baby boys start being rescued by eagles and form a community of their own on the other side of the mountain. The most interesting moment in the text is precisely the beginning, gruesome and intriguing, indicating both genders as criminals against one another. From there, the story assumes the shape of a quasi-parody of traits generally attributed to males and females. Meanwhile, to further complicate matters, the narrative is put together by a Roman senator-wannabe who remarks on the earlier civilization and compares it to his own.
This book is clearly not preaching anything about human evolution; instead, its objective is to give us food for thought in what concerns the often troublesome relations between genders. Read it if you do not want to take for granted the patterns of those relations. ‘Cleft’ or ‘squirt’: the only thing clear is that there can’t be one without the other.
booklooker's review against another edition
4.0
Very interesting- the construction of this historical myth doesn’t work out in the end since the terms used seem to oscillate between individuals and groups.
However, the book is still intriguing and makes you think about how history is written - using individuals /group terminology. Or st least it got me thinking about that!
However, the book is still intriguing and makes you think about how history is written - using individuals /group terminology. Or st least it got me thinking about that!
katredmond's review against another edition
1.0
I read this entire book and have no clue what it is about. It wasn't the worst but I think this is has sealed the deal that me and Doris Lessing are not compatible.