Scan barcode
sarahlogan's review
4.0
What a strange book. The first half is the fictional life Lessing creates for her parents in England, an act of love giving them the life she feels they would have been their most happy; the second half is non-fictional, their actual, hard life in Southern Rhodesia in the years between WW1 and WW2. As always with Lessing, both parts are so vivid and rich and brave.
Growing up in Zimbabwe, there were stories of Lessing and her life there; this book, in explaining what her childhood was like, has made a lot more sense of these stories for me.
Growing up in Zimbabwe, there were stories of Lessing and her life there; this book, in explaining what her childhood was like, has made a lot more sense of these stories for me.
canadianbookworm's review
4.0
This is a fascinating book on Lessing's parents, Alfred Taylor and Emily McVeagh. The first part of the book is a fictional life of the two, where Lessing gives them different happier, yet not perfect lives. This is followed by an explanation where she explains what influenced her choices for the fictional lives. The last part consists of a number of chapters discussing Alfred and Emily's real lives and Doris' experience of them.
Alfred had wanted to be a farmer, but lost a leg in the first World War and had various ailments, including post-traumatic stress disorder (untreated as it often was then) that came out of his wartime experiences. Emily was a nurse at the Royal Free Hospital and became a matron at an unusually young age. The two met when Emily nursed Alfred following his injuries in the war. After the war the couple went to Persia for a few years and then took a farm in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Lessing's issues with her mother have appeared in many of her other works, but she discusses them here as a generational issue, arguing in favor of women working. Lessing is open about her family, recognizing her own issues in the relationships, but also compassionate in reflecting upon her parents and the lives they ended up with. As she says in her forward, she hopes they would approve the lives she has given them.
Alfred had wanted to be a farmer, but lost a leg in the first World War and had various ailments, including post-traumatic stress disorder (untreated as it often was then) that came out of his wartime experiences. Emily was a nurse at the Royal Free Hospital and became a matron at an unusually young age. The two met when Emily nursed Alfred following his injuries in the war. After the war the couple went to Persia for a few years and then took a farm in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Lessing's issues with her mother have appeared in many of her other works, but she discusses them here as a generational issue, arguing in favor of women working. Lessing is open about her family, recognizing her own issues in the relationships, but also compassionate in reflecting upon her parents and the lives they ended up with. As she says in her forward, she hopes they would approve the lives she has given them.
virgi's review
3.0
Non leggetelo tutto d'un fiato.
E' un libro di respiri diversi, lunghi e corti.
Va bevuto a piccoli sorsi.
E soprattutto con una pausa decisa fra la prima e la seconda parte: bisogna concedersi il tempo di assimilare le vite fittizie che la Lessing regala ai propri genitori se la Gran Bretagna non fosse mai stata coinvolta nella Prima Guerra Mondiale, prepararsi al distacco da quei personaggi che sembrano ancora piu' reali di quelli descritti nella seconda parte, quando la Lessing narra la vita che e' stata.
E' un libro di respiri diversi, lunghi e corti.
Va bevuto a piccoli sorsi.
E soprattutto con una pausa decisa fra la prima e la seconda parte: bisogna concedersi il tempo di assimilare le vite fittizie che la Lessing regala ai propri genitori se la Gran Bretagna non fosse mai stata coinvolta nella Prima Guerra Mondiale, prepararsi al distacco da quei personaggi che sembrano ancora piu' reali di quelli descritti nella seconda parte, quando la Lessing narra la vita che e' stata.
More...