Scan barcode
A review by maigahannatu
The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Mary is a town girl, content with being single until she hears people speaking disparagingly of her. Then she feels she should marry, so when Dick, a hard working but unsuccessful farmer, proposes to her, she jumps at the chance. But the isolation, the heat, the poverty, the loveless marriage, and a revengeful relationship take their toll.
This book is not a happy one. I feel sorry for Dick. He tries so hard in his marriage and his farming. The book also shows the ways in which the whites of Rhodesia kept power and how Mary lost that power, of the evils of apartheid. The descriptions of Africa are beautiful.... The heat, the rain in its season, the sound of the cicadas.... Then there is the psychological undercurrent of trying to understand what made each person like they are.
The book is dark, but never graphically horrible. I could not put it down.
This book is not a happy one. I feel sorry for Dick. He tries so hard in his marriage and his farming. The book also shows the ways in which the whites of Rhodesia kept power and how Mary lost that power, of the evils of apartheid. The descriptions of Africa are beautiful.... The heat, the rain in its season, the sound of the cicadas.... Then there is the psychological undercurrent of trying to understand what made each person like they are.
The book is dark, but never graphically horrible. I could not put it down.