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A review by brughiera
Love, Again by Doris Lessing
4.0
In this book, Lessing demonstrates her ability to get under the skin of her characters delving into their inner selves. This is particularly the case with the protagonist, Sarah, but also for Stephen. In line with her tendency to address uncomfortable issues, she looks at desperate passion, its unfolding and consequences among two people who would normally be considered, particularly in the case of Sarah herself, to be beyond such feelings. It feels almost indecent for a sixty-five year old woman to admit to such pangs and even anguish, yet Lessing is able to make us feel that there is nothing imagined about these feelings but that they are real. The similarity of the emotional states of Sarah and Stephen contributes to their easy friendship and to Sarah's understanding of Stephen's obsession with Julie Vairon and his mental state of desperation eventually leading to his suicide. A stronger character, she is able to move beyond - outgrow? - her passions which remain unconsummated.
The Julie Vairon story and production provides a vehicle around which the whole novel is woven, setting the stage for Sarah's encounters with the other characters and, in its own story a counterpoint for the passions of the people involved in the production. It is as if the tragic loves of Julie sensitize the novel's characters with respect to their own emotional involvements, and nearly everyone is emotionally involved usually in an unhappy way. Perhaps the exception is Bill's relationship with Sandy, but that itself is the cause of anguish not only to Sarah but also for Molly. The success of the Vairon production also spells the end of Sarah's particular relationship with her colleagues at the Green Bird Theatre and an evolution to another phase of her life.
In her creation of Sarah, Lessing reminds us of the vitality of older people at the same time as underlining the realization that " What she could not face (had to keep bringing herself face to face with) was that any girl at all, no matter how ill-favoured, had one thing she had not. And would never have again".
The Julie Vairon story and production provides a vehicle around which the whole novel is woven, setting the stage for Sarah's encounters with the other characters and, in its own story a counterpoint for the passions of the people involved in the production. It is as if the tragic loves of Julie sensitize the novel's characters with respect to their own emotional involvements, and nearly everyone is emotionally involved usually in an unhappy way. Perhaps the exception is Bill's relationship with Sandy, but that itself is the cause of anguish not only to Sarah but also for Molly. The success of the Vairon production also spells the end of Sarah's particular relationship with her colleagues at the Green Bird Theatre and an evolution to another phase of her life.
In her creation of Sarah, Lessing reminds us of the vitality of older people at the same time as underlining the realization that " What she could not face (had to keep bringing herself face to face with) was that any girl at all, no matter how ill-favoured, had one thing she had not. And would never have again".