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A review by tenmillionhardbacks
The Sweetest Dream by Doris Lessing
5.0
Loved this with the power of a thousand suns. There are some parts I read over and over, both from enjoying them so much and so as not to finish the book too quickly.
The tale of three generations spanning the 20th century, bound by a house in Hampstead where an extra spare bed can always be found, must surely be one of Lessing's finest. From Germany before World War I, via London as the Sixties begin to swing, to the fictional African country of Zimlia (a stand in for Zimbabwe, or Rhodesia as it was when Lessing was growing up), it is ambitious in scale but dazzlingly realised. By the end, the reader feels as if these are old friends, you could almost wander into Frances's kitchen for a cup of tea and to catch up on how everyone is doing.
As well as living, loving and all the usual stuff in between, reluctant patriarch Johnny guards the flame of Revolution, prepared to sacrifice family, loves, children and ultimately whole populations on the altar of ideology.
The shift to Africa and the machinations of international aid is at first a jarring one, so firmly ensconced are we in Julia and France's house. However, it is here that Doris Lessing's power as a writer really shines through, as deft with the small details of character's lives as she is with the march of history.
The Sweetest Dream is the story of how we got to where we are, showing that the family ties that hold us the closest are not necessarily the ones between blood relations. I think Johnny and Frances are also the perfect demonstration that those who theorise would not get as far without the ones who roll up their sleeves and get on with making life better for those around them.
A great read and one I am sure I will be coming back to before too long.
The tale of three generations spanning the 20th century, bound by a house in Hampstead where an extra spare bed can always be found, must surely be one of Lessing's finest. From Germany before World War I, via London as the Sixties begin to swing, to the fictional African country of Zimlia (a stand in for Zimbabwe, or Rhodesia as it was when Lessing was growing up), it is ambitious in scale but dazzlingly realised. By the end, the reader feels as if these are old friends, you could almost wander into Frances's kitchen for a cup of tea and to catch up on how everyone is doing.
As well as living, loving and all the usual stuff in between, reluctant patriarch Johnny guards the flame of Revolution, prepared to sacrifice family, loves, children and ultimately whole populations on the altar of ideology.
The shift to Africa and the machinations of international aid is at first a jarring one, so firmly ensconced are we in Julia and France's house. However, it is here that Doris Lessing's power as a writer really shines through, as deft with the small details of character's lives as she is with the march of history.
The Sweetest Dream is the story of how we got to where we are, showing that the family ties that hold us the closest are not necessarily the ones between blood relations. I think Johnny and Frances are also the perfect demonstration that those who theorise would not get as far without the ones who roll up their sleeves and get on with making life better for those around them.
A great read and one I am sure I will be coming back to before too long.