The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing

Well, our discussion was one of strong, opposing views and opinions.

Five of us met and two thought it was an awful book (one even said it was the worst we had ever read in our group and we have read over 60 books!). It was, she said, dull and dated (and Charles Dickens isn’t dated!).

Given that Doris Lessing has won the Nobel Prize for literature this was an unbelievable book – why did she write it? What was the point?

Another of our group hadn’t wanted to read this book at all because it was a terrible subject. And another had not come this evening because she had not enjoyed the read.

And then, some of us enjoyed the read.

One loved it and saw it as a brilliant, black comedy. The characters were hilarious because they were total ‘bullshit’. This is not a book to be taken at face value.

Added to this, another pointed out how cleverly the different stories were knitted together so no thread was left unfinished.

But still, it was a book about immature, idealistic, middle-classed, no good waste of spacers! Or, were they just lonely, vulnerable teenagers?

Whatever the opinion, we talked for almost an hour, flicking back and forth to find text that had made us think. We explored the politics (which, we all agreed, were interesting) and drew on our own experiences of terrorism and protests and brushes with people that may have had similar lives to Alice, the main character, and her housemates.

We concluded that despite her seemingly good, even motherly, intentions all around Alice was destruction. She didn't appear to notice and she was unlikely to change her ways.

Would we recommend this book? I think it’s fair to say it's a 50/50 Yes/No! But, we will try another Doris Lessing one day.

Our Summer read is The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman which we will discuss our thoughts on this one on Thursday 26th July at 8pm in The Hundred.

Reading Choices for June/July 2018

Here are our Summer read choices.

The Book of Dust, Volume 1, La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

Eleven-year-old Malcolm Polstead and his dæmon, Asta, live with his parents at the Trout Inn near Oxford. Across the River Thames (which Malcolm navigates often using his beloved canoe, a boat by the name of La Belle Sauvage) is the Godstow Priory where the nuns live. Malcolm learns they have a guest with them; a baby by the name of Lyra Belacqua.

This is a rip-roaring adventure book, which manages to throw in a boat-load of characters and scenes, despite never leaving the Thames. Of course, this is a different world, and a due to circumstances that emerge in the book, a very different Thames. The story is - once it really gets going - about two characters on a journey, and it is reminiscent of many other similar stories, being somewhat episodic and lacking in all but the most basic overall plot.

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf's singular technique in Mrs Dalloway heralds a break with the traditional novel form and reflects a genuine humanity and a concern with the experiences that both enrich and stultify existence.

Society hostess, Clarissa Dalloway is giving a party. Her thoughts and sensations on that one day, and the interior monologues of others whose lives are interwoven with hers gradually reveal the characters of the central protagonists. Clarissa's life is touched by tragedy as the events in her day run parallel to those of Septimus Warren Smith, whose madness escalates as his life draws toward inevitable suicide.

Queen of the Elephants by Mark Shand

Mark Shand trekked 300 miles across East Benghal and Assam on the back of an elephant with Parbato Barua, the foremost and only female elephant trainer in all India. This book describes the experiences shared during this remarkable journey - joining a government 'elephant squad' together with local villagers to chase a band of wild elephants off a tea estate, and making a stop at Parbati's ancestral home, now a virtual shrine to her father's lifelong work with elephants. The importance of this ancient knowledge becomes clear: if not preserved, the Asian elephant stands an even greater chance of disappearing altogether.



We will choose our next book at our meeting at 8pm on Thursday 24th May, at The Hundred when we will discuss our current read: The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing.