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serru's review against another edition
2.0
A novella about two female friends who enter into affairs with each other's teenage sons, and the story plays out fairly predictably, in my opinion. The way it is written is far less trashy than the taboo premise suggests, as it doesn't focus heavily on the romance or passion of the affairs as you might expect. The writing actually feels pretty distancing in that the plot moves quite fast with not much exploration of the characters' feelings. It's mostly just descriptions of the actions the characters take with some lines describing how they feel but it feels like I don't really get to go through all the emotions with them as a reader, I'm just sort of observing it all from afar. The beginning started pretty strong but once the affairs started, I felt like the writing devolved into paragraphs like 'This happens. And then this happens. And then this happens. Then the character felt this emotion. Then this other thing happens." Lots of clunky telling and not showing. Really, for me, the best writing is in the very first section of the book that takes places years in the future, when the women are grandmothers.
The most interesting part of the story for me is not the affairs themselves but the friendship between the two mothers and how intertwined their lives (and consequently, their sons' lives) are. I would have liked to see Lessing expand the story more to explore the friendship between the sons, how these relationships with each other's mothers affected the way they saw other women, etc. I just felt there was a lot of potential here for a more interesting story but it ended up being a pretty straightforward, predictable (and a little boring) tale of taboo.
Edit: Watched the movie, I think it handles all the relationships a little better, has far more emotional depth, and makes it more obvious just how enmeshed the four of them are. It's better than the book but I wouldn't call it a great movie either.
The most interesting part of the story for me is not the affairs themselves but the friendship between the two mothers and how intertwined their lives (and consequently, their sons' lives) are. I would have liked to see Lessing expand the story more to explore the friendship between the sons, how these relationships with each other's mothers affected the way they saw other women, etc. I just felt there was a lot of potential here for a more interesting story but it ended up being a pretty straightforward, predictable (and a little boring) tale of taboo.
Edit: Watched the movie, I think it handles all the relationships a little better, has far more emotional depth, and makes it more obvious just how enmeshed the four of them are. It's better than the book but I wouldn't call it a great movie either.
natzcoco's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
briandice's review against another edition
2.0
I imagine that if a reader's first Vonnegut was Galapagos they might wonder what all the fuss was about - so Proustitute's warning about this being a lesser Lessing, as well as many trusted GR friends' accolades of her other works, I'm fully prepared to say I just got unlucky on choosing this novella (republished as a one-off, as I learned from Prou that this is one of the four novellas from [b:The Grandmothers|400608|The Grandmothers|Doris Lessing|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356456238s/400608.jpg|2107289]) as my DL starter.
The characters, the idea for the story, the dialogue and pacing - not much of it worked for me at all. And then there were a few of these clunkers:
And alone, she felt uneasiness, and, indeed, awe. It was mad his demand on her. It really did seem that he had refused to think she might grow old. Mad! But perhaps lunacy is one of the great invisible wheels that keep our world turning.
I'm not about to give up on Lessing - and I'll take Prou's advice and read her work from the 60s / 70s as my next sampling.
loumagoo's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
liadra's review against another edition
2.0
To say that I was disappointed by this novella would be accurate. I have fond memories of reading "The Fifth Child" and confess that I was expecting something on par with that in quality of writing. Instead I found Adore rather choppy and almost abrupt. There seemed too much unsaid at times, and too much said at others. It's a very interesting premise for a book, and one I had hoped to enjoy more. Ah well, I have read worse, and expect that I will again.
oohsarracuda's review against another edition
2.0
I know it's a novella and not a novel, and thus did not allow for much in the way of character depth and exploration, but I really did not understand anything about any of these characters. I had no sense of who they were or why they did the things they did. Unsatisfying and, honestly, a little icky.
gabieowleyess's review against another edition
3.0
Reading Rush Book #3 - Read A Book “Completely Outside”
I absolutely LOVE this movie, so I was very excited to hear that it was based off of this novella. I was interested in the story because I love the movie so much, otherwise I probably would not have liked this as much as I did, the movie I eons better than the book, but this was still a fun read.
I absolutely LOVE this movie, so I was very excited to hear that it was based off of this novella. I was interested in the story because I love the movie so much, otherwise I probably would not have liked this as much as I did, the movie I eons better than the book, but this was still a fun read.
twiinklex's review against another edition
3.0
"Liz said to Roz she was so happy it made her afraid. 'How could anything possibly be as wonderful?' she whispered, afraid to be overheard - by whom? No one was anywhere near. What she meant was, and Roz knew she did, that such an intense happiness must have its punishment."
Oh geez, I don't know how I feel about this book exactly. I wasn't expecting to like it but the further I read on, the more I got sucked in. And it's a very unique book because it was sooo taboo without an ounce of sleaze or any sexual scenes/descriptions. The writing style is also very different from what I'm used to as the author uses A LOT of commas.
I wouldn't have minded a longer book but funnily, at the same time, I think the length was just nice.
Now I wanna watch the movie 😂
Oh geez, I don't know how I feel about this book exactly. I wasn't expecting to like it but the further I read on, the more I got sucked in. And it's a very unique book because it was sooo taboo without an ounce of sleaze or any sexual scenes/descriptions. The writing style is also very different from what I'm used to as the author uses A LOT of commas.
I wouldn't have minded a longer book but funnily, at the same time, I think the length was just nice.
Now I wanna watch the movie 😂
tytti's review against another edition
4.0
Yes, I admit, I saw the movie and wanted to read the book next, or the novella in this case. I had never even heard of it before and would have thought that I would read [b:On Cats|4794097|On Cats|Doris Lessing|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1372045677s/4794097.jpg|4859165] from Lessing before anything else. This isn't even the right edition, so it messes up my page count (that one had four stories and I am not interested in them at the moment). Oh, well...
So I liked the story, hardly a surprise there, considering that I already knew what was going to happen. It had weird, even a bit disturbing relationships but I like weird, it makes things interesting. I am not sure if I like Lessing's writing, though. I read this in English and haven't read anything else from her before so I might be missing something. I wasn't always sure what she meant by some sentences, but then again, I usually like when everything isn't spelt out. I also both liked and disliked the ending. I would have liked to read more about them but I also like open endings because then I can "write" my own. I guess I just can't have it both ways.
So I liked the story, hardly a surprise there, considering that I already knew what was going to happen. It had weird, even a bit disturbing relationships but I like weird, it makes things interesting. I am not sure if I like Lessing's writing, though. I read this in English and haven't read anything else from her before so I might be missing something. I wasn't always sure what she meant by some sentences, but then again, I usually like when everything isn't spelt out. I also both liked and disliked the ending. I would have liked to read more about them but I also like open endings because then I can "write" my own. I guess I just can't have it both ways.
amyjoy's review against another edition
2.0
Meh. It was all right, I guess. The love affairs were a little weird but not sexy enough to be interesting, and the ending was super abrupt.