Doris Lessing
Paperback | Pages: 236 pages Rating: 3.61 | 2001 Users | 189 Reviews
Point Regarding Books The Summer Before the Dark
| Title | : | The Summer Before the Dark |
| Author | : | Doris Lessing |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 236 pages |
| Published | : | June 17th 2002 by Paladin (first published 1973) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Literature. Novels. Nobel Prize. European Literature. British Literature |
Explanation Toward Books The Summer Before the Dark
A middle-aged woman's search for freedom, this is classic Lessing, here given a stunning new image. Her four children have flown, her husband is otherwise occupied, and after twenty years of being a good wife and mother, Kate Brown is free for a summer of adventure. She plunges into an affair with a younger man, travelling abroad with him, and on her return to England, meets an extraordinary young woman whose charm and freedom of spirit encourages Kate in her own liberation. Kate's new life has brought her a strange unhappiness, but as the summer months unfold, a darker, disquieting journey begins, devastating in its consequences.Declare Books Supposing The Summer Before the Dark
| Original Title: | The Summer Before the Dark |
| ISBN: | 0586088997 (ISBN13: 9780586088999) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Regarding Books The Summer Before the Dark
Ratings: 3.61 From 2001 Users | 189 ReviewsComment On Regarding Books The Summer Before the Dark
Pretty excellentAfter an aborted attempt at the Golden Notebook in my 20s I've kept away from Doris Lessing. When she was awarded the nobel prize I thought I should try her again, and this was all the local bookshop had from her 'oeuvre'. There are some devastatingly accurate chapters on becoming a middle-aged woman, but it lacked structure and meandered (boringly) in the second half.
I am at a loss for words. I'll be honest - I did not get much of what Doris Lessing was talking about yet - maybe - I feel exactly like she wants me to. Kate is searching. Kate is looking. At herself. At how people perceive her. And it is taking a toll on her. This was something I felt in a refined way after I finished Fire on the Mountain by Anita Desai. Reading Doris is unsettling in a crude way. It's too real. There's no point to it all. There's no storyline meandering to come to a conclusion
Not bad, but I got impatient with the main character. I felt she got a bit self-indulgent at the end. I don't remember anything "devastating in its consequences" either (blurb, you lie! or at least exaggerate!). Originally 3 stars but downgraded to 2 because even though I read it only five months ago I've already forgotten most of it. Any book that falls out of my head that fast can only be a meh.
This is wonderful...She (Kate Brown) is 1/4 Portugese married to a lovely Englishman for many years & now at age 45 finds herself suddenly called into active duty as a bona fide Portugese translator...and into a new lifestyle....At Chapter 2 she is embarking on travel to Istanbul, Turkey....I am already amazed at the clever opportunities that this author uses!On the cover of my 1968 printed paperback I found and bought from Bookmans, also The Golden Notebook is also being promoted! I fear
http://wineandabook.com/2014/04/15/re...GENERAL SPOILER ALERT: If youve never read The Summer Before the Dark, and would like to discover it with no previous knowledge of the plot, I suggest you stop here. Since it was published in 1973, and because Lessing is a NOBEL PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR, Im writing with the assumption that Im the one late to the party (which is usually the case) and many of you lovers of literary fiction have probably either read it already or are super familiar with the plot.
This book is perhaps too character-driven. (Stop dreaming and go get your hair done, you pathetic old bat!) And yet, I was struck by how much I could relate to Kate Brown--the capable wife/mother who reluctantly embarks on the standard issue midlife crisis, and returns to her London suburb only after an exhausting series of salty pan-Euro adventures. Doris Lessing showers her reader with all imaginable foils of Kate Brown--all, that is, except the one I wanted most to meet: the Kate who had
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