Reviews

الحلم الجميل by Doris Lessing, دوريس ليسنج

notasilkycat's review against another edition

4.0

The Sweetest Dream was my first novel by Doris Lessing – and though I am definitely will read more of her works in the future – I have quite uncomfortable feelings about this one. To begin with this is a novel written by a very tired woman. The level of fatality and deep frustration with human beings here is unbearably high. It feels like all characters in this book serve one goal only – to prove the point that our world is full of spoiled adults who once have been spoiled and ungrateful children brought up by emotionally crippled women with a severe savior complex. And all such women have left is just die when they reach a point of exhaustion, letting other women to continue on with neverending task. One more issue I have with this book is its some scrappy structure – at first we have all these tedious Franses’s tries to be the Mother Earth and have to watch how little good comes from them. Then we suddenly find ourselves in Africa – by the way it is my favorite section of the book despite of black and white tone which Lessing used here – and it feels like you ride on a bike downhill, unable to stop. In the end I felt tired exactly as Sylvia was, happy me not with the same outcome. Anyway this was a thought-provoking read and Doris Lessing is a goddess indeed.

carlymford's review against another edition

5.0

This is the first Doris Lessing book I ever read. I was 19 and the only real literature I had read (by choice) were classics like Austen and the Brontes. This book means so much to me and is one of my favorite books.

bird_on_a_wire's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

kay_ampersand's review against another edition

2.0

Some interesting commentary here and there but mostly subsumed by aimless writing, stereotypical and sometimes outright offensive characterizations, and meandering propaganda.

shukriabdullah's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

3.0