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A review by nferre
Love, Again by Doris Lessing
2.0
I had a lot of hope for this book. Doris Lessing is, after all, a Nobel Prize winner in literature. Briefly, it's about a 65 year old woman who wants to love once again and feel passion for someone.
The story is about a theater group who come across the true story of a woman, Julie, and her varied adventures. They decide to mount a musical, a play, based on this woman. I really enjoyed the first third of the book as Julie's story was told and her background explored, how Julie's music was incorporated into the play, how Stephen, one of the participants falls in love with the idea of this woman, (now dead for more than 75 years). Where it fell apart was in the endless nuances of the play - the amount of characters' names linked to actors playing them (double the amount of names to keep track of). And then, the fact that this 65 year old woman who is said to look 45 years old (I've never seen a caucasian woman who pulled that off without surgery), doesn't fall in love with a younger man - she is attracted to the under 30 guys, and supposedly they're attracted to her? Real attraction? My son and all his friends are in their late 20's. All professionals. All serious. I'm 53. There is no way they would be romantically attractive to me. They're just too young. This is not a woman who lives in the world of high fashion or film, where facials and botox, mini-tucks and lipo are routine; where money can make a dud look like a diamond and a 65 year old look enormously attractive. This is not a 50 year old woman in incredible shape. And there's a HUGE difference. It just creeped me out instead of inspiring me.
BTW - this book has been on my shelf for years, I just forgot to register it.
The story is about a theater group who come across the true story of a woman, Julie, and her varied adventures. They decide to mount a musical, a play, based on this woman. I really enjoyed the first third of the book as Julie's story was told and her background explored, how Julie's music was incorporated into the play, how Stephen, one of the participants falls in love with the idea of this woman, (now dead for more than 75 years). Where it fell apart was in the endless nuances of the play - the amount of characters' names linked to actors playing them (double the amount of names to keep track of). And then, the fact that this 65 year old woman who is said to look 45 years old (I've never seen a caucasian woman who pulled that off without surgery), doesn't fall in love with a younger man - she is attracted to the under 30 guys, and supposedly they're attracted to her? Real attraction? My son and all his friends are in their late 20's. All professionals. All serious. I'm 53. There is no way they would be romantically attractive to me. They're just too young. This is not a woman who lives in the world of high fashion or film, where facials and botox, mini-tucks and lipo are routine; where money can make a dud look like a diamond and a 65 year old look enormously attractive. This is not a 50 year old woman in incredible shape. And there's a HUGE difference. It just creeped me out instead of inspiring me.
BTW - this book has been on my shelf for years, I just forgot to register it.