A review by ferris_mx
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

4.0

One "quick" read - I feel like I just got the lay of the land a bit. There's a lot here, it would take more and more careful reads to really understand. I did get one of the author's points - the book illustrates the challenges of channeling the richer complexities of real life into the novel. Names and events in the internal novel Free Women have echoes in the internal author Anna's life. I can see why the author was surprised the novel was considered feminist, but I do agree that it is a feminist novel. The female characters just want more and better. They want equality. The men are absolutely atrocious - I can't say we've come that far since, unfortunately. They sound like they fell out of a Henry Miller novel.