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The Diaries of Jane Somers #1-2
The Diaries of Jane Somers
Jane Somers, a widowed, middle-aged journalist, describes the development of a chance friendship with an elderly woman and an improbable romance with a man Jane meets on the street
502 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
About the author
Doris Lessing
480 books2,814 followersBoth of her parents were British: her father, who had been crippled in World War I, was a clerk in the Imperial Bank of Persia; her mother had been a nurse. In 1925, lured by the promise of getting rich through maize farming, the family moved to the British colony in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Like other women writers from southern African who did not graduate from high school (such as Olive Schreiner and Nadine Gordimer), Lessing made herself into a self-educated intellectual.
In 1937 she moved to Salisbury, where she worked as a telephone operator for a year. At nineteen, she married Frank Wisdom, and later had two children. A few years later, feeling trapped in a persona that she feared would destroy her, she left her family, remaining in Salisbury. Soon she was drawn to the like-minded members of the Left Book Club, a group of Communists "who read everything, and who did not think it remarkable to read." Gottfried Lessing was a central member of the group; shortly after she joined, they married and had a son.
During the postwar years, Lessing became increasingly disillusioned with the Communist movement, which she left altogether in 1954. By 1949, Lessing had moved to London with her young son. That year, she also published her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, and began her career as a professional writer.
In June 1995 she received an Honorary Degree from Harvard University. Also in 1995, she visited South Africa to see her daughter and grandchildren, and to promote her autobiography. It was her first visit since being forcibly removed in 1956 for her political views. Ironically, she is welcomed now as a writer acclaimed for the very topics for which she was banished 40 years ago.
In 2001 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize in Literature, one of Spain's most important distinctions, for her brilliant literary works in defense of freedom and Third World causes. She also received the David Cohen British Literature Prize.
She was on the shortlist for the first Man Booker International Prize in 2005. In 2007 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
(Extracted from the pamphlet: A Reader's Guide to The Golden Notebook & Under My Skin, HarperPerennial, 1995. Full text available on www.dorislessing.org).
In 1937 she moved to Salisbury, where she worked as a telephone operator for a year. At nineteen, she married Frank Wisdom, and later had two children. A few years later, feeling trapped in a persona that she feared would destroy her, she left her family, remaining in Salisbury. Soon she was drawn to the like-minded members of the Left Book Club, a group of Communists "who read everything, and who did not think it remarkable to read." Gottfried Lessing was a central member of the group; shortly after she joined, they married and had a son.
During the postwar years, Lessing became increasingly disillusioned with the Communist movement, which she left altogether in 1954. By 1949, Lessing had moved to London with her young son. That year, she also published her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, and began her career as a professional writer.
In June 1995 she received an Honorary Degree from Harvard University. Also in 1995, she visited South Africa to see her daughter and grandchildren, and to promote her autobiography. It was her first visit since being forcibly removed in 1956 for her political views. Ironically, she is welcomed now as a writer acclaimed for the very topics for which she was banished 40 years ago.
In 2001 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize in Literature, one of Spain's most important distinctions, for her brilliant literary works in defense of freedom and Third World causes. She also received the David Cohen British Literature Prize.
She was on the shortlist for the first Man Booker International Prize in 2005. In 2007 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
(Extracted from the pamphlet: A Reader's Guide to The Golden Notebook & Under My Skin, HarperPerennial, 1995. Full text available on www.dorislessing.org).
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August 2, 2011The book left me speechless at moments, particularly the first part of the diary. It speaks of ageing with such intensity and humanity that I believe I will forever feel the impact of it in me.
December 20, 2014
My piece—entitled "Generation Gap: On Reading Doris Lessing’s The Diaries of Jane Somers While Watching My Father Die"—was published in Berfrois in June 2014: http://www.berfrois.com/2014/06/k-tho...
July 30, 2011
The Diaries of Jane Somers is actually 2 short novels, written by famous author Doris Lessing under the pen name of Jane Somers as part of an experiment to see if her writing could get published without her famous name. The stories are written in a diary format by Jane, a widowed editor of a glossy London fashion magazine. Jane is in her mid-50's and exudes competence, not only in her job, but in her impeccable appearance, home and relationships. In the first story, The Diary of a Good Neighbor, Jane helps out Maudie Fowler, an elderly woman who she runs into at a pharmacy. She gradually gets drawn into Maudie's life, initially in a superficial way, bringing her treats and drinking tea at her dingy flat. But as Jane gets to know this bitter and fierce old lady, Jane's picture perfect life changes and she becomes emotionally tied to Maudie.
I loved the descriptions of Maudie and her life. Poor and feeble, the daily chores of finding food and keeping clean, while trying to maintain a bit of dignity seem almost insurmountable to this old woman. Although the descriptions go on for pages and pages with minimum action, I was swept away by this story. Initially, I felt sorry for Maudie and hoped that I would never be like her. But by the end of the story I had admiration and respect for this old warrior - what a character.
The second novel was not as enjoyable for me. Jane meets a strange man and falls instantly in love, only the man is married and does not want to leave his wife. Their relationship continues in a strange way as they meet regularly while being stalked by his daughter and her dysfunctional niece. The writing continued to captivate me, but the plot seemed bizarre and unsettling.
I loved the descriptions of Maudie and her life. Poor and feeble, the daily chores of finding food and keeping clean, while trying to maintain a bit of dignity seem almost insurmountable to this old woman. Although the descriptions go on for pages and pages with minimum action, I was swept away by this story. Initially, I felt sorry for Maudie and hoped that I would never be like her. But by the end of the story I had admiration and respect for this old warrior - what a character.
The second novel was not as enjoyable for me. Jane meets a strange man and falls instantly in love, only the man is married and does not want to leave his wife. Their relationship continues in a strange way as they meet regularly while being stalked by his daughter and her dysfunctional niece. The writing continued to captivate me, but the plot seemed bizarre and unsettling.
April 6, 2009
There was a very negative review of Martin Amis's Yellow Dog that people were talking about earlier this week, where the reviewer commented that, in England, some authors are published no matter what they write. It's unfortunately true. Doris Lessing didn't like this, and decided to see what would happen if she submitted a manuscript under another identity; these two books are the result. She did indeed get rejected a few times, before the publisher who took her first novel accepted it. But I'm not sure it was a completely fair test, because their stated motivation was "that it reminded them of Doris Lessing".
The books are among Lessing's better ones. I found Jane Somers a very sympathetic character. Since the author was disguising her identity, she's not the usual left-wing feminist heroine, and none the worse for that. I wish more famous authors had Lessing's courage. As far as I know, she's the only person in recent years who's tried this trick.
The books are among Lessing's better ones. I found Jane Somers a very sympathetic character. Since the author was disguising her identity, she's not the usual left-wing feminist heroine, and none the worse for that. I wish more famous authors had Lessing's courage. As far as I know, she's the only person in recent years who's tried this trick.
February 22, 2022
4,5⭐️
Mit der Lektüre hat Frau Lessing mich derbe durch die Mangel gedreht.
London, 70er bis frühen 80er Jahre
Der Teufel trägt Prada meet‘s die Pflegehölle-Alt werden ist scheiße oder Würde! Wo hast Du Dich versteckt?!
Irgendwie haben mich viele Passagen an Stoner erinnert.
Episodenhaft erfahren wir aus Janes Leben, der Chefin einer Zeitschrift ( Mode, Essen,Trinken, Lifestyle), die durch das Zusammentreffen mit der Ü90 jährigen Maudi gewaltig ihre Einstellungen zu ihrem bisherigen Leben und dem Umgang mit Krankheiten und Tod hinterfragen muss.
Ein großer Teil des Buches dreht sich um die Treffen zwischen Maudi und Jane- deren Gespräche und damit auch Rückblenden in Maudis Leben bzw Janes Reflektionen.
Dazu kommen die Familiären Probleme ihrer Freundin und Co-Chefin der Zeitschrift, die Konflikte mit ihrer Schwester und deren Kindern, Auszüge aus dem Leben einer Haushaltshilfe und diverser anderer Personen.
Im Grunde ein kleines Gesellschaftspanorama mit politischen Sidekicks.
Die Erzählwucht Doris Lessings ist einmalig.
Warum keine 5⭐️?
Da das Buch nur 340 Seiten hat, sind einige Nebenstränge, von denen es sehr viele gab, für mich etwas in der Luft hängen geblieben.
Mit der Lektüre hat Frau Lessing mich derbe durch die Mangel gedreht.
London, 70er bis frühen 80er Jahre
Der Teufel trägt Prada meet‘s die Pflegehölle-Alt werden ist scheiße oder Würde! Wo hast Du Dich versteckt?!
Irgendwie haben mich viele Passagen an Stoner erinnert.
Episodenhaft erfahren wir aus Janes Leben, der Chefin einer Zeitschrift ( Mode, Essen,Trinken, Lifestyle), die durch das Zusammentreffen mit der Ü90 jährigen Maudi gewaltig ihre Einstellungen zu ihrem bisherigen Leben und dem Umgang mit Krankheiten und Tod hinterfragen muss.
Ein großer Teil des Buches dreht sich um die Treffen zwischen Maudi und Jane- deren Gespräche und damit auch Rückblenden in Maudis Leben bzw Janes Reflektionen.
Dazu kommen die Familiären Probleme ihrer Freundin und Co-Chefin der Zeitschrift, die Konflikte mit ihrer Schwester und deren Kindern, Auszüge aus dem Leben einer Haushaltshilfe und diverser anderer Personen.
Im Grunde ein kleines Gesellschaftspanorama mit politischen Sidekicks.
Die Erzählwucht Doris Lessings ist einmalig.
Warum keine 5⭐️?
Da das Buch nur 340 Seiten hat, sind einige Nebenstränge, von denen es sehr viele gab, für mich etwas in der Luft hängen geblieben.
September 8, 2016
MAJOR SPOILERS
Like many, I loved the first book and am very ambivalent about the second. Not, I hasten to add, that I found the second any less well written than the first , but that I hated the strange passivity into which the heroine Jane/Janna falls , and the way in which quite lesser characters patronise and use her, despite owing her any amount of loyalty and respect .
Janna has never mourned her mother or her late husband and, regarding the former at least, she carries much guilt about her non involvement in her mother's last years ,and non-help with her mother's mother death. This is serious stuff and Lessing handles it beautifully, in a completely un-clichéd manner ( no easy feat with such a topic) Her sister , early married with children compared to Janna's early widowed, career woman existence, did all the heavy lifting with their mother , and this comes home to roost in many ways, not least of which is her sister's ongoing bitterness that Janna's life is, so easy ,so free, so untrammelled. Whilst Janna's partner and long time closest friend Joyce is still her partner in the magazine Lilith they both run, Janna is free to enjoy her life, despite the sister' bitterness, and she does so. Nevertheless, she is drawn, almost against her will to befriend and help Maudie Fowler, old, ill, working class, difficult, demanding and, mostly , ungrateful. This part of the book was to me, the very best of Doris Lessing , not once are we spared anything of the dreadful indignities of old age and helplessness, right to the bitter end of Maudie's death and Janna's complex relationship with her. But also, we are made privy to the pride and indomitable spirit of Maudie, born and raised in a bygone era, where to give in was shame and death.
The departure of Joyce to America, (so as not to lose her husband who has informed her that if she doesn't go he will take his mistress instead - well I just can't go there with that , I have to say it made me so cross I tried to disregard it) kind of signifies Janna's descent , if I can put it that way, into allowing her life to be more or less at the mercy of others who feel she ought to be doing it tougher in some way . Her eldest niece comes to live with her and to be an intern at the magazine. She, basically, is Janna when young and will clearly be her successor. When she has found a boyfriend and feels ready , partly through Janna's mentoring ,she leaves Janna and moves in with him.
The second book has Janna perform the same role of helper with a another old lady , Annie, not as beloved to her as Maudie became, but still representing that running thread of the pre WW2 generation's spirit and intransigence (not to mention the complex and fraught relationships with the Social Services sector, that all-female world ). It also heralds the entrance of the younger niece and the man with whom Janna falls in love. Both of these people drive me perfectly insane . It is a testament I think, to Lessing's writing that she makes them seem utterly real, leaves one wanting to speak to them - shout at them in the niece Kate's case. I can't remember a damaged character in a book for whom I felt less sympathy. Kate spends her entire time lying around unwashed, eating biscuits with the headphones on . Oh, and visiting a squat whose members she has round and who trash Janna's pristine place. If taxed about anything she cries, gets frightened and has tantrums and flounces off.....and this continues for months and months and months. Other niece , successful Jill not only won't have her even to stay with her and her boyfriend but blames aunt Janna for not doing better by her. And their mother , Janna's sister, thinks similarly, only more so. The force of writing is such that I did believe that Janna would let this happen, against my will I was made to believe it !
As I believed in her falling in live with Richard, a handsome enigmatic American . Obviously married and just as obviously never going to do anything about that. Their relationship, never consummated, is based on fleeting meetings, kisses on park benches , hiding in dark restaurants and the like . Enter next infuriating young person, his daughter Kathleen ( at this point I wondered if maybe Kate and Kathleen were somehow the same person and Janna was hallucinating them both!) Kathleen follows them, appearing mournfully and silently outside restaurants or on the next park bench etc. She resists being spoken to or asked to come and talk , preferring to drift off into the rain until next time. Meanwhile Kate is still back at Janna's flat ,escalating her behaviour as she believes she needs more attention( Well, she does evidently, but professional help, one would have thought be more useful. Everyone acknowledges this at some level, but it never eventuates)
Eventually Richard's other child Matthew makes an entrance, coming to a rendezvous instead of his father . He has with him a photograph Janna gave Richard of herself when young and announces, amongst other things, that he loves Janna . For me the weakest part of the book is next, for Janna falls in love with him whilst disliking him totally. The dislike part is perfectly understandable, it's the in love part that isn't. Had this been written as desire, - for heaven knows Janna has been without physical love for a long time and the physical is important to her - I could have borne it , but in love? I don't think so ! Fortunately , nothing comes of it. Nor of the completely ( to me ) preposterous suggestion that the mournful Kathleen comes to live with Janna , when Richard and the rest of the family return to America. Kate by this time is going to live with Hannah, a worker the magazine, in her lesbian feminist commune. Lessing has Richard say some very unpleasant misogynist things about Hannah , indeed the whole last quarter of the book has characters defaming feminism and extolling blessed motherhood. It about this point I think, that I realised that all the male characters seem flawed in the same way - they are all, despite being successful in many ways , deeply inadequate at some level, all need propping up by women, not least in the area of ego and self worth. Heaven knows the female characters have flaws too, but these all seem different from each other , more varied, more complex.
A very interesting read, as is probably evident , I am still personally affected by it!
Like many, I loved the first book and am very ambivalent about the second. Not, I hasten to add, that I found the second any less well written than the first , but that I hated the strange passivity into which the heroine Jane/Janna falls , and the way in which quite lesser characters patronise and use her, despite owing her any amount of loyalty and respect .
Janna has never mourned her mother or her late husband and, regarding the former at least, she carries much guilt about her non involvement in her mother's last years ,and non-help with her mother's mother death. This is serious stuff and Lessing handles it beautifully, in a completely un-clichéd manner ( no easy feat with such a topic) Her sister , early married with children compared to Janna's early widowed, career woman existence, did all the heavy lifting with their mother , and this comes home to roost in many ways, not least of which is her sister's ongoing bitterness that Janna's life is, so easy ,so free, so untrammelled. Whilst Janna's partner and long time closest friend Joyce is still her partner in the magazine Lilith they both run, Janna is free to enjoy her life, despite the sister' bitterness, and she does so. Nevertheless, she is drawn, almost against her will to befriend and help Maudie Fowler, old, ill, working class, difficult, demanding and, mostly , ungrateful. This part of the book was to me, the very best of Doris Lessing , not once are we spared anything of the dreadful indignities of old age and helplessness, right to the bitter end of Maudie's death and Janna's complex relationship with her. But also, we are made privy to the pride and indomitable spirit of Maudie, born and raised in a bygone era, where to give in was shame and death.
The departure of Joyce to America, (so as not to lose her husband who has informed her that if she doesn't go he will take his mistress instead - well I just can't go there with that , I have to say it made me so cross I tried to disregard it) kind of signifies Janna's descent , if I can put it that way, into allowing her life to be more or less at the mercy of others who feel she ought to be doing it tougher in some way . Her eldest niece comes to live with her and to be an intern at the magazine. She, basically, is Janna when young and will clearly be her successor. When she has found a boyfriend and feels ready , partly through Janna's mentoring ,she leaves Janna and moves in with him.
The second book has Janna perform the same role of helper with a another old lady , Annie, not as beloved to her as Maudie became, but still representing that running thread of the pre WW2 generation's spirit and intransigence (not to mention the complex and fraught relationships with the Social Services sector, that all-female world ). It also heralds the entrance of the younger niece and the man with whom Janna falls in love. Both of these people drive me perfectly insane . It is a testament I think, to Lessing's writing that she makes them seem utterly real, leaves one wanting to speak to them - shout at them in the niece Kate's case. I can't remember a damaged character in a book for whom I felt less sympathy. Kate spends her entire time lying around unwashed, eating biscuits with the headphones on . Oh, and visiting a squat whose members she has round and who trash Janna's pristine place. If taxed about anything she cries, gets frightened and has tantrums and flounces off.....and this continues for months and months and months. Other niece , successful Jill not only won't have her even to stay with her and her boyfriend but blames aunt Janna for not doing better by her. And their mother , Janna's sister, thinks similarly, only more so. The force of writing is such that I did believe that Janna would let this happen, against my will I was made to believe it !
As I believed in her falling in live with Richard, a handsome enigmatic American . Obviously married and just as obviously never going to do anything about that. Their relationship, never consummated, is based on fleeting meetings, kisses on park benches , hiding in dark restaurants and the like . Enter next infuriating young person, his daughter Kathleen ( at this point I wondered if maybe Kate and Kathleen were somehow the same person and Janna was hallucinating them both!) Kathleen follows them, appearing mournfully and silently outside restaurants or on the next park bench etc. She resists being spoken to or asked to come and talk , preferring to drift off into the rain until next time. Meanwhile Kate is still back at Janna's flat ,escalating her behaviour as she believes she needs more attention( Well, she does evidently, but professional help, one would have thought be more useful. Everyone acknowledges this at some level, but it never eventuates)
Eventually Richard's other child Matthew makes an entrance, coming to a rendezvous instead of his father . He has with him a photograph Janna gave Richard of herself when young and announces, amongst other things, that he loves Janna . For me the weakest part of the book is next, for Janna falls in love with him whilst disliking him totally. The dislike part is perfectly understandable, it's the in love part that isn't. Had this been written as desire, - for heaven knows Janna has been without physical love for a long time and the physical is important to her - I could have borne it , but in love? I don't think so ! Fortunately , nothing comes of it. Nor of the completely ( to me ) preposterous suggestion that the mournful Kathleen comes to live with Janna , when Richard and the rest of the family return to America. Kate by this time is going to live with Hannah, a worker the magazine, in her lesbian feminist commune. Lessing has Richard say some very unpleasant misogynist things about Hannah , indeed the whole last quarter of the book has characters defaming feminism and extolling blessed motherhood. It about this point I think, that I realised that all the male characters seem flawed in the same way - they are all, despite being successful in many ways , deeply inadequate at some level, all need propping up by women, not least in the area of ego and self worth. Heaven knows the female characters have flaws too, but these all seem different from each other , more varied, more complex.
A very interesting read, as is probably evident , I am still personally affected by it!
June 18, 2008
Excellent - It changed my life and influenced forever the way I look at older people.
July 17, 2012
I have just finished the first volume in this book, entitled "The Diary of a Good Neighbour". I was given it by a friend who implored me to read it, saying "this is an important book". And rightly so. A frank, face-to-face encounter with old age and dying through the eyes of the narrator, Janna Somers (the Jane Somers of the title), which leaves the reader reeling with the brutal honesty of some of the descriptions. The passage where Janna comes across the old lady, Maudie, standing in her kitchen having just soiled herself will stay with me for a long time. No euphemisms are used, and this is not merely to somehow titillate the reader with shocking, taboo-breaking writing, but also to make us sit up, take notice, realise that our society has dehumanised old age to the point that we see a dirty old woman as simply that - as something disgusting. And yet, through Janna's eyes, we get to know Maudie. We hear her stories of her life as a milliner, as a young bride and mother, and we see that this "old crone" is a person who loves, lives and breathes like us. That we, one day, will become Maudie. The most effecting passage for me is near the end, as this reminded me shamefully, of how I felt when my own grandmother seemed to be "refusing to die". Janna is musing over the fact that Maudie is refusing to let go and she says:
"Oh God, if only Maudie would die, if only she would. But of course I know that is quite wrong. What I think now is, it is possible that what sets the pace of dying is not the body, not that great lump inside her stomach, getting bigger with every breath, but the need of the Maudie who is not dying to adjust - to what? Who can know what enormous processes are going on there, behind Maudie's hanging head, her sullen eyes? I think she will die when those processes are accomplished. And that is why I would never advocate euthanasia, or not at least without a thousand safeguards. The need of the watchers, the next of kin, the nearest and dearest, is that the poor sufferer should die as soon as possible, because the strain of it all is so awful. But is it possible that it is not nearly so bad for the dying as for those who watch?"
"Oh God, if only Maudie would die, if only she would. But of course I know that is quite wrong. What I think now is, it is possible that what sets the pace of dying is not the body, not that great lump inside her stomach, getting bigger with every breath, but the need of the Maudie who is not dying to adjust - to what? Who can know what enormous processes are going on there, behind Maudie's hanging head, her sullen eyes? I think she will die when those processes are accomplished. And that is why I would never advocate euthanasia, or not at least without a thousand safeguards. The need of the watchers, the next of kin, the nearest and dearest, is that the poor sufferer should die as soon as possible, because the strain of it all is so awful. But is it possible that it is not nearly so bad for the dying as for those who watch?"
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July 26, 2015This book made me INSANE. It is fantastically well-written, all the characters ring true individually (though some of their interactions do not) and London has never been so lovingly portrayed. I believe the message or lesson of both parts (it's actually two novels together as one) is that you can only help people in the ways they wish to be helped and you can't ever really change anyone or even teach them anything or explain how reality works unless they are willing. We are all finally ourselves, for better or for worse? Although in this book, definitely for worse--everything slides downhill relentlessly throughout. I am very sad now and will be reading children's books for the next while to cheer up.
I recommend this book, I suppose--there's nothing else like it--but only if you are feeling strong.
I recommend this book, I suppose--there's nothing else like it--but only if you are feeling strong.
October 8, 2022
Böhh, das war ne lauwarme Fortsetzung von „Das Tagebuch der Jane Somers“, das ich sehr stark fand.
Die aufgerissen Baustellen im ersten Teil werden sehr lieblos weiterverarbeitet, bzw bekommen keine wirkliche Aufmerksamkeit. Gerade die Story von Joyce, ihrer besten Freundin schrubbt sie auf ein paar Seiten zusammen und legt nen echt miesen Abgang hin.
Diese angebliche Liebesgeschichte ist nen Scherz in Tüten. Absolut Banane was Doris Lessing sich diesbezüglich zusammengeklöppelt hat.
Wirklich interessant wurd es im Mittelteil, der die Eltern-Kindbeziehungen bearbeitet und wie hilflos Eltern mit „schwierigen“ Kindern umgehen, die nicht ins selbstgebastelte Vorzeigeleben passen wollen. Kein Erwachsener kommt auf die Idee, dass sie selbst oder die Situation, der sie den Kids bieten evtl. etwas mit ihrem Verhalten zu tun haben könnte. Dann gibt’s noch nen bisschen Genderpolitisches Gezänk bei der Zeitschrift. Alles Themen die für die 80er Jahre in Londen richtig spannend hätten sein können. Aber dieses Buch vermittelt den Eindruck, als hätte Frau Lessing keinen Bock gehabt, dem ersten Teil einen würdigen Abschluss zu gönnen.
January 25, 2014
These are two novels by Lessing (first published pseudonymously) with the same main character, packaged together.
I much preferred "Diary of a Good Neighbor," which is the story of how a middle-aged woman who finds herself drawn into the lives of some elderly and dying women. Perhaps it's because the themes of aging and mortality are less dated, and the issues she struggles with more universal. "If the Old Could" deals with Jane's meeting a stranger on a train platform and immediately "falling in love" with him, beginning a drawn-out affair in which they don't even learn each others' names or talk about their lives for months. They meet and walk around the city, never even kissing, and it's portrayed as very romantic, and it's so very different from anything I recognize as a relationship that I found it mostly confusing. Considering how everything kind of falls apart when they do start to learn more about each other, perhaps Lessing meant for that to be the impression. Meanwhile, Jane has to deal with her niece moving in with her--the segments with her confused, vague, utterly narcissistic niece struck me much more than her romance--a good reminder that people at the beginning of adulthood have always been rather lost and rudderless, recent moaning about "millennials" be damned.
Both stories deal with aging at different levels of development--the shift from adolescence to adulthood, and perils of middle age (both Jane and her lover are half in love with who they were rather than who they are) and the transition toward death. Interesting, delicate, nuanced, but in some ways I feel like the characters are from a stranger and more distant culture than Jane Austen's characters.
I much preferred "Diary of a Good Neighbor," which is the story of how a middle-aged woman who finds herself drawn into the lives of some elderly and dying women. Perhaps it's because the themes of aging and mortality are less dated, and the issues she struggles with more universal. "If the Old Could" deals with Jane's meeting a stranger on a train platform and immediately "falling in love" with him, beginning a drawn-out affair in which they don't even learn each others' names or talk about their lives for months. They meet and walk around the city, never even kissing, and it's portrayed as very romantic, and it's so very different from anything I recognize as a relationship that I found it mostly confusing. Considering how everything kind of falls apart when they do start to learn more about each other, perhaps Lessing meant for that to be the impression. Meanwhile, Jane has to deal with her niece moving in with her--the segments with her confused, vague, utterly narcissistic niece struck me much more than her romance--a good reminder that people at the beginning of adulthood have always been rather lost and rudderless, recent moaning about "millennials" be damned.
Both stories deal with aging at different levels of development--the shift from adolescence to adulthood, and perils of middle age (both Jane and her lover are half in love with who they were rather than who they are) and the transition toward death. Interesting, delicate, nuanced, but in some ways I feel like the characters are from a stranger and more distant culture than Jane Austen's characters.
February 26, 2013
I grew up surrounded by old people. Age, its frailties and complexities, as addressed by Ms. Lessing have never really fazed me. This, I realize, is an immense advantage. I was moved by how Ms. Lessing placed her narrator in the middle of it all, and how real it all had to become to her while remaining inexplicable to the younger people who surround her.
Did I like Jane Somers when I was done with these novels? I don't know. I saw in her the template, the beginning of Maudie, Eliza, Annie...is she fully aware that that's where she, too, is heading? Maybe, but I don't think it yet feels entirely real to her.
A lot of loose threads are left dangling at the end of each diary. While Jane Somers has told us over and over how much care she takes to preserve a certain image, how much pleasure she derives from taking so much care, we also see that she starts letting the control slip. Didn't we see this with Maudie? Didn't we see it with Eliza and Annie? Every character is about the control they can have over their surroundings, except those who are totally incapable of any kind of control (Kate, Annie, Maudie...)
I don't know if a young person will "get" this book as much as someone who has passed a certain point would. As I said, age and its quirks, difficulties, etc. were never kept secret from me, but -at the same time- they were distant enough as to not yet be "possible" for me in my mind. Now, as I get older, there is a nearness to this that makes it resonate. I propose to re-read this in a few years...maybe see it more from Maudie's, Annie's point of view rather than Jane's (or Jill's or Kate's.)
Did I like Jane Somers when I was done with these novels? I don't know. I saw in her the template, the beginning of Maudie, Eliza, Annie...is she fully aware that that's where she, too, is heading? Maybe, but I don't think it yet feels entirely real to her.
A lot of loose threads are left dangling at the end of each diary. While Jane Somers has told us over and over how much care she takes to preserve a certain image, how much pleasure she derives from taking so much care, we also see that she starts letting the control slip. Didn't we see this with Maudie? Didn't we see it with Eliza and Annie? Every character is about the control they can have over their surroundings, except those who are totally incapable of any kind of control (Kate, Annie, Maudie...)
I don't know if a young person will "get" this book as much as someone who has passed a certain point would. As I said, age and its quirks, difficulties, etc. were never kept secret from me, but -at the same time- they were distant enough as to not yet be "possible" for me in my mind. Now, as I get older, there is a nearness to this that makes it resonate. I propose to re-read this in a few years...maybe see it more from Maudie's, Annie's point of view rather than Jane's (or Jill's or Kate's.)
June 27, 2013
Acabé con el corazón destrozado, acabada, aún me siento triste, la discusión del libro me parte en dos y vuelvo a llorar, un llanto incontrolable, un dolor muy profundo, una huella. Me siento triste, muy triste.
Este es un libro entrañable, crudo, real, muy sincero, muy honesto. Es un diario en el que te sientes en comunión con la protagonista, donde sientes su sentir, te haces sus mismas preguntas. Es un libro que llega al corazón y lo parte en dos.
La historia se centra en Janna, en sus 50. Es una mujer pulcra, con clase, exitosa, con un gran trabajo en una revista y un gran problema : No puede lidiar con la fealdad del mundo ni sus dificultades. Es una mujer-niña como se describe, no pudo ser parte de la muerte de su esposo, ni de su madre, sólo se dedicó a alejarse, porque no sabía como lidiar con ello. Un día conoce a Maudie, una ancianita muy gruñona de 93 años, alguien independiente, sola en el mundo. Tras conocerse estos dos personajes colisionan, se envuelven, se tienen la una a la otra y entonces Janna se transforma, posiblemente por la culpa de no haberlo hecho con su madre, pero lo sabe y no piensa en ello, no le importa. Jane tenía miedo de ver a los ancianos porque temía a la muerte, ahora cuida de una, se hacen amigas, se hacen muy amigas.
Es un excelente libro, BUENÍSIMO. Lo recomiendo a todo el mundo, es una gran prueba, es un libro hermoso, con mucha tristeza, seguro sentirán rabia, coraje, empatia, cariño. Uno no hace más que encariñarse con estos personajes.
Este es un libro entrañable, crudo, real, muy sincero, muy honesto. Es un diario en el que te sientes en comunión con la protagonista, donde sientes su sentir, te haces sus mismas preguntas. Es un libro que llega al corazón y lo parte en dos.
La historia se centra en Janna, en sus 50. Es una mujer pulcra, con clase, exitosa, con un gran trabajo en una revista y un gran problema : No puede lidiar con la fealdad del mundo ni sus dificultades. Es una mujer-niña como se describe, no pudo ser parte de la muerte de su esposo, ni de su madre, sólo se dedicó a alejarse, porque no sabía como lidiar con ello. Un día conoce a Maudie, una ancianita muy gruñona de 93 años, alguien independiente, sola en el mundo. Tras conocerse estos dos personajes colisionan, se envuelven, se tienen la una a la otra y entonces Janna se transforma, posiblemente por la culpa de no haberlo hecho con su madre, pero lo sabe y no piensa en ello, no le importa. Jane tenía miedo de ver a los ancianos porque temía a la muerte, ahora cuida de una, se hacen amigas, se hacen muy amigas.
Es un excelente libro, BUENÍSIMO. Lo recomiendo a todo el mundo, es una gran prueba, es un libro hermoso, con mucha tristeza, seguro sentirán rabia, coraje, empatia, cariño. Uno no hace más que encariñarse con estos personajes.
Read
February 21, 2018It's very strange to read a book where you share a name with the protagonist. I've had it on my shelf for many years, but finally picked it up and read it. I probably wouldn't have been ready to read about her 50-something life before now, and at first I found her quite relatable. By the end, though, I was really ready to be done. The book was written in 1984, the year I graduated from college, was married, and had my first child. It is amazing to see the world as it was at that time, and some of the attitudes about women, race, and disability were pretty offensive. (Particularly the reference to a young man with Down Syndrome as "an idiot.") I wonder if we're generally more horrified at things like that when they're from periods of time we remember.
June 29, 2011
This is my favorite book of all time. The main character is, like many of Doris Lessing's female characters, a careful and clear-eyed observer of other people and herself, and it's really this intelligent observation that keeps me coming back to the book. The books (it was originally published as 2) are about how she re-examines her life in the light of her role as the accidental caretaker of an old woman, and then later her role as the lover of a married man. The book isn't particularly plot driven, although the plot is good-it's mostly about the process of looking through the surface to see what's really going on in your interactions.
March 6, 2016
So it seems Doris Lessing wrote and published this under a fake name as a test. I'd like to think that had I read this then I would have immediately recognizes her. There's a reason I used to idolize her and I loved the chance to read a new book by her, or I should say one that escaped me. This is a powerful book, and also close to home; describing the plans the elderly have to make in moving thru your own house is the same for the disabled, which I am. I route everything so I take the least possible steps. Of course being Lessing there was a lot more than this, she always matches my own reflections on modern life and relationships.
February 25, 2015
so enjoyed this book - both sections are full of fascinating insights and comments on women and the dichotomy between independence and 'connectedness' (with family/partner/children) and also with the good and bad aspects of responsibility - for work, caring for friends and others: in this case several quite challenging elderly people and a hopeless-unmotivated young neice. I love how she writes, clear and articulate she is a real feminist.
November 17, 2023
Me ha resultado muy interesante su visión de cómo una mujer cualquiera de la sociedad actual, puede sentirse sola
August 19, 2018
"También ancianos, pero principalmente ancianas. Avanzaban con lentitud. Iban en parejas o en grupos, hablaban. O se habían sentado en el banco de la esquina, bajo el plátano. No las había visto. Era porque temía ser como ellas..."
"Lo que él había dicho es lo que dice la gente: ¿Por qué no están en un asilo? ¡Apartémoslos del paso, de nuestra vida, donde gente joven y sana no pueda verlos, no pueda pensar en ellos! Están pensando-he estado pensando, pienso-, ¿qué sentido tiene que estén vivos? Pensé ¿de qué manera nos valoramos? ¿A través de qué? ¿El trabajo?"
Con esta crudeza, que no escatimará durante toda la lectura, Doris Lessing nos enfrenta a nuestra propia conciencia a través los pensamientos de una de las protagonistas, Janna Somers, directora de una revista de moda, mujer moderna, autocomplaciente y sin remordimientos.
La vida perfecta que Janna cree haber construido, comienza a perder estabilidad cuando, casualmente, conoce a Maudie Fowler, una nonagenaria iracunda, orgullosa y solitaria. Una más que improbable amistad comienza ese día.
Sin concesiones con el lector, Lessing desplegará temas tan profundos como la vulnerabilidad de la vejez, el dolor del desprecio y la indiferencia de los seres amados, la culpa y, finalmente, la búsqueda de la redención. Imposible salir ileso de esta lectura.
"Lo que él había dicho es lo que dice la gente: ¿Por qué no están en un asilo? ¡Apartémoslos del paso, de nuestra vida, donde gente joven y sana no pueda verlos, no pueda pensar en ellos! Están pensando-he estado pensando, pienso-, ¿qué sentido tiene que estén vivos? Pensé ¿de qué manera nos valoramos? ¿A través de qué? ¿El trabajo?"
Con esta crudeza, que no escatimará durante toda la lectura, Doris Lessing nos enfrenta a nuestra propia conciencia a través los pensamientos de una de las protagonistas, Janna Somers, directora de una revista de moda, mujer moderna, autocomplaciente y sin remordimientos.
La vida perfecta que Janna cree haber construido, comienza a perder estabilidad cuando, casualmente, conoce a Maudie Fowler, una nonagenaria iracunda, orgullosa y solitaria. Una más que improbable amistad comienza ese día.
Sin concesiones con el lector, Lessing desplegará temas tan profundos como la vulnerabilidad de la vejez, el dolor del desprecio y la indiferencia de los seres amados, la culpa y, finalmente, la búsqueda de la redención. Imposible salir ileso de esta lectura.
October 19, 2019
Esta obra é notável.
Olhando a vida sob a prespectiva da velhice, dos lúcidos que querem ir mais além, mas o corpo já não permite.
Fala daquilo que resta quando se começa a viver de tempo emprestado. Cruzando a história de duas vizinhas, as suas ilusões e desilusões, a solidariedade, os despojos do passado que insistem em voltar, a velhice e o orgulho humano.
Magnífico. Creio que esta obra de Lessing é subestimada.
Olhando a vida sob a prespectiva da velhice, dos lúcidos que querem ir mais além, mas o corpo já não permite.
Fala daquilo que resta quando se começa a viver de tempo emprestado. Cruzando a história de duas vizinhas, as suas ilusões e desilusões, a solidariedade, os despojos do passado que insistem em voltar, a velhice e o orgulho humano.
Magnífico. Creio que esta obra de Lessing é subestimada.
November 19, 2007
This is a WONDERFUL book. It is out of print so it will be hard to find. It looks at old age in a way that is realistic and understanding. I recommend it to EVERYONE.
May 1, 2008
I'm a Lessing fan but this really is something special.
February 22, 2009
I read this in high school and remember liking it. Definately one I should re-read.
March 13, 2009
My favorite book ever.
September 12, 2020
I've only read to 69% because that's the length of the 2 books, the rest is previews etc. Total 528 pages for the 2 books.
I have to say, Doris Lessing is a writer I really enjoy reading. She really makes you ponder and stop and think.
The 1st book of these two - The Diary of a Good Neighbour - was just phenomenal. I found it to be so accurate and understanding of the situation, (looking after an elderly relative/friend), so true to life in its story. Amazing. It made me laugh, cry, empathise, feel warm inside and feel empty. It was so well written... and to think she used a psuedynom, just to see if an unknown writer could get published...
The 2nd book of these two - If the Old Could.. - was very good. It made me think and question the way of things. I will admit the MC had a LOT of patience. I couldn't believe what she put up with, in quite a few areas! Sometimes I just wanted to ask her what was she thinking!
I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who has elderly parents or relatives or friends. It is also a character study, actually of a few characters. I love this style of writing. I always come away feeling I've learnt something about human nature after this type of book.
I have to say, Doris Lessing is a writer I really enjoy reading. She really makes you ponder and stop and think.
The 1st book of these two - The Diary of a Good Neighbour - was just phenomenal. I found it to be so accurate and understanding of the situation, (looking after an elderly relative/friend), so true to life in its story. Amazing. It made me laugh, cry, empathise, feel warm inside and feel empty. It was so well written... and to think she used a psuedynom, just to see if an unknown writer could get published...
The 2nd book of these two - If the Old Could.. - was very good. It made me think and question the way of things. I will admit the MC had a LOT of patience. I couldn't believe what she put up with, in quite a few areas! Sometimes I just wanted to ask her what was she thinking!
I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who has elderly parents or relatives or friends. It is also a character study, actually of a few characters. I love this style of writing. I always come away feeling I've learnt something about human nature after this type of book.
March 11, 2021
Kaks naist erinevatest maailmadest (või siiski mitte?) satuvad kokku. Mõlemal oma taak, mõlemad oma maailmas kinni. Aga kuidagi hakkavad nad sammu sammu haaval teineteise poole astuma, nurki tuleb kõvasti lihvida. See on süüst ja süütundest, jonnist ja kangekaelsusest, naiste hirmust üksi jääda, vananemisest ja väärikusest. Sellest viimasest vaat et enim. Ja kui ehedalt ja tõetruult on see kirjeldatud! Me kõik tunneme selliseid inimesi. Esimese hooga on nii lihtne solvuda, vihastada, selg pöörata, aga see raamat aitab mõista. Seda erinevate osapoolte silme läbi.
Lugedes tekkisid õhkõrnad paralleelid Ove ja Groeniga, aga Lessingi kraam on ikka kraad kangem, sügavuti minevam, vähem ilulemist ja seikluslikkust. Ja muidugi - naistemaailm.
Väga hea tõlge, järgib selgelt ajastujoont. Nauding.
Lugedes tekkisid õhkõrnad paralleelid Ove ja Groeniga, aga Lessingi kraam on ikka kraad kangem, sügavuti minevam, vähem ilulemist ja seikluslikkust. Ja muidugi - naistemaailm.
Väga hea tõlge, järgib selgelt ajastujoont. Nauding.
May 30, 2024
Sencillamente magnífico. La vejez, la enfermedad y la muerte no suelen ser temas de las grandes novelas y por ello este libro es único en su especie. Una profunda reflexión sobre lo que implica vivir, crecer, envejecer, amar y sentirse culpable. Magnífico, repito.
July 15, 2014
This volume collects two novels named ‘The Diary of a Good Neighbour’ and ‘If the Old Could…’ which Doris Lessing published in 1983 and 1984 respectively under the pseudonym of Jane Somers. Apparently she did this to draw attention to the difficulty of getting published not only for an unknown author but for a woman writing in the personal, confessional vein. And if we approach these as novels with Jane’s name on the cover, the implication is that these are actually works of non-fiction; but like a popped time-lock, this context is effectively lost now that they’ve been packaged up as novels by a Nobel-winning author. Still, I think it’s worth bearing in mind regardless.
At the start of the first book, we find Jane in the depths of middle-age. She has a senior editorial role on the staff of a popular women’s magazine and her husband has just died of cancer. She is a successful and elegant member of the upper middle-class when she (almost literally) bumps into Maudie, a little old woman who also lives on her own. It turns out that Maudie is living in dreadful conditions, unable to clean or feed herself properly, and so Jane (or Janna as she is called) takes it upon herself to visit and look after this woman.
What begins as friendship driven by curiosity soon becomes hard and unrewarding work. Maudie’s conditions turn out to be worse than Janna could have predicted, and she's rarely willing to offer much in the way of gratitude to her carer. Here the title comes into play: Jane is frequently mistaken for a ‘Good Neighbour’ by those who do visit Maudie for whatever reason, and the capital letters indicate that this is actually the name of an official social care scheme for the elderly rather than an authentic expression of goodwill.
And this is where the book takes on a political edge that still finds bite today. I’m sure in many ways things are different now in the social services than they were in the early ‘80s, but in essential terms the immediate reality of the world that Somers/Lessing wrote about remains the same: we just don’t know what to do with old people. The culture of the elderly living a ‘second childhood’ in the midst of a large family is gone; the expectation of self-sufficiency suggests they must live alone on a meagre state pension, but the provision of care and help with immediate needs for those who cannot or will not look after themselves is inconsistent and fragmented to the point where it becomes at best inadequate, at worst useless.
What the author recognises here is crucial: our society does not value the work of the people who do this work. They are underpaid, overworked, and have no representation in any kind of broader culture; politicians have no interest in them, and neither does the glamourous post-feminist media of which Janna counts herself part. And so what we are left with is one woman keeping another company. And feeding her, and changing her, and washing her. When reading this I couldn’t help but feel that something had gone terribly wrong in this world — but I have no idea what the correct, appropriate outcome might be. Everyone is to blame and nobody is responsible.
The second book feels like it picks up where the first left off, but it’s different in a few ways. Janna establishes a part-time career as a romantic novelist by writing books inspired by Maudie and the under-appreciated immigrant women who looked after her; the irony that she’s at last milked their relationship for success by playing on its most idealistic aspect does not escape her. And she develops a relationship with an older man named Richard which largely revolves around lengthy walks around London, and which is never actually consummated, despite much pining and longing on both sides. It turns out that Janna is more preoccupied with thoughts of her departed husband than we might have thought, and Richard has a somewhat complex family situation of his own to deal with. What I liked best of all in this is the portrait of Kate, Janna’s adolescent niece who has moved in with her; she’s stubborn and opaque, tough and immature and terribly vulnerable, and both her character and Janna’s baffled, cold-hearted responses are quite believable.
The writing is always wry, intelligent and entertaining, and the fluctuations between Jane Somers’ natural gossamer ‘chick-lit’ tone (a deliberate flippancy) and the stark depictions of misery make for a stimulating and unique fictional style. My only real complaint is that they’re too long (particularly the second book) and that there are some passages where the writing is so exceptional that they cast rather a long shadow across what remains. I’m looking forward to reading more by the same author — but perhaps I’ll give it a few months first.
At the start of the first book, we find Jane in the depths of middle-age. She has a senior editorial role on the staff of a popular women’s magazine and her husband has just died of cancer. She is a successful and elegant member of the upper middle-class when she (almost literally) bumps into Maudie, a little old woman who also lives on her own. It turns out that Maudie is living in dreadful conditions, unable to clean or feed herself properly, and so Jane (or Janna as she is called) takes it upon herself to visit and look after this woman.
What begins as friendship driven by curiosity soon becomes hard and unrewarding work. Maudie’s conditions turn out to be worse than Janna could have predicted, and she's rarely willing to offer much in the way of gratitude to her carer. Here the title comes into play: Jane is frequently mistaken for a ‘Good Neighbour’ by those who do visit Maudie for whatever reason, and the capital letters indicate that this is actually the name of an official social care scheme for the elderly rather than an authentic expression of goodwill.
And this is where the book takes on a political edge that still finds bite today. I’m sure in many ways things are different now in the social services than they were in the early ‘80s, but in essential terms the immediate reality of the world that Somers/Lessing wrote about remains the same: we just don’t know what to do with old people. The culture of the elderly living a ‘second childhood’ in the midst of a large family is gone; the expectation of self-sufficiency suggests they must live alone on a meagre state pension, but the provision of care and help with immediate needs for those who cannot or will not look after themselves is inconsistent and fragmented to the point where it becomes at best inadequate, at worst useless.
What the author recognises here is crucial: our society does not value the work of the people who do this work. They are underpaid, overworked, and have no representation in any kind of broader culture; politicians have no interest in them, and neither does the glamourous post-feminist media of which Janna counts herself part. And so what we are left with is one woman keeping another company. And feeding her, and changing her, and washing her. When reading this I couldn’t help but feel that something had gone terribly wrong in this world — but I have no idea what the correct, appropriate outcome might be. Everyone is to blame and nobody is responsible.
The second book feels like it picks up where the first left off, but it’s different in a few ways. Janna establishes a part-time career as a romantic novelist by writing books inspired by Maudie and the under-appreciated immigrant women who looked after her; the irony that she’s at last milked their relationship for success by playing on its most idealistic aspect does not escape her. And she develops a relationship with an older man named Richard which largely revolves around lengthy walks around London, and which is never actually consummated, despite much pining and longing on both sides. It turns out that Janna is more preoccupied with thoughts of her departed husband than we might have thought, and Richard has a somewhat complex family situation of his own to deal with. What I liked best of all in this is the portrait of Kate, Janna’s adolescent niece who has moved in with her; she’s stubborn and opaque, tough and immature and terribly vulnerable, and both her character and Janna’s baffled, cold-hearted responses are quite believable.
The writing is always wry, intelligent and entertaining, and the fluctuations between Jane Somers’ natural gossamer ‘chick-lit’ tone (a deliberate flippancy) and the stark depictions of misery make for a stimulating and unique fictional style. My only real complaint is that they’re too long (particularly the second book) and that there are some passages where the writing is so exceptional that they cast rather a long shadow across what remains. I’m looking forward to reading more by the same author — but perhaps I’ll give it a few months first.
July 10, 2008
This novel is actually two books in one. I'll admit that I only made it through the first book, The Diary of a Good Neighbor. The book, while interesting in many ways, just didn't grab my interest enough to make me slog through another 200+ pages.
Good Neighbor tells the story of Jane Somers through the keeping of a diary. (That it is written as a first-person, diary-like narrative is my first complaint but I don't want to dwell on how I hate endless introspection in novels.) Jane, or Janna as she is often called, is an editor at a trendy fashion magazine in London. She lives what appears to her sister and nieces as a glamorous lifestyle, hanging out with models and writing about changes in style. Janna admits right away that her career is of primary importance to her and that she gave up personal closeness in relationships in order to spend more time on the job. Although she once married, her husband died of cancer, a death that appears in her life story as more of a distraction than anything else. The same goes for the death of her mother, whose death Janna never completely mourned. Janna's only real friend is another editor at the journal, a woman with whom Janna shares a special connection due to their joint commitment to the magazine and lack of commitment to personal relationships.
In the midst of this rushed life, Janna forms an improbable friendship with a wretched old woman named Maudie. For some reason Maudie fascinates Janna and draws her into her life. Maudie lives in a decrepit apartment that often smells of sewage and rot. It is obvious to Janna that Maudie cannot take care of herself and yet Maudie refuses to allow anyone, the social workers included, to step in and offer care. Fascinated by this crusty little woman and her prideful state (Janna obviously sees some of herself in the abandoned woman), Janna begins visiting regularly as a friend. The one implicit condition of their friendship is that Janna not take her on as a charity case - it is true friendship and intimacy she seeks.
The book explores the kinds of care roles that women are often expected to take on in society and the tension those roles have with one another. It's clear early on in the book that Janna's commitment to a career has thwarted her, in a way, from taking on those other care roles and that this has stunted her own personal growth and fulfillment. I was kind of surprised by this theme as I guess I expected Lessing to offer a more straightforward feminist take. Instead, Lessing offers a very nuanced perspective on the contradictory messages sent to the modern woman and the kinds of conflicts this creates in personal life. It's very much a book about the inner-lives of women.
It's also a book about growing older. Janna's fascination with Maudie is to some extent based on her own reckoning with mortality. While she couldn't emotionally deal with the deaths of her husband and mother (the two people who should have awakened this respect for mortality in her), the distance of someone like Maudie, whose personal biography is at the beginning a mystery to her, draws her in and makes Janna realize how vulnerable she truly is, despite her own cultivated sense of autonomy. The book does not spare us the details of what it's like to be a poor older woman without friends or loved ones to care for her. There's a lot of talk about bowel movements and urine stains in the book.
I liked the book, but it took me a long time to finish because it never really sucked me in. The most interesting parts were the exchanges between Janna and Maudie. The worst parts were Janna's long introspective diary entries. This is a matter of personal taste. I prefer writing that focuses on description and narrative than writing that has to describes in great detail what is going on in a character's head. (Like my friend John says, show me, don't tell me.) My other complaint with the book is that at times it shifted from narrative mode to preachy polemical mode. Lessing obviously has some axes to grind, but the axes distract from the telling of the story. Again, I can connect the dots without Lessing doing it so obviously for me.
But it's not a bad book and proved to me that Lessing deserves the respect she gets.
Good Neighbor tells the story of Jane Somers through the keeping of a diary. (That it is written as a first-person, diary-like narrative is my first complaint but I don't want to dwell on how I hate endless introspection in novels.) Jane, or Janna as she is often called, is an editor at a trendy fashion magazine in London. She lives what appears to her sister and nieces as a glamorous lifestyle, hanging out with models and writing about changes in style. Janna admits right away that her career is of primary importance to her and that she gave up personal closeness in relationships in order to spend more time on the job. Although she once married, her husband died of cancer, a death that appears in her life story as more of a distraction than anything else. The same goes for the death of her mother, whose death Janna never completely mourned. Janna's only real friend is another editor at the journal, a woman with whom Janna shares a special connection due to their joint commitment to the magazine and lack of commitment to personal relationships.
In the midst of this rushed life, Janna forms an improbable friendship with a wretched old woman named Maudie. For some reason Maudie fascinates Janna and draws her into her life. Maudie lives in a decrepit apartment that often smells of sewage and rot. It is obvious to Janna that Maudie cannot take care of herself and yet Maudie refuses to allow anyone, the social workers included, to step in and offer care. Fascinated by this crusty little woman and her prideful state (Janna obviously sees some of herself in the abandoned woman), Janna begins visiting regularly as a friend. The one implicit condition of their friendship is that Janna not take her on as a charity case - it is true friendship and intimacy she seeks.
The book explores the kinds of care roles that women are often expected to take on in society and the tension those roles have with one another. It's clear early on in the book that Janna's commitment to a career has thwarted her, in a way, from taking on those other care roles and that this has stunted her own personal growth and fulfillment. I was kind of surprised by this theme as I guess I expected Lessing to offer a more straightforward feminist take. Instead, Lessing offers a very nuanced perspective on the contradictory messages sent to the modern woman and the kinds of conflicts this creates in personal life. It's very much a book about the inner-lives of women.
It's also a book about growing older. Janna's fascination with Maudie is to some extent based on her own reckoning with mortality. While she couldn't emotionally deal with the deaths of her husband and mother (the two people who should have awakened this respect for mortality in her), the distance of someone like Maudie, whose personal biography is at the beginning a mystery to her, draws her in and makes Janna realize how vulnerable she truly is, despite her own cultivated sense of autonomy. The book does not spare us the details of what it's like to be a poor older woman without friends or loved ones to care for her. There's a lot of talk about bowel movements and urine stains in the book.
I liked the book, but it took me a long time to finish because it never really sucked me in. The most interesting parts were the exchanges between Janna and Maudie. The worst parts were Janna's long introspective diary entries. This is a matter of personal taste. I prefer writing that focuses on description and narrative than writing that has to describes in great detail what is going on in a character's head. (Like my friend John says, show me, don't tell me.) My other complaint with the book is that at times it shifted from narrative mode to preachy polemical mode. Lessing obviously has some axes to grind, but the axes distract from the telling of the story. Again, I can connect the dots without Lessing doing it so obviously for me.
But it's not a bad book and proved to me that Lessing deserves the respect she gets.
February 4, 2015
Two short novels which she originally published anonymously, The Diary of a Good Neighbor and If the Old Could. . ..
First Book: Just as I was not looking forward to finishing reading Doris Lessing's works, thinking that perhaps her later works were not really going to be worth reading, and expecting that this book in particular (published anonymously, and deliberately not in her "own" style) would be a disappointment, I found it was one of her best novels. She has many styles, and this is in the realistic style of her earlier novels (the ones I liked best anyway); there is no explicit politics (probably a good thing, after reading the autobiography), and none of the characters are from the political world or from the literary or theater world (although the protagonist does write romance novels.) Rather, she is investigating a new subject.
The novel is the story of a fashion magazine editor, about forty, and her unlikely friendship with a ninety year old woman from the working class, living by herself in poverty. The book is really a look at aging, the struggle of the old for dignity, and the attitudes of the young or middle-aged toward the elderly. It is very good at showing how the elderly come to live in such depressing conditions; how she got tired, couldn't handle cleaning her whole flat, the more she put it off the harder it got, as the dirt and trash piled up she abandoned one room after another.
The political content is only implicit; the kind of system that lets older people live in such poverty, and yet it is sympathetic to the welfare state, even while criticizing some of the patronizing attitudes -- services are available, but the woman is too proud, and too afraid, to take advantage of them. There are no real villains in this book, except perhaps the old woman's relatives, and some figures in the past; everyone is trying to do the best they can under the circumstances. The woman's past history is told as her "stories". A very good example of how to write a novel about working class conditions without writing "socialist realism" or the "proletarian novel". The emphasis is on humanity, the main virtues are simply empathy and respect. Of course there are other aspects as well; a certain understated feminism in the relations of the characters with their husbands for example. But mainly just a good story.
I have to admit, my first reaction was not to go out and make friends with someone much older, but to resolve to give my apartment a thorough cleaning and throw out a lot of junk.
Second book: The sequel to the above, which takes the life of "Jane Somers" a couple years further. She falls in love, and also becomes responsible for another niece who is unlike Jill, and actually much like the older people (who play much less role in this book.) It is again a good story, well written and with much good character analysis; I was a little ambivalent about it because of the romance aspect, but it is done seriously (even though it is written in the third person, rather than in diary form as the first novel, it is "seen" through the eyes of Jane/Janna, who of course is a "romance" author.)
First Book: Just as I was not looking forward to finishing reading Doris Lessing's works, thinking that perhaps her later works were not really going to be worth reading, and expecting that this book in particular (published anonymously, and deliberately not in her "own" style) would be a disappointment, I found it was one of her best novels. She has many styles, and this is in the realistic style of her earlier novels (the ones I liked best anyway); there is no explicit politics (probably a good thing, after reading the autobiography), and none of the characters are from the political world or from the literary or theater world (although the protagonist does write romance novels.) Rather, she is investigating a new subject.
The novel is the story of a fashion magazine editor, about forty, and her unlikely friendship with a ninety year old woman from the working class, living by herself in poverty. The book is really a look at aging, the struggle of the old for dignity, and the attitudes of the young or middle-aged toward the elderly. It is very good at showing how the elderly come to live in such depressing conditions; how she got tired, couldn't handle cleaning her whole flat, the more she put it off the harder it got, as the dirt and trash piled up she abandoned one room after another.
The political content is only implicit; the kind of system that lets older people live in such poverty, and yet it is sympathetic to the welfare state, even while criticizing some of the patronizing attitudes -- services are available, but the woman is too proud, and too afraid, to take advantage of them. There are no real villains in this book, except perhaps the old woman's relatives, and some figures in the past; everyone is trying to do the best they can under the circumstances. The woman's past history is told as her "stories". A very good example of how to write a novel about working class conditions without writing "socialist realism" or the "proletarian novel". The emphasis is on humanity, the main virtues are simply empathy and respect. Of course there are other aspects as well; a certain understated feminism in the relations of the characters with their husbands for example. But mainly just a good story.
I have to admit, my first reaction was not to go out and make friends with someone much older, but to resolve to give my apartment a thorough cleaning and throw out a lot of junk.
Second book: The sequel to the above, which takes the life of "Jane Somers" a couple years further. She falls in love, and also becomes responsible for another niece who is unlike Jill, and actually much like the older people (who play much less role in this book.) It is again a good story, well written and with much good character analysis; I was a little ambivalent about it because of the romance aspect, but it is done seriously (even though it is written in the third person, rather than in diary form as the first novel, it is "seen" through the eyes of Jane/Janna, who of course is a "romance" author.)
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