Pamela Norris
Mother Swapping
The Grandmothers
By Doris Lessing
Flamingo 311pp £15.99
DORIS LESSING'S NEW book, The Grandmothers, contains four short novels, each of which could have been developed into a full-length book. Lessing is a skilled practitioner of the art of brevity, as her many short stories demonstrate. In these novellas, she sketches characters and situations with wonderful energy and economy, deftly providing just what is required to understand the complex relationships at the heart of each tale. The effect is bracing: the speed and ease of the narratives make the emotional revelations all the more precise and shocking. There is a thematic connection which makes sense of the stories' CO-publication, since the impact of one tale influences the reading of the rest. Put at its simplest, they are about the moments of vision that determine the course of a life.
The title story concerns that perennially fascinating cause célèbre, a mature woman's interest in an adolescent boy. In novels such as The Summer Before the Dark and the more recent Love, Again, Lessing has written with great insight about the sexuality of older women. For reasons which gradually become obvious,
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Are iPhones ruining children's lives? A prominent American psychologist thinks so.
@tiffanyjenkins is not so sure:
Tiffany Jenkins - The Smartphone Pandemic
Tiffany Jenkins: The Smartphone Pandemic - The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an...
literaryreview.co.uk
India's 'festival of democracy', or general election, begins next month. Like every good festival, it looks likely to have its fair share of murders and arrests.
@OwenBennettJon probes the state of democracy in India:
Owen Bennett-Jones - New Delhi Confidential
Owen Bennett-Jones: New Delhi Confidential - The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India by Alpa Shah
literaryreview.co.uk
Where is the world's newest narcostate and why is it thriving?
@AdamBrookesWord investigates Asia's meth mecca.
Adam Brookes - Meth Comes to Myanmar
Adam Brookes: Meth Comes to Myanmar - Narcotopia: In Search of the Asian Drug Cartel That Outwitted the CIA by Patrick Winn
literaryreview.co.uk