Notes on the notebook - the Golden Notebook

The Golden Notebook
by Doris Lessing

I do not know what to make of this book. I very much enjoyed the reading but my mind exited suddenly just before the book ended. Now it's become difficult for me to form any cohesive opinion because my brain refuses to think. Here are some fragments of thought before the book is all gone.

All stories about Africa, as lived by the four young English youth, are beautifully written. The pigeon shooting (to make a pigeon soup) scene is exceedingly mesmerizing (I do hate this word): the wildness, the melancholy, the desolation and the insight. And this story was preceded by a description of a city scene showing how a pigeon was cared for in a civilized England years later.

Lessing is very good at creating incredible tensions in seemingly mundane human interactions, mostly through conversation. The beginning of the book is a good example, so is the part after Tommy's fateful action.

Towards the 2nd half of the book, I became quite interested in the private life experiences of Anna, the heroine, which are complex, casual, chaotic but purposeful. Very foreign to me but intriguing. Especially her relationship with Saul. Don't think it was well written though. The description was abstract and robotic, and repetitive. I basically gave up visualizing them but took in as concepts: OK, here are two highly intellectual people with all sorts of mental struggles and attractions....