Identify About Books The Sweetest Dream

Title	:	The Sweetest Dream
Author	:	Doris Lessing
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 480 pages
Published	:	December 24th 2002 by Harper Perennial (first published 2001)
Categories	:	Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Nobel Prize. Novels. Literature

The Sweetest Dream Paperback | Pages: 480 pages

Commentary Conducive To Books The Sweetest Dream

Hadn't read Doris Lessing in years and here she was again, along with all her familiar kinds of people, scenes, concerns, prose. I still don't know how she does it, exactly. I did notice the narrator constantly pulling back from the scene to examine the bigger picture, to reflect in a puzzled way on how "we all" were acting one way or another, how a fashion for shoplifting took hold before anyone knew what hit them, for example - trying to discern the larger movements of social change in which individuals were swept up thinking it was all about them personally, making their individual choices. The London portion of the book felt most familiar and it was no surprise to go to Africa later in the book. What was new was the onset of the AIDS epidemic in her fictional "Zimlia" - based on Zimbabwe, where she grew up when it was Rhodesia. Such a rambly book, all over the place, with characters damaged and challenged in a number of ways, some seemingly born bad . . . and yet I liked it. She swept me up, carried me along for the ride, bumped me over the rapids and swirled me in the whirlpools and rowed me over the calm spots. I expected no less and I got it. The title, not at all by the way, refers to the dream of idealism and the book deals one way and many another with both the damage and the occasional good it can do, but on the whole I'd say Lessing comes down on the side of damage. Her moral compass is set by the people who carry on coping, helping those around them, doing the practical best they can with what's in front of them. There are glimpses of such in this book, barely holding things together as time and floods rush on.

Particularize Books In Pursuance Of The Sweetest Dream

Original Title:	The Sweetest Dream
ISBN:	0060937556 (ISBN13: 9780060937553)
Edition Language:	English

Rating About Books The Sweetest Dream

Ratings: 3.73 From 1260 Users | 137 Reviews

Piece About Books The Sweetest Dream

In her first first 20 pages, Doris Lessing puts us in a London-area house with a well-developed cast of characters, a sure sign of her mastery. The Sweetest Dream then immerses us in a crash-course history that's well written, concise and centered around one of the novel's matriarchs. The lead up to and 1960s and beyond scene at the house features compelling, emotional chaos punctuated with moments of awe-inspiring compassion. Lessing follows and further develops the feelings and quirks of her

A challenging but rewarding read, and maybe not the best introduction to Lessing (I hadn't read her). Still, it's a gripping examination of the limits of idealism and the challenges of the 1960s. The book shifts focus and locales midway to a secondary character. It's very jarring, but it puts forth the one person in the book who follows through with the notion of making the world a better place. Frances and her brood feel comfortable and real, which make the tedious stretches and the horrors of

Hadn't read Doris Lessing in years and here she was again, along with all her familiar kinds of people, scenes, concerns, prose. I still don't know how she does it, exactly. I did notice the narrator constantly pulling back from the scene to examine the bigger picture, to reflect in a puzzled way on how "we all" were acting one way or another, how a fashion for shoplifting took hold before anyone knew what hit them, for example - trying to discern the larger movements of social change in which

Loved this with the power of a thousand suns. There are some parts I read over and over, both from enjoying them so much and so as not to finish the book too quickly. The tale of three generations spanning the 20th century, bound by a house in Hampstead where an extra spare bed can always be found, must surely be one of Lessing's finest. From Germany before World War I, via London as the Sixties begin to swing, to the fictional African country of Zimlia (a stand in for Zimbabwe, or Rhodesia as

This is an ambitious book by this Nobel Prize winning author written when she was 82 years old. It has vast ambitions and succeeds in them. It first shows the culture in England in the 1960s as impacted by the end of World War II. And it shows the allure and then the disillusionment with Communism during this era. Then relying on the authors personal knowledge of Africa, it shows the corruption, the pathos, and the heroic efforts of people striving against huge odds in this environment. A

The story of a large extended London household in the Sixties, related as much by chance and need as family, and their encounters many years later.Book Review: The Sweetest Dream was one of the last novels Doris Lessing wrote, and it seemed that here she was trying to publish as many ideas (including addressing various political issues) as possible. This book seems to be three novels awkwardly stuck together to make an uneasy whole. It's slow starting, taking many pages to develop a rationale

Blown away by Lessing's style of writing. The texture, the layers, how she plays with words so effortlessly - I've never read anything like this. Recommend!