Spotted this in a Healthy Planet shop and could not resist picking it up.

'The Golden Notebook' is quite conceptual in its writing style and is told with a shattered narrative making this quite a difficult read. We read the story of Anna in two main forms. The first is a fairly standard third-person novella called 'Free Women' which is divided into five parts. The second is a first-person narration by Anna that comes in the form of her notebooks – she has four of them. In the black notebook she writes about her writing life, in the red notebook about her political life, in the yellow notebook about her ‘emotional life’ and in the blue notebook about everyday events. Essentially, Anna’s note keeping is a form of self-therapy.

After about 50 pages I was about ready to throw in the towel and give up, I felt that it was boring. But I persevered and even on completion I'm still unsure whether or not I made the right decision.

I became quite invested in the story of 'Ella and Paul' (found in the black notebook) but had to remind myself that they are ‘fictional’ since they are characters in Anna's published novel. This in turn made me question what of 'Free Women' should I trust? Nor did I particularly enjoy the segments in the blue notebook where Anna slips into stream-of-consciousness. There are some very fine passages but I found it patchwork, complex and confusing. I also have to ask whether or not this novel has aged well or was it very much of its time? Not only has the political situation moved on but I like to think that female emancipation has too but then maybe I'm simply the wrong sex.

Spotted this on a wishlist so going out to hopefully make a new friend. Enjoy!

Thank you so much for the brilliant book parcel this arrived in. This one is a wish list book. Look forward to reading it.