This book was recommended by a colleague of mine a while ago (who, by the time he read it, had a highly pregnant wife, so I understand that HE found it interesting...) and when I saw it for 2,50 Euro yesterday, I bought it right away and even read it since then. That was probably because it was promisingly short and I thought I might get through with it this same weekend. The book itself is not so great. The story could have been more interesting, there's a very lame moral in there and no real surprise (especially not after reading the cover text...). It's not really my cup of tea, nothing special about this book, but an okay read for a weekend. Wonder why Doris Lessing got that Noble Prize? It's my first Lessing, but I don't feel very moved to read another one... .

Book is on its way to the next reader! :-) Enjoy!

The book arrived, thanks flicki! Yours is on the way as well :)

I found this book to be just average, read it quickly even though the langualge at first was so terse that it was somewhat off-putting. I had very little sympathy for David or Harriet ... I should have but didn't. After about 4 pages I looked to see the author bio, and surprise surprise, an English author! (I tend to have a difficult time with them, who knows why...)
I didn't have much thought for Ben either and I found that sort of disturbing, but I just think I couldn't identify with anyone in the book. I don't feel it was a complete waste of time, but felt alot of aspects could have been better. Thanks for the trade Flicki ... will make AVL now.

Adding to Oliviapoolside's "In Memory of Kalman" bookbox.

This book arrived in Seattle in Kalman's memory bookbox. It sounds like a creepy little story, but I'll give it a try.

I wasn't as horrified as most people seemed to be. First off, the poor woman was having a nervous breakdown, that may be an outdated term now but you know what I mean, she was emotionally breaking down, falling to pieces at the time she found herself pregnant with the 5th child. And she had negative feelings about the child. Honestly, I think an abortion at this point would have been a reasonable choice, but she and her husband weren't in that kind of mindset and the doctor was an idiot, completely non-supportive and blind to this woman's situation and then just as blind to the child. Too bad, an abortion, and I'm not usually of this mindset either, but in this case, it could have saved a family. Now usually you don't know if you are going to give birth to a child with a serious disability. You aren't fighting with the baby in your womb like this woman was. Famous woman experiencing fighting in her womb was Rivka (Rebecca) but her children were twins who were fighting with each other, and yes one had some bad qualities. OK, so the book character doesn't abort and she has the pregnancy from the other side. Child is born. He is abnormal, everyone can see it, except the doctor of course. This book had me wondering about social services and medical services in England. But it was the 1970's and things have improved a lot since then I think. Now I have a child with a disability, not of this child's nature, more like the Downs child in this book, but still, things can get rough at times. Now listen, doctors are not all of the same opinion but there are so many doctors, and if one doesn't listen then there are others. We didn't get my son's diagnoses with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th doctor, but we did get it by the 5th doctor, and that was all by 3 1/2 months. I thought the woman in this book was foolish not to take that baby to London right after his birth and say, OK, what is wrong here, and keep asking until someone did some research and came up with a diagnoses. Also, that place the family puts him, THE INSTITUTION, is that for real? Did places like that really exist in the 1970's in England? Do they still exist? My child has been an in patient for a couple of months in a hospital and it was nothing of the sort although it did give everyone some breathing space and allow for some family healing time. I completely agreed with the woman's decision to take her child from that place; if there had been a safe, humane place to put him that would have been a different story. He was dangerous and continued to be throughout the book. It would have been to everyone's betterment if the child had not been at home, if he had in fact been supervised in a care facility. But the key word is CARE. All in all, a very sad story. Sometimes very hard to manage special needs kids or children who are very difficult in some way like a sociopath, or schizophrenic can kind of blow a family apart. And sometimes good options are not available. Oh also, the idea seems to be in this book, that if she hadn't had so many kids then she wouldn't have broken down, and she wouldn't have given birth to this child. The book is very judgmental on having a lot of kids. I have 8 kids myself, my son in law is the oldest of 10, my sister in law has 8 kids. I come from a community of people who tend to have a lot of kids. I have never seen anyone fall apart from having a lot of kids, not that I know everything, I am just speaking from my own experiences. Get stressed, of course, but unless there are underlying factors, the women I've seen are doing well. Now if you have a special needs kid, or a sick kid, physically or mentally, well that can make things a lot more stressful. But that can be your 1st child or any of your children!! There seems to be the "pushing your luck" idea here, but I think we all push our luck as soon as we are born. Anything can happen to anyone really.

This book is going to be released into Booklady's ABC bookbox

Released into Booklady's ABC Bookbox.

Arrived home in my ABC bookbox. Going to decide what to do with the book - add it to round 2 or ???

Enjoy! to oppem for KTM and RABCK release challenges 2011

Just returned from 2 weeks vacation & found this lovely book awaiting me.
Thank you so very much for sending me way... it looks like a very 'good read'.

Not sure if I have read any other Doris Lessing books 'way in the past' or not, and am not quite sure what expected of this one.
That said, after reading this little book I was left feeling that I personally had just not connected up with whatever Lessing was trying to tell us.
I never felt that could relate to any of the characters & all the way thru. kept searching for whatever Lessing might have been trying to convey.
For me this was less than a satisfactory read.

Going to send media mail as a rabck to fellow bookcrosser who has this on her wishlist.
Enjoy.

Whew, I almost....almost forgot to log that I received this! Yikes, sometimes things get away from me! Needless to say, this arrived safe and sound and I look forward to reading it. Thank you so very much for sending this to me. I promise to let everyone know my opinion and pass this along!

Again, thank you for thinking of me! :)