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The Golden Notebook cover art

The Golden Notebook

By: Doris Lessing
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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Summary

One of the most important books of the growing feminist movement of the 1950s, The Golden Notebook was brought to the attention of a wider public by the Nobel Prize award to Doris Lessing in 2007.

Author Anna Wulf attempts to overcome writer’s block by writing a comprehensive "golden notebook" that draws together the preoccupations of her life, each of which is examined in a different notebook: sources of her creative inspiration in a black book, communism in a red book, the breakdown of her marriage in a yellow book, and day-to-day emotions and dreams in a blue book. Anna’s struggle to unify the various strands of her life – emotional, political, and professional – amasses into a fascinating encyclopaedia of female experience in the ‘50s.

In this authentic, taboo-breaking novel, Lessing brings the plight of women’s lives from obscurity behind closed doors into broad daylight. The Golden Notebook resonates with the concerns and experiences of a great many women and is a true modern classic, thoroughly deserving of its reputation as a feminist bible. A notoriously long and complex work, it is given a new life by this – its first unabridged recording.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©1962 Doris Lessing (P)2010 Naxos Audiobook

Critic reviews

" The Golden Notebook is Doris Lessing’s most important work and has left its mark upon the ideas and feelings of a whole generation of women." (Elizabeth Hardwick, New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about The Golden Notebook

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautifully Perceptive

A wonderfully perceptive writer, Lessing captures the nuances of dialogue and emotion brilliantly. I at several points had to stop and think about the writer's ability to create such brilliant authenticity in fiction. The central character, Anna, is presented with such subtlety and complexity that her thoughts on sexual politics, relationships and frustrated desires become immediately gripping. The narration by Juliet Stevenson enlivens the prose of this book and gives the perfect voice to Anna.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Stricken, hard, difficult...

...with little pleasure for reader/listener. Worth the time but at times terribly claustrophobic and painful.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Classic

This is a great book that captures a moment in time perfectly. Definitely worth the listen.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Confusing reactions to a very complex book

First, JS narrates this beautifully. Without that, I doubt I would have staggered over the finish line. There is a cast of thousands, some of whom appear to be two people, and without Juliet, I would have been even more lost.

Second, I spent quite a lot of the 27 hrs and 33 mins feeling that I must be too stupid to 'get' the complexities of this book that I know is a modern feminist classic, because the blurb and a lot of other stuff on line says it is. In fact, I resorted to looking at narratives on line at one point maybe about 5 hrs in, in order to read what I ought to be thinking or feeling. So I know that the author herself describes the central theme as fragmentation. This is applied to love, and relationships of all types; to society, politics; and to mental health. There may be more which I missed. Anyway, I recommend a quick Google if only to sort out the Note Books upon which the novel is based - each of which deals with a different narrative, style, period and purpose.

Then at times, I felt I was 'getting' the point. Frankly these moments were mainly in the Black Book sections. These are more story-based - easier to access, I suppose. And even in the opaque parts (for me, about 60% of the time), I was often just enjoying the writing.

However, I grew to detest Anna, which made the journey through the last 25% of the book even harder. I was so sick of her internal whining, I was heartily glad she gave up writing and just lived off the royalties of her one piece of work, ever.

I enjoyed the jibes at organised politics - here, the British Communist Party, mainly. It is peopled mostly by rich and/or privileged Comrades who do almost nothing except drink, lay about, have sex with one another and mock other, working class people. I enjoyed what I hope was a very extended dig at self-absorbed pseudo-intellectuals such as Anna and their vapid circles. I really do hope we were supposed to laugh out loud at much of her endless navel-gazing. If not, I really did miss the target.

But even for a book written in the early 1960s, it is very difficult to reconcile it with feminism, because it is based solely on the premise that women need men, and especially to have sex with them, in order to be 'real women'. I can see the descriptions of sex and bodily functions - tame for 2021 - might have been ground breaking in 1962, however, so I think I will focus on that aspect of the treatment of women.

I didn't hate (all of) it. I enjoyed some of it. But I did get very bored by c hour 18 and breathed a sigh of relief when it ended.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • jo
  • 19-11-16

it's all very odd, isn't?

delightful at times, painful most of the time. well worth a listen, but I was glad when I finally heard audible's hope..
Juliet Stevenson helps with soldiering through it all.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Tedious!

The book takes too long to get anywhere. I tried to put up til Chapter 28 and then decided life was to short to force myself to read it. I saw the great reviews on Audible and really wanted to love it because some of the reviews said it touched on feminist issues. Alas, in the end I just couldn't bear it any longer.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Utterly awful

Would you try another book written by Doris Lessing or narrated by Juliet Stevenson?

We covered this book for book club. Only 2 managed to finish it and both of us really struggled to do so and rated it 2/10.

What was most disappointing about Doris Lessing’s story?

It isn't really a story just a jumble of thoughts.

Would you be willing to try another one of Juliet Stevenson’s performances?

Yes she was the only redeeming factor, she is a great actress.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Golden Notebook?

I disliked it all

Any additional comments?

Don't torture yourself by buying this book

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Very very long

Well this is a book about navel gazing. Not my thing. But beautifully written and performed.
The level of introspection was profound to a point of mental health concerns and beyond.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Gave up

Had been greatly looking forward to this, but gave up half way into part 2 because I just couldn't stand Juliet Stevenson's delivery. Sorry - great actress but such a dull performance here.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Dull

Gave up on this with the first book, haven't and wont be listening to the rest of them. I normally love Juliet Stevenson narrating but not even she cant pull this one off.

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3 people found this helpful