Lägg till bokmärke
When Lessing won the Nobel Prize for literature, I felt a bit guilty that I'd never read anything of hers, so I was excited to pick this one up. It... (show more)
THE CLEFT
In the last years of his life, a contemplative Roman senator embarks on one last epic endeavor: to retell the history of human creation and reveal the little-known story of the Clefts, an ancient community of women living in an Edenic coastal wilderness. The Clefts have neither need nor knowledge of men; childbirth is controlled through the cycles of the moon, and they bear only female children. But with the unheralded birth of a strange new child—a boy—the harmony of their com... (show more)
In the last years of his life, a contemplative Roman senator embarks on one last epic endeavor: to retell the history of human creation and reveal the little-known story of the Clefts, an ancient community of women living in an Edenic coastal wilderness. The Clefts have neither need nor knowledge of men; childbirth is controlled through the cycles of the moon, and they bear only female children. But with the unheralded birth of a strange new child—a boy—the harmony of their community is suddenly thrown into jeopardy.
In this fascinating and beguiling novel, Lessing confronts the themes that inspired much of her early writing: how men and women manage to live side by side in the world and how the troublesome particulars of gender affect every aspect of our existence.
Related Media
Photo Gallery
1 out of 4
2 out of 4
3 out of 4
4 out of 4
Reviews (See all 190) Write a reviewfor this
It's a hit!
No, it's a flop!
Mildly interesting gender oriented creation myth explored by a fictional Roman historian. The historian is often more interesting than the legend t... (show more)
Mildly interesting gender oriented creation myth explored by a fictional Roman historian. The historian is often more interesting than the legend that he researches, and it is interesting to see how his observations of the life that surrounds him informs his suppositions about the events in the history he is investigating. I can easily imagine any historian doing the same. The alternative creation myth itself is rather dull. I didn't feel that there was enough there for an entire novel, the whole concept could have been examined in a much shorter story and been a whole lot more entertaining for it. Towards the end it winds into familiar battle of the sexes territory, men don't understand women , women don't understand men, etc etc. I didn't find the writing style had much to offer either. Lessing got a Nobel prize; from this book it's hard to see why, in my opinion. Give it a read if you've nothing better to do. Second rate sci/fi. (show less)
More Reviews
-
It is very rare I find a book that I cannot bring myself to read to the end; this one I really struggled to get beyond the first hundred pages and finally gave up all together shortly after. It starts off as an interesting concept that turns social beliefs on its head but is so poorly rendered as to completely miss the point, in my opinion. A great disappointment!
Already read
-
This book was terrible. I love sci-fi and Doris Lessing is such a fabulous writer......but goddess only knows what she was thinking when she wrote this. Characters are not well developed, plot is slow and riddled with holes. The concept is really interesting and you feel like she could have done something fabulous with it but this book falls well short.
Already read
- See all reviews
Advertisement
Lists
This book has been added to these lists:
More Stuff
About Us
LivingSocial.com is a social discovery and cataloging network that allows people to review and share their favorite movies, books, games, music, restaurants and beer
