Adore

by Doris Lessing

Overview

“A keen sociological eye for class and ideology; an understanding of the contradictory impulses of the human heart; an ability to conjure a place, a mood and a time through seemingly matter-of-fact descriptions.”  — Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

Shocking, intimate, often uncomfortably honest, Adore reaffirms Doris Lessing’s unrivaled ability to capture the truth of the human condition.

Roz and Lil have been best friends since childhood. But their bond stretches beyond familiar bounds when these middle-aged mothers fall in love with each other's teenage sons—taboo-shattering passions that last for years, until the women end them, vowing to have a respectable old age. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062318961
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/17/2013
Series:	P.S.
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature, Doris Lessing was one of the most celebrated and distinguished writers of our time, the recipient of a host of international awards, including the Somerset Maugham Award, the David Cohen Memorial Prize for British Literature, the James Tait Black Prize for best biography, Spain's Prince of Asturias Prize and Prix Catalunya, and the S. T. Dupont Golden PEN Award for a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature.

Hometown:

London, England

Date of Birth:

October 22, 1919

Place of Birth:

Persia (now Iran)

Editorial Reviews

[Lessing] has never written better.” — New York Times Book Review

“A LOVE CHILD possesses both a palpable immediacy and a haunting afterlife.” — Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

“A keen sociological eye for class and ideology; an understanding of the contradictory impulses of the human heart; an ability to conjure a place, a mood and a time through seemingly matter-of-fact descriptions.” — Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

“Absorbing … vivid and fresh … Lessing again demonstrates her remarkable social ventriloquism, an ability to convincingly project her voice into a disparate range of milieus and characters.” — Los Angeles Times

“Using fiction to explore the conditions of our lives in realms both public and private, Lessing anchors the self in the world and returns the world to the self. In this, she is a daughter of Dickens, of Zola, of Stendhal: profoundly radical and traditional at once, in the best sense of each word.” — Susie Linfield, Washington Post Book World

“Here is yet more evidence that this writer of enormous insight and prodigious talent should have won the Nobel Prize decades ago.” — Chicago Tribune

“Intensely readable … [Lessing] offers startling perspectives on domesticity and desire.” — O Magazine

“Lessing’s scathing intelligence ranges widely… each [short novel ] unfolds over decades, tracking with dispassionate precision how youthful notions come to define, even defeat, a life.” — The New Yorker

“Stunning … showing Lessing’s trademark incisiveness.” — Vogue

“[Lessing] has a seismographer’s feel for the fissures beneath the surface of family and for the tension between personal yearning and society’s conventions.” — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Lessing is without peer.” — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Doris Lessing is a compelling storyteller with a fierce intelligence, a keen ear for hypocricy and a sure grasp of history’s cruel ironies.” — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“At once intimately detailed yet infinitely expansive in their suggestions of a lost world only recoverable by a profoundly observant writer ….Showing [Lessing] at the top of her very impressive form.” — Publishers Weekly

“Lessing has never been one to hide the truth, no matter how damning or devastating, and [THE GRANDMOTHERS] shows that her perceptions of the human condition have certainly not been dulled by age or by fame. She continues to be an incisive chronicler of our times and a wickedly honest storyteller.” — New Orleans Times-Picayune

“A brilliantly written book … Lessing is at the top of her game.” — Library Journal (starred)

“[Lessing’s] acute political and artistic awareness makes her vision of our time rich and almost always freshly perceptive.” — The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

“Anyone who regards THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK as one of the key books of the mid-20th century will find this disconcerting novel worth attention.” — The Sunday Telegraph (London)

“Powerful… beautifully realized.” — Miami Herald

From the Publisher

Here is yet more evidence that this writer of enormous insight and prodigious talent should have won the Nobel Prize decades ago.

Chicago Tribune

Absorbing … vivid and fresh … Lessing again demonstrates her remarkable social ventriloquism, an ability to convincingly project her voice into a disparate range of milieus and characters.

|Los Angeles Times

[Lessing] has a seismographer’s feel for the fissures beneath the surface of family and for the tension between personal yearning and society’s conventions.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Intensely readable … [Lessing] offers startling perspectives on domesticity and desire.

O Magazine

Lessing’s scathing intelligence ranges widely… each [short novel ] unfolds over decades, tracking with dispassionate precision how youthful notions come to define, even defeat, a life.

The New Yorker

A LOVE CHILD possesses both a palpable immediacy and a haunting afterlife.

Michiko Kakutani

[Lessing] has never written better.

New York Times Book Review

Using fiction to explore the conditions of our lives in realms both public and private, Lessing anchors the self in the world and returns the world to the self. In this, she is a daughter of Dickens, of Zola, of Stendhal: profoundly radical and traditional at once, in the best sense of each word.

Susie Linfield

Stunning … showing Lessing’s trademark incisiveness.

Vogue

Lessing has never been one to hide the truth, no matter how damning or devastating, and [THE GRANDMOTHERS] shows that her perceptions of the human condition have certainly not been dulled by age or by fame. She continues to be an incisive chronicler of our times and a wickedly honest storyteller.

New Orleans Times-Picayune

Powerful… beautifully realized.

Miami Herald

[Lessing’s] acute political and artistic awareness makes her vision of our time rich and almost always freshly perceptive.

The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

Anyone who regards THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK as one of the key books of the mid-20th century will find this disconcerting novel worth attention.

The Sunday Telegraph (London)

Here is yet more evidence that this writer of enormous insight and prodigious talent should have won the Nobel Prize decades ago.

Chicago Tribune

Powerful… beautifully realized.

Miami Herald

Absorbing … vivid and fresh … Lessing again demonstrates her remarkable social ventriloquism, an ability to convincingly project her voice into a disparate range of milieus and characters.

Los Angeles Times

Lessing’s scathing intelligence ranges widely… each [short novel ] unfolds over decades, tracking with dispassionate precision how youthful notions come to define, even defeat, a life.

The New Yorker

The four pieces that make up The Grandmothers are masterpieces of artistry and intellect.

San Francisco Chronicle Book Review