Advantages: Easy to read, compelling
Disadvantages: Dull ending

...Harriet and David Lovatt know that they are made for each other the moment their eyes meet - both want a big house, lots of children and family all around them. And for a time, it seems as if they are going to get exactly that. Their first four children are a delight to raise, and relatives are more than happy to spend time at the Lovatts' house. Then Harriet becomes pregnant for the fifth time - an unexpected pregnancy that is far more difficult than any of her former ones. When the baby is born, it is clear that he is very different from the others - large and clumsy, impossible to please and violent towards others. What exactly has Harriet given birth to? And will their family life ever be the same again? I have read two books by Doris Lessing before, both of which were set in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where the author was brought... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Beautifully written, intriguing and unusual
Disadvantages: Told in two volumes, which may not be of equal appeal to all

...Although this book is, in fact, by the distinguished and versatile novelist Doris Lessing (author of, among much else, “The Golden Notebook”, “The Grass is Singing” and the Canopus in Argos series) it was originally published under a pseudonym – that of the eponymous Jane Somers. In fact, it was initially published as two novels: “The Diary of a Good Neighbour” (1983) and “If the Old Could…” (1984). In her interesting introduction to this edition, Doris Lessing explains why she decided to write under a pseudonym and what subsequently happened. (Lessing’s publishers rejected “Jane Somers”’ first novel out of hand, although it was subsequently accepted by another publisher who commented perceptively that it “reminded them of Doris Lessing”. Few... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Compelling story, beautifully written
Disadvantages: Ending slightly disappointing

...Doris Lessing is an author that I have heard of, but until I read this book, I had no idea what sort of books she wrote. She has certainly had a fascinating life; born to English parents, she lived in Iran until she was five, before moving to Zimbabwe, where she spent her formative years growing up on a farm. The Grass is Singing, first published in 1950, was an international success and her work continues to be reprinted. I was deeply impressed by this book and am only sorry that I did not discover her work before. The story focuses on Mary Turner, the wife of a farmer, who is found murdered on the porch of her home. No-one is really surprised or particularly upset; she is well-known in the area for keeping herself to herself and for treating the local staff badly. After her body is found, we are taken back to her younger days... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: It's Bowie
Disadvantages: None come to mind

...The year 1971 was a very productive one for David Bowie he had just signed to a major label RCA and now he had an American lawyer called Tony Defries as his manager who with his "Mainman" company was building up public expectations for Bowie to be the next big thing. He had written a huge amount of material than would later feature on the "Hunky Dory" album and "Ziggy Stardust" album, which for many fans of Bowie's remain essential purchases and are seen by many as his biggest contribution to the world of music. Bowie had in place the musicians that would become "The Spiders from Mars", with the drummer Mick "Woody Woodmansey who along with Mick Ronson where retained from the previous "The man who sold the World" sessions, Tony Visconti had been replaced on bass guitar by Trevor Bolder and Visconti's production duties where now... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Wonderful, classic Bowie album
Disadvantages: Song for Bob Dylan

... Amazon, HMV and Play are all charging £9.99 for Hunky Dory at the time of writing but I saw it on sale at Fopp the other day (yes, Fopp has risen from the ashes) for just a fiver. There have been a number of reissues of this CD, including a cute LP replica version released in 2007 and available as a Japanese import at around £15. The 1999 reissue (still on sale) is the "remastered" version but, apart from more volume, I'm hard pressed to find any real difference in the sound. Those lucky enough to get their hands on the 1990 reissue will find four bonus tracks on it. These comprise a demo version of Quicksand with a much-simplified acoustic guitar backing and a less polished vocal; an alternative mix of The Bewlay Brothers; a different recording of The Supermen from The Man Who Sold the World album; and a previously-unreleased track... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: fluid prose style; interesting premise
Disadvantages: simplistic accounts of gender

...the active men, who build and hunt and generally develop more skills in decades than the women have since whenever they crawled out of the sea. Ultimately, this is my problem with the novel: the characters are gendered caricatures. While a few characters are picked out and followed, even these are slaves to their genes. The men are active; the women nag. The men want adventure and challenge; the women want clean huts and instinctively know how to fix hurts. Regardless of Lessing's use of narrative voice, she seems to be endorsing a thoroughly biological view of human nature as fixed, unchanging and inescapable. The main strength of the novel is its fluid narrative style which successfully creates a sense of myth. Lessing's use of repetition emphasises this, especially in the first section of the novel, in which the same events are recounted... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: The songs, the playing
Disadvantages: Nothing major

...The airbrushed cover shot of David Bowie on the cover of his Hunky Dory album in 1971 was clearly aimed at playing up to the impending “Is he gay?” controversy which Bowie himself used so archfully to further his career as a God of Glam Rock in the first years of the new decade. He stares wistfully out into some hazy half-distance like a mix between Greta Garbo and Lauren Bacall, smoothing his shoulder length hair away from his boy-girl beautiful face, tastefully created and craftily posed. It was clear that Bowie was committed to his future world domination and would do literally anything to ensure he made it to the top. It would be building too much Machiavellian wit into the plans of the man and his entourage to say that he had designed his path to the stars, but it would be easy to be fooled by the Bowie myth and his total mastery... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Excellent songs and arrangements
Disadvantages: Some patchy tracks

...but on this occasion Ronson forsook the distorted electric heavy metal guitar histrionics for strummed acoustics, and Wakeman was featured not on Moog or Mellotron but rolling barrelhouse piano for the most part. It was a strange departure for Bowie as he roamed through warm, intimate and bouncy arrangements in sharp contrast to the album’s predecessor, the harsh sci fi heavy metal of 'The Man Who Sold The World', or even its successor, the futuristically rocking 'The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars'. ‘Hunky Dory’ also marked Bowie’s first release on the RCA label after being signed up with a handsome advance and jumping ship from Mercury, who had been disappointed with his sales figures. He was now under the sharp managerial control of Tony De Fries who engineered the RCA deal and set his sights firmly on nothing less than... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful