About this title: Mary Turner, a white woman married to a white farmer in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), is both afraid of and attracted to Moses, a black farmhand. Issues of prejudice, and what was known as "the colour bar", provide the backdrop for this novel of a woman's gradual disintegration and violent death.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. 2008-Paperback----Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Edition: No Edition Stated
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Popular Library, New York
Date Published: 1976
Description: Good. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Considerable soiling to wraps. Not a pretty copy. Light shelf wear. More of a reading copy with clean pages. read more
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
ISBN-13:9780060953461ISBN:0060953462
Description: Good. 0060953462 This book is in Good Used Condition. The Book shows some signs of wear. There may be some markings inside the book. 100% Money Back Guarantee! ! ! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Date Published: 12/22/1999
ISBN-13:9780060953461ISBN:0060953462
Description: New. 0060953462 Brand New Book With Remainder Mark. May Have Slight Shelf Wear. In-Stock Now For Immediate Secure Packaging & Delivery. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780061673740ISBN:0061673749
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 238 p. P.S. (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. Very Good; clean, tight and unmarked; spine uncreased; a slight bend in front cover Contains additional sections: About the Author and About the Book read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Date Published: 9/16/2008
ISBN-13:9780061673740ISBN:0061673749
Description: Fine. 0061673749 Ships next business day. NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black line on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
"This is the first Doris Lessing book I have read. I love her writing style. This also actually the first novel she published. This is the story of a woman who starts as an independent single in a big city but ends up marrying a farmer because she overheard her "friends" talking about her and how she probably would never marry, more's the pity. She ends up on a farm hours from any other white neighbors in a shack with a tin roof, married to a man who is a very bad farmer. She slowly goes mad and is murdered. The story sounds depressing, but Lessing's skills makes it a compelling read."
"I have to steal from a previous reviewer here to note that I can't say I liked the book in the usual sense - but it held my attention & is more than deserving of all the praise it's received over the years. This is a deceptively simple, yet harrowing novel that uses the story of Dick & Mary Turner & their servant Moses, to tell the larger story of South Africa under white rule. It's a story about murder, personal disintegration, madness, poverty, the utter screaming boredom of life on a hard-scrabble farm, racism, colonialism, fear and revenge. Brilliant - and depressing - The Grass Is Singing has perhaps the most chilling final chapter I've ever read. Lyrical and frightening and filled with cold, unflinching condemnation of...just about everybody."
"This was a really strange book, for me. I don't even know what to say about it. The two-star rating is a bit misleading, I guess; it's not that the book was just OK, since it was extremely well written. It's more that it was just so...strange. So unrelentingly dark. So unrelatable, and yet somehow uncomfortably familiar -- the characters' racism and insecurities and slowly developing insanity. I think Ms. Lessing is an incredible writer, but reading this, her first novel, made me so uncomfortable, and left a lasting sense of unease."
"The Grass Is Singing was my first Doris Lessing novel, and I loved it! As you could have already read the synospsis, in this book Lessing tells the story of a farmer husband, Dick Turner, and his wife Mary, their life and struggles on their farm in South Africa, while portraying the fragile and unstable state of the balance of forces between the whites and the blacks.
During the first 2 chapters I was a bit surprised and not sure if I would enjoy it (her realistic racist description shocked me), but wow, her evocative and yet simple descriptions of the African landscape, the scorching hot and the reality of the farms and sweaty hard work were very realistic and made me feel as if I was seeing it. And her storytelling! it was so painful and saddening to read the story of these 2(-3) people, who are so different and wanted so different things from life and witness as their differences and inability to understand each other (and their lack of ability to communicate) ruin their lives. Beautiful and very powerful book, it was a wonderful read, I will definitely read more by her. Someone once told me that if I read only one Lessing novel in my life, I should read The Grass Is Singing, and having read it, I can definitely second that opinion, this novel is one you definitely have to read."
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