The Golden Notebook

By: Doris Lessing

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson

Length: 27 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's 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.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©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)

Tough to start

While this book is full of reflection on a plethora of topics it’s hard to get the cadence of it down because there seemingly is no plot line. It’s more a shout out to the social and personal mind and all the troublesome thoughts that live there. I’m glad to have stuck it out as the ending was quite uneventfully satisfying.

Good Book

Would you consider the audio edition of The Golden Notebook to be better than the print version?

yes, the voices and characters that the reader takes on makes it very interesting.

Would you recommend The Golden Notebook to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes, very interesting glimpse in to the era

Which character – as performed by Juliet Stevenson – was your favorite?

Anna

Fantastic Narration

Juliet Stevenson beautifully narrates this complicated novel by Dorris Lessing. Lessing’s The Golden Notebook is full of stories and dreams within stories, an exploration of Anna Wulf’s mind and an attempt to un-fragment her fragmented life.

A great book

A wonderful book that I found to be developmental and maturative for a young man coming of age such as myself. I found this book relatable and generally intelligent. I further highly recommend this book.

Really difficult.

Juliet Stevenson is my current favorite reader, and I thought I liked Doris Lessing. This novel is no less difficult now that it was when I first read it 35 years ago. Historical, interesting and terribly close scrutiny of human relationships. And Stevenson never disappoints, but Lessings work is trying.

still as good as years back

read it 50 years ago, still such a great book. and Juliet Stevenson is amazing

The Best

First, Juliet Stevenson is to my mind the best narrator. Period. I would want her to read any book I might write--even it was about boxing.
I think The Golden Notebook is, by general agreement, the best and most original "feminist novel." It's the one book every feminist writer of any sort looks to for advice. What's amazing to me on rereading is how completely pertinent and alive it is--and how very moving, exciting, and overwhelming. Each of her characters gets up and walks around the room in front of you. They are all now part of my life.
The structure of The Golden Notebook--a form that has been followed (imitated?) in thousands of novels, movies and TV shows for the last fifty years--still works best here in the original as a portrayal of the idea of a woman's fragmented life. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL! Even David Foster Wallace should have acknowledged Lessing in his books, along with Gaddis and every other post-modern stylist.
The Golden Notebook also offers brilliant glimpses into a history that has been obscured by passing events. Where else can you understand the circumstances in which becoming a Communist would be reasonable and right, then feel how shattering disillusionment would be because it was all so obviously wrong? Papa Joe Stalin? Ridiculous! But that's how we won the war. And where would Lessing's Zimbabwe be without the true believers who fought so hard to emerge from the shell of Rhodesia?
The 2007 Nobel Prize citation said Lessing recorded the female experience "with scepticism, fire and visionary power" and "subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny," but this book sings a much greater song: a woman growing stronger and more beautiful by searching for an independent self on whom everyone depends.

women are more rational

If you could sum up The Golden Notebook in three words, what would they be?

ahead of it's time, but timeless. thought provoking and wonderful insight. wonderful interactin of characters.

If you’ve listened to books by Doris Lessing before, how does this one compare?

no others listened to

What about Juliet Stevenson’s performance did you like?

unknown

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

no

Any additional comments?

no

Stevenson's read was flawless!

Were it not for the narrator of this book, I am not so sure I would have stuck with it. It's a long book with not much much action in between analytical and/or descriptive passages that are often written in streams of consciousness which could otherwise have become quite tedious to stick with. But Ms. Stevenson gave each character such great depth and distinction that it was as if we were inhabiting their minds. Moreover, her erudition was so mesmerizing, that it was a pleasure just to listen to her voice. I haven't always felt this way about her narration, (skip Portrait of a Lady), but she made this book come to life!

Interesting to relive the sexual mores, politics, and social issues of the 40's, 50's and 60's in England as experienced by a progressive woman and compare them to present day standards. As liberated as the protagonist was, I can't help but feel most of her deepest anxieties would have been greatly alleviated had she not been so consumed with MEN!

Much too long..

A long and difficult book, but with some interesting ideas. The narration was excellent.