Sarah's Library

8/4 - I don't really know which shelf to put this on genre-wise. It's almost historical fiction, but it's not because almost none of it actually happened, it's Lessing's idea of how her parent's lives might have gone if WWI never happened (I liked the inclusion of the political landscape after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand didn't happen). So if it's a fantasy life for Alfred and Emily does that mean it goes on the fantasy shelf? Well, that's not really right either, because then it would be in the company of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series and the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde, and they would make strange bedfellows with Alfred and Emily. I would always feel like I'd made a categorising error by putting it there. Maybe when I continue reading it'll reveal itself to be contemporary literature, that would make life easier for me. To be continued...

11/4 - As soon as the fantastical fiction part ended and the biographical part began I became more interested in the story of Alfred and Emily.  I find the true story of relatively random people's lives surprisingly intriguing and more engrossing than the fictional story that their daughter created for them.  To be continued...

12/4 - Another book related dream?! You've got to be kidding me! This time I read a brief anecdote about bugs sitting on the outside of Doris' mosquito netting and them terrifying her, causing her to scream until Alfred came to knock them off. A few sentences later there is an even briefer mention of hornets being one of the many types of insects that invaded their house on a regular basis. That's all it took to send me into a nightmare about being stung by a swarm of bees and not being able to pull the stingers out of my legs, leaving them feeling like cacti.

Alfred and Emily's real life story is even more depressing and full of unfulfilled desires than the "what if?" life Doris created for them. The first half of the book might have been a fantasy, but it was no dream come true for her parents. In neither time do either seem particularly happy and I find that dreadfully depressing. The idea that even with the worst experience (one would imagine) of their lives removed they still can't have a happy existence, instead of one tragedy or obstacle there is another. It almost feels like Lessing is saying something about fate and how it doesn't matter what road you choose, fate will have its way. You can't change your destiny, even if the circumstances are slightly different.

When I realised the first half of the book is a fantasy she wrote for her parents I thought it would be just that, a fantastical alternate reality where everyone's happy and no one dies prematurely. I never expected Lessing would use evidence from her parent's lives and their personalities to write an entirely possible and thoroughly researched life for each of them. I was very impressed, but can't help but wonder what Alfred and Emily would have thought of the 'other them' and the way their lives turned out.