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Product Description
First published by Michael Joseph in 1984, under a pseudonym, as ‘The Diary of a Good Neighbour’ and ‘If the Old Could…’, now published as ‘The Diaries of Jane Somers’, this is in many ways classic Lessing.
As resonant with social and political themes as ‘The Golden Notebook’, Lessing returns to the realism of her early fiction with the wisdom and experience of maturity.
The diaries introduce us to Jane, an intelligent and beautiful magazine editor concerned with success, clothes and comfort. But her real inadequacy is highlighted when first her husband, then her mother, die from cancer and Jane feels strangely removed. In an attempt to fill this void, she befriends ninety-something Maudie, whose poverty and squalor contrast so radically with the glamour and luxury of the magazine world. The two gradually come to depend on each other – Maudie delighting Jane with tales of London in the 1920s and Jane trying to care for the rapidly deteriorating old woman.
‘The Diary of Jane Somers’ contrasts the helplessness of the elderly with that of the young as Jane is forced to care for her nineteen-year-old drop-out niece Kate who is struggling with an emotional breakdown. Jane realises that she understands young people as little as she so recently did the old.
From the Back Cover
First published by Michael Joseph in 1984, under a pseudonym, as The Diary of a Good Neighbour and If the Old Could… , The Diaries of Jane Somers have been out of print for some time.
In many ways they are classic Lessing: as resonant with social and political themes as The Golden Notebook and with them, Lessing returns to the realism of her early fiction with the wisdom and experience of maturity.
The diaries introduce us to Jane, an intelligent and beautiful magazine editor concerned with success, clothes and comfort . But her real inadequacy is highlighted when first her husband, then her mother, die from cancer and Jane feels strangely removed. In an attempt to fill this void, she befriends ninety-something Maudie, whose poverty and squalor contrast so radically with the glamour and luxury of the magazine world. The two gradually come to depend on each other – Maudie delighting Jane with tales of London in the 1920s and Jane trying to care for the rapidly deteriorating old woman.
If The Old Could… contrasts the helplessness of the elderly with that of the young as Jane is forced to care for her nineteen-year-old drop-out niece Kate as she struggles with an emotional breakdown and Jane realises that she understands young people as little as she so recently did the old.
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Customer Reviews
The story is of Jane, a modern woman and a more serious version of the silly Bridget Jones. She holds a high end job as a fashion editor and spends every sunday preparing the coming week's outfits.
She lost her husband and mother to cancer some years ago and now, in her middelage, she is thinking her life over. She befriends an old crone, the sour Maude, and by looking after her, she pays absolution to her husband and mother.
The book is very well written. Though the language is simple and fresh, the feel of the book is both depressing and though-provoking. The feminist thinking is there, both explicit and implicit, but the overall theme is death and coming af age - however late in life his coming of age happens.
Both, The Diary of a Good Neighbour and If The Old Could...raise highly challenging questions about the way society deals (or not) with the older generation or even people who do not quite conform to what are seen to be current society's behavioural norms and unspoken values.
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