The Grass Is Singing (1950) -- Book Review

"Loneliness, she thought, was craving for other people's company. But she did not know that loneliness can be an unnoticed cramping of the spirit for lack of companionship."

By Doris Lessing

While I was browsing for books in the bookshelf that holds mostly books that my siblings and I read for school, I noticed The Grass Is Singing (or Vaincue par la brousse as my French version says) and was drawn to it. I like to read books that are set in a certain historical and geopolitical context and this book seemed like a shining example. I probably wouldn't be mistaken if I were to say this was the first book I read about South Africa.

The book starts with a note in a journal about the murder of Mary Turner, white, by a black servant. We live this first chapter through the eyes of Charlie Slatter, the neighbor of the Turners. Charlie is a successful farmer, as opposed to the Turners, and had plans of buying their farm once they left. The black servant confesses to the murder without reluctance and even if there is a possible doubt in him being coerced to do so (either the murder or the confession for that matter), we don't really doubt it.

To understand the death of Mary Turner and discover, not by whom but why she was murdered, the book takes us back into Mary's life. We learn about her alcoholic father and emotionally abusive mother, and the blatant racism of the whites of Rhodesia (now, Zimbabwe) against those they called the "niggers" or "natives".

However, once Mary leaves and manages to be on her own she becomes quite a successful woman in her own right. A good job, friends she feels comfortable with, boys with whom she can be friend without ever having to engage in any sort of relationships and most of all a deep sense of worth. This all starts to go downhill when she once overhears her friends saying how it is weird that she is still single at her age, that she has no desire to marry. Deeply hurt by those comments, because she thought her friends would behave around her the same as they would behind her back, she starts to get paranoid that they all see her as different and inept. More by way of trying to fit in than because of her own desire, she decides on getting married.

She meets farmer Dick Turner, who is lonely and desirous for company and children. They get married and Dick, who is very poor, tells her they should wait for a better season and more money before they have children. This ends up being the way everything will happen for the couple on the farm from then on.

The only thing Mary likes in her husband is his pride, as he would never borrow any money and would always believe he can make the money back with a good season. But Dick Turner never makes a good decision, nor blessed by a good season and as such they never have any money for holidays, or even for things like putting a roof over their living room. Mary gets more and more isolated as the years pass and the heat seems to team up with her loneliness to drive her towards an end. Her spiraling descent is discernible to the reader, who is already told of her being murdered in the end.

I immediately enjoyed the intrigue and writing style of the book. The first shock is the blatant racism of the characters which sets you aback with their treatment of the "natives" like animals and the constant need to "save face for the Whites against the niggers". In a way, the racism is so exposed that we learn a great deal from the characters through it.

Dick Turner is a complex character, always depicted as a loser who never gets anything right yet is very strong willed and never prone to pessimism or depression. Most of the book is centered on Mary and her depression through sheer isolation and the defeat of her dreams -- which is painful to watch unravel. In a slow and meticulous way, we see it happening. I felt it was easy to tell what would happen, yet it took time, slowly burdening Mary more and more. In a way, the slow depression and boredom of rural life that Mary goes through reminded me of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary.

There is very little action going on when you consider their farm life goes on for at least 15 years living on small hopes: a new field or a new plant, a shop or an interaction with the natives.

The other book I was reminded of is Chronicle of a Death Foretold--not so much in its narrative, but because we know exactly what is going to happen, yet, it still manages to clench our guts when it does.

I would say this was my favorite part of the story--the slow, burning hot series of afternoon that Mary would have to spend alone. Nothing happens yet we slowly witness her downfall. And we slowly start to wonder if they'll leave, at first, but then we realize it's impossible they can't live. And it feels that if someone could die of sheer boredom, maybe Mary would have, but it's impossible so how does she turn up dead on the first page? How did she let a native, of which she was always so mean to, get near enough of her to kill her? And the crushing hand of time that slowly but so surely deteriorates Mary's physical and mental health.

 I wasn't surprised to read that Doris Lessing later wrote more feminist novels as this definitely has proto-feminist undertones to it. I pondered whether Mary was asexual too. A scathing critique of a society that thinks evil of those who don't abide by its rules.

I liked: Slow death. Isolation. The clash of characters between Dick and Mary. Historical context. Open to interpretation.

I disliked: The social critics are done through repeated occurrences of them. No mystery.

73/100
It's hard to pinpoint what the book is precisely about- South Africa, colonialism, isolation, sanity. Or simply Humanism.