Title: Amazing character creation
Product review: It took me a while to get through, but this book was really, really good. It was, perhaps, one of the better written, more psychologically perceptive novels that I've read. The way Lessing builds the character of Martha Quest is as close to perfect as I've ever read. Martha is annoying. It's pretty hard to like her at all. You don't really sympathize with what she does or her motivations, since she's pretty clearly an impulsive idiot kid. Nonetheless, it's impossible not to believe what she does or see her actions as extremely genuine. There are no simple stereotypes here. I've called her an impulsive kid, and that's what she is, but I don't want to oversimplify. Just like any impulsive kid, she doesn't always do what you expect. She's not stupid, and doesn't always make the wrong decisions. She is 100% herself, and even 60 years after the book was written, she feels fresh and new.
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