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![]() | Ben, in the World (2000) (The second book in the Fifth Child series) A novel by Doris Lessing |
Many will recall the powerful impact The Fifth Child, Doris Lessing's 1988 novel, made on publication. Its account of idyllic marital and parental bliss irredeemably shattered by the arrival of the feral fifth child of the Lovatts made for unnerving and compulsive reading. That child, Ben, now grown to legal maturity, is the central character of this sequel, which picks up the fable at the end of the childhood where the first book ended and takes our primal, misunderstood, maladjusted teenager out into the world, where again he meets mostly with mockery, fear and incomprehension but with just enough kindness and openness to keep him afloat as his adventures take him from London to the South of France and on to South America in his restless quest for community, companionship and peace. As in Mara and Dann, Doris Lessing in this newest book returns to a plain, unadorned prose fit for fables; again, we have a childlike perspective at the heart of the book; again, the world in all its malevolence and misapprehenison swirls around at the edge, while, occasionally, a strong character steps forward to try to stake out some values and practise some good behaviour. Again, it is one of Lessing's novels that will, I think, last most particularly as a work that imaginative teenagers of all ages will be riveted by.Described as "one of the world's great living writers', Doris Lessing's fiction continues to compel, and surprise, her readers. In the context of Lessing's writing career, the tale of Ben, in the World, the sequel to Lessing's powerful The Fifth Child (1988), is a long, and complex, one. It goes back (at least) to 1957, and the appearance of her short story, "The eye of God in paradise" (included in The Habit of Loving). That story includes the description of a child, "a desperate, wild, suffering little creature", who bites if you get close to him. That child haunts both Mary Parrish (the protagonist of the story) and, it seems, Doris Lessing. She returns to him in The Fifth Child, a short novel dedicated to the problem of how to tell the difference of "Ben": the fifth child born to an idyllic middle-class family. Who, or what, is Ben? Beast, goblin, throwback, alien, or a "normal healthy fine baby"? Wrestling with that question--the ethical difficulty posed by the appearance of difference at the heart of "normal" life--The Fifth Child allows for a hesitation in knowing what, or how, to think about Ben. Ben, in the World pursues the theme, but with far more certainty. Now eighteen, but looking thirty-five, Ben is estranged from his family, forced to find his way in a basically hostile world: "And Ben left: he had no home in this world." By now, Lessing knows him well; the narrative voice constantly intervenes to direct the reader's response to Ben, to the people who surround him and his (sometimes unlikely) experiences in Europe and South America. The misery, and alienation, of Ben's life remains Lessing's preoccupation, offset only by the friendship of the odd individuals she depicts so skilfully--and, finally, the waywardness of Ben's quest to find people like himself. Vicky Lebeau --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Used availability for Doris Lessing's Ben, in the World
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
June 2000 : Hardback
| Title: Ben, in the World Author(s):: Doris Lessing ISBN: 0002261952 / 9780002261951 (UK edition) Publisher: Flamingo Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA |
July 2000 : Hardback
| Title: Ben, In the World: The Sequel to The Fifth Child Author(s):: Doris Lessing ISBN: 0060196289 / 9780060196288 (USA edition) Publisher: Harper Availability: Amazon Amazon CA Amazon UK |
2000 : Hardback
| Title: Ben, in the World Author(s):: Doris May Lessing ISBN: 0753163802 / 9780753163801 (UK edition) Publisher: ISIS Large Print Books Availability: Amazon UK |
Paperback Editions
2001 : Paperback
| Title: Ben, in the world Author(s):: Doris Lessing ISBN: 0753163810 / 9780753163818 (UK edition) Publisher: ISIS Availability: Amazon Amazon CA Amazon UK |
July 2001 : Paperback
| Title: Ben, In the World: The Sequel to the Fifth Child Author(s):: Doris Lessing ISBN: 0060934654 / 9780060934651 (USA edition) Publisher: Harper Perennial Availability: Amazon UK Amazon Amazon CA |
April 2001 : Paperback
| Title: Ben, in the World Author(s):: Doris Lessing ISBN: 0006552293 / 9780006552291 (UK edition) Publisher: Flamingo Availability: Amazon Amazon UK |
June 2000 : Paperback
| Title: Ben, in the World Author(s):: Doris Lessing ISBN: 0007102127 / 9780007102129 (UK edition) Publisher: Flamingo Availability: Amazon Amazon UK |
Audio Editions
August 2003 : Audio CD
| Title: Ben, in the World Author(s):: Doris May Lessing ISBN: 075312226X / 9780753122266 (UK edition) Publisher: Isis Audio Availability: Amazon UK Amazon Amazon CA |
December 2000 : Audio Cassette
| Title: Ben, in the World Author(s):: Doris May Lessing ISBN: 0753110008 / 9780753110003 (UK edition) Publisher: ISIS Audio Books Availability: Amazon Amazon CA Amazon UK |
Kindle Editions
March 2012 : Kindle edition
| Title: Ben, in the World Author(s):: Doris Lessing ISBN: B007B5IA0O Publisher: Fourth Estate Availability: Amazon UK |
September 2009 : Kindle edition
| Title: Ben, In the World (Fifth Child) Author(s):: Doris Lessing ISBN: B002QHATHE Publisher: HarperCollins e-books Availability: Amazon Amazon UK |
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