Re: Colonised Planet 5, Shikasta

Book 1 in the Canopus in Argos series

‍

Initially, Doris Lessing wrote this book as a single novel, but the world she created was so strong she felt more books wanted to be written within it, so she kept going until there were five books.

‍

Fifteen years ago I read this series and was very impressed by it, especially because I’d already loved Doris Lessing but didn't know she’d written any science fiction (in fact, she calls these books "space fiction", not science fiction).

‍

Shikasta so impressed me that this became a book (like The Red Tent by Anita Diamant or One by Richard Bach) that I would buy if I saw in a second hand book shop just so I could give it away.

‍

Or the woman may put the leaf gently on a blue plate and set it on a table, and may even bow before it, ironically, and with a sort of apology that is so near to the thoughts and actions of Shikastans now, and think that the laws that made this shape must be, must be stronger in the end than the slow distorters and perverters of the substance of life.

‍

In this book she pulls together an astounding array of vast topics like the history of human beings on Earth, extra-terrestrial cultures and their influence on Earth, the mechanics of reincarnation, the way that humanity deals with the collapse of society, the struggle of classes and colors… It’s a testament to Ms. Lessing’s skill as a writer that she is able to fold into a story with those over-arching themes so many archeological details that contemporary society has no answers for.

‍

The fact that even 45 years after it was written, the book remains solid and valid is also a testament to her writing skills.

‍

On the cons side, there are two or three long passages that would benefit from a red pen, and the ending seemed a bit slapdash.

‍

I don’t understand how it would have been possible for that particular ending to have manifested, all things considered, but it's not a big deal as the reader had been given enough to chew on.

‍

Recommended for only for readers who are not dismayed when encountering paragraphs that take up most of a page.

‍