Review: The Fifth Child

The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This short novel kept me interested, but I can't say I understand the main protagonist (Harriett, not Ben. I mean, obviously I don't understand Ben either, but I don't expect to). She felt it better to sacrifice her 4 other children's lives (not to mention her husband's, her own, and basically everyone around her) than the life of this one who very clearly has serious problems (or is just a monster).

Having said that, it is still an enthralling book. I couldn't really tell what Ben was supposed to look like from the description. Maybe he was a neanderthal throwback (they seemed to hinting at this a couple times)? I found myself searching for images of neanderthals to get an idea.


3.5 stars

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