Description
The Fifth Child is Doris Lessing's 1988 account of marital and parental bliss shattered by the arrival of Ben. That child, now grown to legal maturity, is the central character of this sequel, a misunderstood, maladjusted teenager out in the world.
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Harper Perennial (2001), Edition: Perennial ed., 192 pages
Media reviews
Hatte Doris Lessing im ersten Band die bedrohliche Aggressivität und das zerstörerische Potential dieses Jungen betont, so setzt sie im Fortsetzungsteil einen anderen Schwerpunkt. Zwar ist auch dieser Fast-Erwachsene voller ungebändigter Aggressionen, doch erscheint er hier eher als Opfer: Opfer
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seines Wesens, für das er nichts kann, Opfer aber vor allem einer Welt, die ihn ausgrenzt. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member solla
I read The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing a few months ago, and have just finished it's sequal, Ben in the World. Both novels are short. The first is about two people who marry and want to have a traditional home with many children, which they do. They become a kind of magnet for their friends in the
As I recall, the point of view of that first book, though I believe it was third person omniscient, was mainly through the mother.
Ben in the World is also told in third person omniscient, but it's center is Ben and what he experiences. We see him much more trying to adjust and be like others, doing his best, but with a kind of primitiveness to his emotions, needs and perhaps intelligence. He has to struggle to keep his emotions under control. There are things he can't do, such as drive a car, yet he understands a great deal. He tries to please, and responds to anyone who truly likes him, but he is continually taken advantage of by others.
Lessing can be quite a stark writer. She never tries to make anything softer or prettier than it is. The book has a few scenes that include the children of Rio de Janeiro who live on the streets and beaches, attacking and preying on others to survive. A note in the front illustrates this: "The authorities have cleared the gangs of criminal children from the streets of the centre of Rio. They are no longer permitted to annoy tourists."
So, as you wonder, in fiction, how someone like Ben could survive, you can also wonder what has happened to those children.
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warm, family centered life that they lead. Then their fifth child is born. He is a kind of throwback. His instincts don't fit in the family. They try to preserve the hospitality at holidays, but it is impossible. The new child is a strain on everything. At one point they try institutionalizing the child, which seems to be like a death sentence for him, and the mother goes and rescues him. At the end of that book, the fifth child has managed to find a group of teens with whom he fits to an extent.As I recall, the point of view of that first book, though I believe it was third person omniscient, was mainly through the mother.
Ben in the World is also told in third person omniscient, but it's center is Ben and what he experiences. We see him much more trying to adjust and be like others, doing his best, but with a kind of primitiveness to his emotions, needs and perhaps intelligence. He has to struggle to keep his emotions under control. There are things he can't do, such as drive a car, yet he understands a great deal. He tries to please, and responds to anyone who truly likes him, but he is continually taken advantage of by others.
Lessing can be quite a stark writer. She never tries to make anything softer or prettier than it is. The book has a few scenes that include the children of Rio de Janeiro who live on the streets and beaches, attacking and preying on others to survive. A note in the front illustrates this: "The authorities have cleared the gangs of criminal children from the streets of the centre of Rio. They are no longer permitted to annoy tourists."
So, as you wonder, in fiction, how someone like Ben could survive, you can also wonder what has happened to those children.
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LibraryThing member GingerbreadMan
The idea of writing a sequel to "The fifth child" wasn't necessarily all that appealing to me. What was so haunting about the first book was that Lessing didn't take the easy way out - making Ben a victim always easy and pleasant to relate to. Instead the reader is forced to deal with this
Letting Ben himself lead the story in this book that takes up the thread more or less directly after "The fifth child" is risky. To make him too likeable and starry eyed would have felt out of tune and awkward, and might have sat heavily on the first book.
I think Lessing pulls it off, mostly. I'm with Ben every single step of the way in this book. He remains a bit of a mystery to me, and I don't always like him. But the injustices and abuse he's exposed to here still bring tears to my eyes several times, and some of the scenes will stay with me for a long time. At times I feel slightly manipulated though, when Lessing kicks poor Ben around for me to suffer with him.
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enigmatic, brutish, cat-killing little troll, having to think about the difficult question: what would I have done?Letting Ben himself lead the story in this book that takes up the thread more or less directly after "The fifth child" is risky. To make him too likeable and starry eyed would have felt out of tune and awkward, and might have sat heavily on the first book.
I think Lessing pulls it off, mostly. I'm with Ben every single step of the way in this book. He remains a bit of a mystery to me, and I don't always like him. But the injustices and abuse he's exposed to here still bring tears to my eyes several times, and some of the scenes will stay with me for a long time. At times I feel slightly manipulated though, when Lessing kicks poor Ben around for me to suffer with him.
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LibraryThing member sunfi
I read and enjoyed The Fifth Child, it wasn't like anything that I had ever read before. So I was looking forward to the sequel to it, Ben in the World. I enjoyed this sequel and found it to be a very sad reflection of our current society. Everyone seems to be out for only themselves and using
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anyone they must to get what they want. This was woven nicely into the story. It was heart-breaking reading about Ben and his being unable to find his way in the world. I'll never look at a homeless person the same way again. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookcrazed
Many readers prefer the first book to the sequel, but I see them joined with flawless seam (or maybe I mean seamy flaw). I wanted to know what happened to Ben and I was particularly satisfied that Lessing chose to let us into Ben's head this time, rather than seeing him only through the eyes of his
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family. Show Less
LibraryThing member bhowell
Doris Lessing demonstrates again the power of her talent in this book. If you have read and enjoyed her novel, The Fifth Child, this is sort of a sequel. The Fifth Child was a dark and disturbing story about a child who was born to a middle class family in London. Ben was a strange and scary child,
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almost part animal, like a throwback to some earlier time. He is ultimately rejected by his family other than his mother who struggles to care for him and removes him from an institution where he has been brutilized and starved. In the new novel we read about Ben's survival in the world, on his own. The story picks up Ben at age 15, living on the streets of London. The story is heartbreaking but a great read. The action moves from London to Nice to Brazil and like the Fifth Child is a powerful and haunting tale. Show Less
LibraryThing member posthumose
This is the sequel to The Fifth Child which I also reviewed . That book gave us Ben, born into a large family who welcomed each child with celebration. Unlovable and uncontrollable from birth, freakish in looks, he confuses and frightens everyone around him. He is violent and seems incapable of
What becomes of such an angry young monster, lacking control in all matters, uncomprehending the world and people in general, prone to violence and inviting rebuke by his physically threatening appearance? There is always someone who will be a little kind with food or money to a homeless young man, though most will not. Then there are the unscrupulous who will use people like Ben for criminal activities, knowing he doesn't understand what he's doing and is incapable of communicating information about them to authorities if he's caught. Woman are sometimes kind, even tolerant to a point. But he knows they are always afraid of him. He struggles constantly against his own instincts to hurt people when he perceives mockery or even a slight. The only thing that holds him back is nightmarish memories of being institutionalized and the fear that he will be taken back there. He suffers a strong sexual drive that can only lead to trouble.
Abandoned in another country by criminals who have no further use of him, Ben is eventually spotted by a film maker who thinks of him as a caveman throwback and takes care of him while he has an interest in making a film with him. He will end up on another continent, driven by a spurious promise to find his own "kind", where he will slowly come to face the reality of what he really is. Well written and brutally honest in the end, Lessing is brave enough to show us what everyone secretly thinks about people like Ben. They are unwanted, and there is no sadder fate for anyone.
Highly recommended. But read The Fifth Child first. It's worth it.
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learning. In the end, though she defends him from others, even his mother cannot love him or even stand to have him around. Ben, In the World begins after he has divided and alienated most of his family and left home in his teens. What becomes of such an angry young monster, lacking control in all matters, uncomprehending the world and people in general, prone to violence and inviting rebuke by his physically threatening appearance? There is always someone who will be a little kind with food or money to a homeless young man, though most will not. Then there are the unscrupulous who will use people like Ben for criminal activities, knowing he doesn't understand what he's doing and is incapable of communicating information about them to authorities if he's caught. Woman are sometimes kind, even tolerant to a point. But he knows they are always afraid of him. He struggles constantly against his own instincts to hurt people when he perceives mockery or even a slight. The only thing that holds him back is nightmarish memories of being institutionalized and the fear that he will be taken back there. He suffers a strong sexual drive that can only lead to trouble.
Abandoned in another country by criminals who have no further use of him, Ben is eventually spotted by a film maker who thinks of him as a caveman throwback and takes care of him while he has an interest in making a film with him. He will end up on another continent, driven by a spurious promise to find his own "kind", where he will slowly come to face the reality of what he really is. Well written and brutally honest in the end, Lessing is brave enough to show us what everyone secretly thinks about people like Ben. They are unwanted, and there is no sadder fate for anyone.
Highly recommended. But read The Fifth Child first. It's worth it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member baswood
Ben in the world by Doris Lessing
I read the prequel [The fifth Child] in one sitting and Ben in the world also’. The Fifth child ended with Ben leading a gang of young delinquents as his family tried all they could to distance themselves from him. Ben is an abnormal child a throwback to some sort
This fast moving and unlikely novel focuses on Ben. Lessing puts her readers inside Bens thoughts and feelings. Ben just wants to find somewhere that he can call home. He dreams of going somewhere safe, perhaps back to the farm or to Johnson. He struggle with his eyes which cannot cope with bright sunlight. He does not know who to trust, he has periods where he becomes morose and uncommunicative. Lessing takes us through the Rio Favelas where Teresa Bens latest nursemaid has fought her way up and out. There is a plot to capture Ben for scientific research, but it is thwarted and Ben is told that there are people like him High up in the mountains. An expedition is launched and the party go higher and higher. Ben with his huge barrel chest is the only member of the group who is comfortable at greater and greater altitudes……. The book ends in the snowy wastes and there is something a bit Lawrentian about it.
It is fast paced and our sympathies are all with Ben as he Battles against the strange world he has been born into. To be read in one sitting and to be read for its strangeness and for enjoyment. 3.5 stars.
I read the prequel [The fifth Child] in one sitting and Ben in the world also’. The Fifth child ended with Ben leading a gang of young delinquents as his family tried all they could to distance themselves from him. Ben is an abnormal child a throwback to some sort
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of caveman. He is tremendously strong and a sort of blood lust in him is easily evoked. In the Fifth Child Lessing focuses rather more on Bens effect on the people around him. Ben in the world finds Ben happy enough working on a farm he realises now that he must curb his emotions or he will find himself caged and drugged. He does all the hard work on the farm which is gradually sinking into insolvency and he must move on. He works on a building site but is cheated out of most of his money and lives a hand to mouth existence. He befriends a prostitute who finds sex with Ben exciting and her pimp Johnson is looking for one big deal that will get him clear of his debts. They get Ben a passport and his is escorted to Marseille carrying a huge payload of narcotics. Johnson’s idea is that because Ben is so odd he will not be stopped or searched and they are lucky it works. Everyone gets rich and Ben is looked after by the criminal fraternity, however when this situation starts wearing thin we find Ben able to cope with living in a good class hotel, people look out for him. A film director sees Ben and immediately dreams of a film featuring Ben, he arranges for him to go to Rio de Janeiro and finds a house in the suburbs where Ben is looked after by his girlfriend.This fast moving and unlikely novel focuses on Ben. Lessing puts her readers inside Bens thoughts and feelings. Ben just wants to find somewhere that he can call home. He dreams of going somewhere safe, perhaps back to the farm or to Johnson. He struggle with his eyes which cannot cope with bright sunlight. He does not know who to trust, he has periods where he becomes morose and uncommunicative. Lessing takes us through the Rio Favelas where Teresa Bens latest nursemaid has fought her way up and out. There is a plot to capture Ben for scientific research, but it is thwarted and Ben is told that there are people like him High up in the mountains. An expedition is launched and the party go higher and higher. Ben with his huge barrel chest is the only member of the group who is comfortable at greater and greater altitudes……. The book ends in the snowy wastes and there is something a bit Lawrentian about it.
It is fast paced and our sympathies are all with Ben as he Battles against the strange world he has been born into. To be read in one sitting and to be read for its strangeness and for enjoyment. 3.5 stars.
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LibraryThing member CarrieWuj
The badly needed sequel to the Fifth Child, but disappointing. Ben is now in the world - 18, legally an adult but still lost. He is a misfit in the truest sense of the world, and now knows it. Little mention is made of the Lovatt family other than a lingering hatred for Paul, distrust of David and
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ambivalence toward Harriet. Ben does not really recognize them as "family" but has been fortunate enough to find a few people who will look after him, offering food and shelter on occasion. These people are misfits too - an old lady in council flats, a couple prostitutes. There are many more who will take advantage of him by withholding wages, using him as a drug runner and promising him many things they never deliver. Ben sees patterns in these things, but cannot always see them in the set-up. He is a much more sympathetic character on his own in this setting vs. the Lovatt home in The Fifth Child. And Ben really is out in the world -- London, then the South of France, then Brazil. We learn a little more about him - he is primal, feral, his eyes are super sensitive to sunlight and he is a "throwback" but no one knows to what. What I didn't like about this book was that so many ancillary characters become the focus with backstory and motivations but really are not that integral to Ben. It was disorienting. Finally, in the mountains of Brazil, there are cave paintings that resemble Ben. That is the best scene in the book when he is at last able to recognize himself in others. That the people no longer exist heightens his alienation. Ben cannot be in the world, because he is not of it. Show Less
LibraryThing member pdebolt
After reading The Fifth Child by Lessing, I was interested in finding out what happened to Ben, a seemingly feral child born into a family with four well-behaved blue-eyed, blonde siblings. Ben was the object of derision throughout his school years for the way he looked and his aggressive demeanor.
Ben in the World is the story of what happens to Ben. Eventually shunned by his siblings and his father, he lives on the street, and makes everyone who sees him wary. He is used and misused by a number of individuals, who see him as a money-making vehicle. What is heartbreaking is his grateful response to even minimal kindness that he encounters. I will long remember Ben, and his attempt to understand the world into which he has been born.
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His adolescence was a continuation of his threatening actions. When he was eventually sent to an institution, he was terrified and his aggression escalated until his mother retrieves him despite her family's objections. His mother was his only source of kindness, and she sacrificed her family life on the pyre of Ben's unrelenting behavior. Ben in the World is the story of what happens to Ben. Eventually shunned by his siblings and his father, he lives on the street, and makes everyone who sees him wary. He is used and misused by a number of individuals, who see him as a money-making vehicle. What is heartbreaking is his grateful response to even minimal kindness that he encounters. I will long remember Ben, and his attempt to understand the world into which he has been born.
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LibraryThing member jklugman
Lessing continues the bizarre tale of an archaic human born to modern humans in the 1960s/1970s through some genetic fluke. I kind of love this weird saga of a brutish neanderthal adolescent making his way in a world where he is unloved. His only salvation are people who alternatively use him or
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take pity on him . In both this novel and its predecessor, he does horrible things, but others do horrible things to him; his predicament is oddly poignant. The concluding scene in the mountains suggests we are not all that different from him. Show Less
Subjects
Original language
English
Original publication date
2000