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Throughout the narrative Lessing measures her experiences against what would probably have happened if they had occurred later on, and provides a guide to corresponding episodes in her fiction. Set down in blunt, fluent prose, it is the same mix of the practical and the speculative that marks all her writing. And, alas, the same lack of humor. But if that is a flaw, it also ensures the author's total engagement with any subject she tackles. That is what one reads Doris Lessing for: unsparing clarity and frankness.