Before long another group of revolutionaries arrives to squat in the house next door. These new comrades are much more serious about their politics than Jasper and his posturing CCU friends: there are Russian connections, and possibly IRA connections, and guns and explosives are being dropped off in the dead of night. Alice is approached by one of the new neighbors who has noticed that she is the one doing all the work in her commune, and thinks that she would be better off with people more serious than her group.
But naïve Alice just wants to live with her ragtag communist family, going to demonstrations against the fascist British government and spray-painting anti-capitalist slogans on government buildings. For much of the time, Alice’s comrades are ineffectual and unfocused, feeling the need for change but unable to decide or agree about what to change, much less how to change it. It is almost without Alice noticing that her group begins to be nudged in another, more active direction.
The story meanders its way along – 375 pages and no chapter breaks – much as Alice meanders through her own life, taking part in endless revolutionary discussions, attempting to understand family, raging in frustration against real and perceived injustices. The plot itself is not complicated; what Lessing has excelled at is depicting the fluidity and volatility of the political and personal relationships and how little events cascade into bigger ones. Originally published in 1985, The Good Terrorist remains relevant and compelling today, despite its 20+ year vintage.
Article comments
1 - Cellinda
It's very hard to be openly gay, lesbian or bisexual. They usually got harassed, beaten up, pushed around and called all kinds of slurs. They would say all sorts of horrible things for the wrong reasons.
So I think for GLBT, they'd better find some online community or something like that, to come out first, where they may feel support, happy, free, just like the one BisexualMingle. Then they can come out step by step.