BOOK REPORT (WEEKLY READING REPORT)

Student Name : Rachmadian Hidayat

Class : English Literature E

Book title : The Grass is Singing

Author : Doris Lessing
Publisher : Penguin Books
Number of : 64 pages
pages

* Characters, characterization, and settings:

Mary Turner
Racism, grumpy,

Dick Turner
Kind, hard worker,

Moses
Loyal, hard worker

Settings
Farm, Dick’s house, shop

* Summary of each chapters/subtitles in the book:

Chapter 1
Mary Turner was found dead. The houseboy, Moses admitted killing her. Dick Turner turned
crazy. The special reporter Charlie Slatter and Sergeant Denham investigated the murdered from
the informant Tony Marston.

Chapter 2
Flashback about Mary and Dick met. Mary turned thirty, but she felt no different from when she
was sixteen. She seemed not to care for men. But, one day, she heard people talking about her.
She could hardly believe the way her friends had talked about her. Then she began to look at
herself more carefully. She started to change her hair style and began wearing suits to work. She
got married with fifty-five years old man, with half-grown children. But Mary felt disgusted
being close to him. She ran away. Then she met Dick Turner by chance at cinema. Although
Dick Turner hated cinema, he came all the way because his friend persuaded him to go. He
noticed a woman sitting near them. It was Mary. Dick couldn't stop thinking about Mary. He
started to find her, and he found her. But he was kinda disappointed. Weeks after that Dick asked
Mary to marry him.

Chapter 3
Mary moved to Dick Turner's house. Mary seem didn't like her new house. But Mary was getting
used to.

Chapter 4
Mary started improving the house. They always changed their servants because the servants
couldn't stand how Mary treated them. Dick thought that if they having children would make
situation better.

Chapter 5
Dick tried many ways to gain money. He tried keeping bees, but failed. He tried to raise pigs too,
but then failed because the pigs died almost immediately of disease. The he tried to raise turkeys
or rabbits, but Mary screamed, refused Dick's idea. After that Dick started to open a shop and
asked Mary to work in the shop. She refused it but in the end she agreed. The shop didn't go well
because Mary hates the natives. Mary thought to go back to town and back to club. But the club
didn't allow for married women. Dick was going after Mary to the hotel. Then they were back
together again. A few months after her return and six years after she had married him, Dick got
ill for the first time.

Chapter 6
Mary was in charge for the farm. She started using whip to the natives

Chapter 7
They started plant tobacco, but failed because of no more rain fell and the ground became dry
and the plants began to die. Mary asked Dick that she wants to have a child. They both knew it
was a foolish idea to have a child at that time, and the subject was never mentioned again.
* Two questions that I have for the author related to the story:
1. Why the title named “The Grass is Singing”?
2. Why Tony Marston cleaned the blood?

* One thing that I thought was the most interesting:

How Dick and Mary met at cinema.