«Nobody is going to believe this, but when I wrote The Golden Notebook, I had no idea I was writing a feminist book,» she said in a recent interview. «Because I had been putting into it the sort of thing women had been saying in their kitchen. But something said doesn’t have the effect of something written. People behaved as if I had done something amazing, yet I just wrote down what women were saying.»

American literary critic Harold Bloom called the academy’s decision «pure political correctness.»

«Although Ms. Lessing at the beginning of her writing career had a few admirable qualities, I find her work for the past 15 years quite unreadable … fourth-rate science fiction,»

Al consultarle al profesor Dunbar: «Esa es la opinión de Bloom. Es un poco injusto, Lessing ha seguido publicando ensayos, crítica y artículos muy interesantes durante todo este tiempo.»

Dicen los cronistas que la esperaron en la puerta de su casa que Lessing regresaba de hacer shopping y al enterarse de la noticia saltó en un pie (tiene 87 años) y dijo: «¡Qué excelente racha!, ¡Ya gané todos los malditos premios literarios europeos!»