Product Description
A provocative view of modern society weaved into a tale of explosive love and, perhaps, even, black magic.Scandalous Eleanor Darcy, wild young wife of a world-famous economist, sketches her vision of Utopia to two journalists, Hugo Vansitart and Valarie Jones. In glorious detail, she describes an earthly paradise of peace, love and technological progress where sex is plentiful and money does not exist. Such is Eleanor's charisma that, to their own astonishment, Hugo and Valerie abandon their families and set up home together om a Holiday Inn. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Darcy's Utopia is a very provoking book!
I personally think that Darcy's Utopia is a very provoking book. It is very witty and humourful! ... Read more

Product Description
Fay Weldon won the Silver Pen Award for her last collection of stories, Wicked Women.

Here are nineteen sparkling new tales about the way we live now, as lovers, partners, children, parents. Or alone. Stories of passion, desire and necessary restraint; of the near future, the recent past; of old habits, new technology; of won't-be mothers and would-be fathers; of houses ancient and modern. Stories, in fact, to enlighten us to the true and timeless nature of the human condition, in this new age of self-knowledge.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

a real gem
I picked this book up on a whim while browsing and was so delighted with it that I shared it immediately with friends and family.I felt that many of the stories rang true with a realistic modernism, and the couple of ventures into futuristic sci-fi were interesting and satisfying. I recommend this book to all readers and expect that most women will recognize bits of themselves in the pages! A very enjoyable read.I am anxious to read more of Weldon's work.

A Hard Time to be a Father
Great storyteller.Full of delightful insights.Will find yourself saying "So true, so true." Could not put it down.

Very amusing stories.
I enjoyed this book greatly.Fay Weldon's writing can be as unattractive as Goya's art. This short story collection is very gripping but not hideous at all .Typically, of this author, there are some wicked charactersportrayed. And there are some deadly accurate vignettes focused on NewZealanders and the English: somewhat brutal, but nothing unfair. Thereare some optimistic stories included which might be inspirational,particularly with parent / child themes. I couldn't put it down. ... Read more

Product Description
The main characters of "Female Friends" are three women, now in their forties, who became friends as children during the evacuation of wartime London. In a simultaneous unreeling of past and present, we watch them go about their lives with a great deal of pain, guilt, self-deception, self-irony and considerable grandeur. These women, dear friends, gossip unforgivably about one another, are exasperated by one another's dependencies, find endless, carping fault with the others' too-easy acceptance of humiliation, inflict devastating criticism upon one another for their respective willingness to be used by men. And they love one another, for they see mirrored in their friends' inadequacies their own unending struggles for self-esteem and autonomy. Eerily, we love them too as, horribly flawed, they bumble through the delightful hell that Weldon has embroidered for our edification and entertainment. ... Read more

Product Description
Fay Weldon, the acclaimed author of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (also a major motion picture starring Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr), once again tickles the myth of the suburban countryside in this invigorating romp through marital chaos and the battle of the sexes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A concept too far
For two thirds of its length, The Heart Of The Country by Fay Weldon is a brilliant, surprising, humorous, bitchy study of adopted and original rural life.Rural industries, agriculture, and yokel identity rub shoulders with antique dealers, long-distance commuters, owners of computer stores and benefit claimants. Pretty normal stuff, I hear you say. The book examines their interactions and relationships, especially how public virtue interacts with private vice.

Natalie, who was born with attributes of beauty and desirability, has suffered the confusion of many with her birthright. With the world available to her, she chose Harris, whose business acumen eventually matched his other skills.At the start of the book, he has just gone bust, but has not told his wife or family. He has also just run away with that bit of fluff he used to see when...

So Natalie, bestowed Natalie, is left penniless, mortgaged up to the hilt, carrying her husband's abandoned debt and still trying to provide for his children, whom, of course, he left behind. A pity, therefore, that the local nob she used to visit every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for a bit of light relief did not entertain an emulation of her husband's life change. There are limits to alliances, after all.

And then there's Sonia. Sonia has seen it all. She is living off the state. She is on the take, depending on your perspective. She is on family credit, the dole, the social, whatever. Natalie happens to splash her one day as she drives past on what petrol is left in the tank of the car her husband used to fund, just before the credit people appear to repossess it.

Sonia has analysis. She knows things. She can spot a person up to this, or doing that at a distance. Whether an antique dealer, a respected farmer, a man with a computer business, of even a man who drives an Audi with an eye for a floosie young thing flashing her thigh, she picks up the vibes, registers them, keeps them on file. She knows the ropes, and can spot where they have been tied. She feels she has been hung by each and every one of them several times. She's on the social and knows how to cook from tins. She runs the kind of household where she would experience surprise if introduced to the contents of her refrigerator. She's also a cynic, a closet psychopath with axes to grind.

If The Heart Of The Country had continued to explore these local, colourful and humorous rivalries, then the book would have been ultimately stronger. Unfortunately, Fay Weldon moves into other, broader, bigger issues, and has her local people voice their significance. She delves into agribusiness, diet and supermarkets. She examines economic and professional, rather than merely social integrity. She stops short of macrobiotic diets, but only just.

Eventually, the book becomes something of a mishmash of ideas it could easily and profitably ignored. Its original thrust of human beings being as complicated as human beings are in order to create, effect and endure consequences would have been much more powerful.

Quite an eye opener
If you're looking for a book about the more "traditional" aspects of the English countryside, with the vicar, the doctor, the local lord, the retired colonel and the elderly spinster who does welfare work in the village, this book is not for you. Try Elizabeth Goudge or even Agatha Christie. If you're looking for what seems to be an accurate description of rural low life in Thatcher's England, then you'll find this book interesting. It's a little wordy, but presented in an interesting way, and deeply feminist. It's the last aspect I found eye opening. It's not a fun book, being all rather gloomy, but well worth reading nonetheless. ... Read more

Product Description
Cambridge Literature is a series of literary texts edited for study by students aged 14-18 in English-speaking classrooms. It will include novels, poetry, short stories, essays, travel-writing and other non-fiction. The series will be extensive and open-ended, and will provide school students with a range of edited texts taken from a wide geographical spread. It will include writing in English from various genres and differing times.Letters to Alice by Fay Weldon is edited by Jenifer Smith, English Advisor, Suffolk LEA. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

a treat
It's not memoir or nonfiction, but reads like a series of letters from "Aunt Fay" to her freshman student niece about reading Jane Austen.Alice doesn't "get" Austen either.Weldon gives a great deal of the background in an amusing way, while nattering to her niece about other things including the rift between herself and her sister, Alice's mother.I truly love this book and I'm happy to see that it's back in print.I first began to hear of it when it came out in 1985, but only read it about three years ago.It was buried among a stack of books most beloved by my own aunt, who had died some years before.This book was worn and tattered, and I sat down with it because I recognized the title.Marvelous!I'd read all of Jane Austen except the infamous and unpublished "first novel."I promptly sent it off to friends.

An excellent tribute to Jane Austen
Literature, evolving from author to author, as each author moves forward, using the shades of meaning generated by previous authors, the associations around a word, a phrase growing over time. On first reading jane austen evokes all those associations, and explains these concepts.

The book is in the form of an aunt's letters to her niece, an aunt who has lived an interesting life, and wandered lonely (as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills). Her niece is just starting her eductaion, she likes literature but is not a fan of Jane Austen, not yet. The letters are well-written, fresh and vibrant, and they take us through literature, the life of Jane Austen, the influences of others on her, and her influence on others.

There are many echoes to be found in the story, and the letters, and the writing. There are echoes of Jane Austen, of course, but also writers of other ages, from Homer to Greene.

The title is reminiscent of "On first reading Chapman's Homer" by Keats, and like Keats, we - on first reading Jane Austen - feel "like some watcher of the skies when a new planet swims into his ken". That is the feeling this book tries to evoke in us.

All lovers of literature, and especially of Jane Austen, do discover this moon revolving around the world of Jane Austen. ... Read more

Product Description
Joanna May thinks herself unique, indivisable - until one day, she discovers there are five of her. How will the clones withstand the shock of first meeting each other, and will Carl, the clones' creator, take revenge for his wife's infidelity and destroy the sisters one by one? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

The Lives of Joanna's Clones
I'd gone along to the BBC Radio 4's Book Club in Sep 08 with my copy of the novel in hand.

Fay Weldon had remarked on this novel to an author friend sitting next to her, in the hospitality room, where we waited before going into the studio, saying how she'd realise how different the characters appear, from a reader's perspective and that she didn't recognise them! She went on to say, it was the book she liked writing and reading most.

The author articulates a sense of precision in how she wanted to portray the main character Carl May, his ex wife, Joanna and her siblings, four very different characters, whose lives we follow, with interesting consequences.

Jane, Julie, Gina and Alice are Joanna May's clones, which he first reveals to Bethany his young lover, after the divorce.Yet this revelation makes Carl feel vulnerable and this puts Bethany at risk of being disposed of. at some point yet, he did think about cloning her, to create the perfect woman who, 'looked, listened, understood and was faithful.' (Ch 16.p78) but thought against it as it would have taken too much time and effort.

All four girls turn out differently: Jane achieves academic qualifications and lives an independant life in spite of having known her boyfriend Tom, since 16 and a spate with another, during their 6 yr breakup; Julie, a Secretary, marries but has an affair, seeing her husband is always on business trips and she feels lonely; Gina is more the `wild child' of the four; by 13, she was already hitchhiking, then pregnant at 18 and marries a wannabe pop star/garage mechanic, after a disturbing childhood, brought up by her grandparents and punished by teachers for her unruly behaviour at school.With one child and possibly a result of a one-night stand, life continues for her and her husband, who thinks the child is his.Alice, the fourth clone, likes her own company more than men or marriage and has numerous rencontres with men but never wants to settle to a life of being a wife and mother.

The surprising factor is, the four clones come from one single egg, taken from Joanna without her knowledge and implanted in the wombs of four women from different backgrounds.

Dr Holly and Carl May are the creators of these 4 human beings and Carl looks to the past now to see whether an ancient Egyptian body had enough cells for living DNA to be nuclei transferable and this time Holly expresses doubt at finding such possibility, thinking more of the ancient curses of the Pharaohs than the experiment itself.

Having seen documentaries on Egyptologists who've died of cancer, another in a car crash and another in a suicide bid, the character Holly brings to light such mysteries yet the voice of reason is seen in Carl's dismissal of such incidences as `the merest, most vulgar of superstitions' (Ch18.p95); this is a sub theme which is a light relief from the already intriguing lives of 4 people who the readers are introduced to and become familiar with.The suspense is in the timing of the meeting with Joanna and the consequences, which is very surprising.

The novel is vibrant in the theme, the characters and the sub plot and the ending, a twist, which for Joanna is a deserving finale to a nondescript start where we see her in her house, wanting things to go back to what they were before the divorce but not finding her true 'path'.

Going to work on a curate's egg
Fay Weldon is, whether she likes it or not, most famous for writing the advertising slogan "Go to work on an egg".

Having read The Cloning Of Joanna May, I wish Fay had gone to work on her prose instead.

At first it was merely irritating; then the professional editor in me wanted to get hold of it and turn it into something rather more polished and readable.

The plot was original, exciting and interesting. There were some extraordinary observations and insights into the human condition. But her writing style left a lot to be desired.

It wasn't as if Fay was telling the story through the voice of an inarticulate narrator and thereby limited herself. It's just that her sentences and paragraphs could have flowed better, been less jerky, or simply have benefited from more judicious punctuation.

Admittedly Fay Weldon is a famous writer and no-one's heard of me, but that doesn't let her off the hook. However good the plot and her own insights, we readers deserved better than that.

So while it's well worth reading, it's harder going than it needs to be. As Fay's so fond of eggs, it's fitting that this should be a curate's egg of a book: good in parts.

An interesting 'Chose Your Own Adventure' satire
I first read 'The Cloning of Joanna May' over a decade ago, and often find myself revisiting it.

Despite many people's criticisms with the book when it first came out - I found it to be an interesting piece on expectations regarding women's identity.Some of the themes are dated (i.e., women's role regarding child-rearing, careers, and age) but there is still a biting edge to the book that resonates.

A criticism is that many of the characters are unlikable - but I think that is Weldon's point.Weldon was showing how arbitrary choices can sometimes drastically alter a life - a point proven in the very distinct pathways each of the clones' life took.

It was a clever way to explore how identity may not be always pre-determined - but at times can be shaped by happenstance.

A good read if you are looking for something that is brief and slightly frothy.

A Bizarre, Original Glimpse into the Future?
I was surprised by the review below, granting this overlooked masterpiece one star. The characters within the book are brilliantly drawn and startlingly humanistic, and the story unfolds at a gentle but engaging pace. Here we have dazzling insights into the very essence of what makes a person a person (or as Weldon refers to it, the 'I') but there is nothing patronising or overloaded about her conclusions. Rather, the irony of the book is wonderfully funny, with some real laugh out loud moments...all cunningly disguised within insights of amazing originality. I have never read a book like this before. Her prose is to be admired. The differing threads of the clone's lives are a pastiche, a carefully woven tapestry of how one person, one being, given seperate choices (or having those choices predetermined), could be so different from their blueprint. This is illustrated with the use of Tarot within the story, and its interesting asides into the very science of prediction. The central tenet the book proposes is this: if there were four younger 'yous' with radically different circumstances and predicaments, would their basic individuality unite or destroy them? A fascinating look into cloning, but instead of scientific mumbo jumbo, the subject is presented with humour, verve and grace, all wrapped neatly inside an intriguing fiction story. The Times were right to call this book 'a triumph of complex entertainment' upon its release, and I for one, will definately read more of Weldon's work.

Appalling book
Can one find another collection with this many despicable characters in one plot? I don't think so. I cannot think of one decent character in the book, not even the chauffeur. ... Read more

Product Description
Alice Thomas Ellis introduces a collection of revenge stories by some contemporary women writers. She studies the history of women's revenge against men, and emerges with enlightening insights into the dynamic differences that place the sexes in passionate opposition. This book seeks not to relay the ever burgeoning factual accounts of how women get their own back, but to show their reactions to betrayal, cruelty and simple nastiness through the filter of fiction. One of the most satisfying means of revenge, as these authors clearly realise, is to put the offender in a story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a collection of mind-bogglingly stupid stories
when i picked this book up at the library and saw artemisia gentileschi's painting, "judith slaying holofernes", on the cover and the title "women against men: revenge stories" i was thinking, "oh boy, this looks like it'll probably have some stories about women getting some sadistic revenge on rapists, or girlfriend/wife beaters, or child molesters or some scumbags like that."i was curious to see what ahem, imaginative forms of revenge some women came up with.i wanted to read these stories and smile or chuckle, and say "yeah!right on!"instead, i found that almost all the stories were incredibly stupid.most of them were either about women getting revenge on cheating husbands, or you couldn't even figure out what form the revenge took (some stories, the revenge just simply seemed nonexistent), or even figure out who was the recipient of the revenge. one of the stories, a mom gets revenge on her slutty daughters by sleeping w/one of the men they were all battling to get into bed!uh, i thought this book was women against men?!?.many of the women characters were spoiled rich wives, or just people you couldn't even really sympathize with because of their pettiness, pathetic-ness, or just plain out crappy personalities.about 20% of the stories the women got revenge through feeding the man something yucky or lethal.not a single rape revenge story.only one story was about revenge on a cruel, physically abusive husband, and in the other stories where the husbands may have been physically abusive, that fact was mentioned nonchalantly, like it takes a backseat to his cheating or calling his wife "fatty" (sticks and stones, people, sticks and stones... if he treats you like crap, leave him!).now, of course cheating is not a good thing, but it's not like women don't cheat either, and there are worse things a person could do to you.human relationships are too complex for cheating to be a crime punishable by death.anyway, i don't think this book is something that feminists can be proud of. the only reason i give this book two stars instead of one is to acknowledge a couple of the decent stories... probably agatha christie's is one of the best of the lot.all i can say is, if you're curious, check it out from your local library, or buy it used at a really cheap price... maybe someone else would find something worthwhile in many of the stories, but for me i found most to be very stupid, either badly/cheesily written, or crappy story-wise. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

A rediscovered gem
In addition to his eleven novels, Huxley's fiction included five collections of shorter works in which he worked out, as he did in dozens of non-fiction books and essays, many of the ideas that found their most elaborate expression in the novels. Each story collection included a short novel--"The Farcical History of Richard Greenow," "Two or Three Graces," "Uncle Spencer," "The Gioconda Smile" (really a long story), and "After the Fireworks," one of his own favorites: it was collected in both of the Huxley readers published during his lifetime. I had long hoped that, as the short stories had been collected, the novellas might also be published in one volume. In terms of length, a few of them are actually longer than some of his proper novels, but they have the anecdotal precision and formal directness that defines this often neglected form.
Perhaps we can now expect them to appear in individual volumes, as Hesperus has handsomely done with "After the Fireworks," including a page of notes that will please all Huxleyans who are driven bonkers by his tendency to assume that we all can quote from memory Dante and other poets in the original Italian or French or German. An Annotated Aldous is long overdue! "After the Fireworks" is a delight, concerning a pompous but extremely well-educated 50-year-old novelist whose works excite romantic young women looking for a great love to begin their lives. Such is the 20-year-old tourist in Rome, Pamela, who is determined to make the writer Miles Fanning her first lover. He tries to resist, but when overpowered becomes infatuated with her fresh and eager sexuality. (If this sounds like recent Philip Roth--"The Dying Animal," "The Humbling"--the clash of young and old is hardly new, yet the similarities here are striking.) Pamela is, of course, appalled that Miles sees her as an infinitely entertaining sex toy, hardly the cosmic romantic knight she envisioned. She is especially outraged that he can't talk to her as he does to contemporaries who recall 1914 and all that followed. And when he falls ill with a humiliating intestinal complaint, she is determined to move on.
There are the usual Huxleyan sidebars about Homer, the Etruscans, Chaucer, Dante, and the dishonesty of literature, but there is also a marvelous lyricism in the passages about Monte Cavo and the natural wonders of Rome, and a passage of true linguistic virtuosity regarding the fireworks (Roman candles) that precede the sexual fireworks. There are also passages that are as funny as anything Huxley wrote, which is saying a lot, particularly those from Pamela's diary, the letter Miles doesn't get to finish, and life at a spa. This is a comedy--no one, not even Miles, dies, and there are memorable supporting characters, not least the dead mother of Pamela, recalled as having had her own needs.
"After the Fireworks" appeared in 1930, midpoint between his two masterpieces, "Point Counter Point" and "Brave New World." A section on opium and the need for people to turn on and tune out is especially prophetic of his later work.
... Read more

Product Description
Magisterarbeit, die am 01.09.1997 erfolgreich an einer Universität in Deutschland eingereicht wurde. Gang der Untersuchung: Die vier Hauptkapitel der Arbeit befassen sich mit jeweils einem Roman Fay Weldons. Verschiedene Theorien über die Konstitution der menschlichen Persönlichkeit aus den Bereichen Soziologie, Biologie, Philosophie und Psychologie werden zur Interpretation der Romane herangezogen. Insgesamt wird versucht, das Werk der Autorin in eine Strömung (post-)moderner Literatur einzuordnen, die sich zunehmend von der Vorstellung eines unveränderlichen Persönlichkeitskernes oder "wahren Selbst" distanziert. Kapitel 2 behandelt Weldons zweiten Roman Down Among the Women (1971). Die Romanfiguren definieren sich zu Beginn - gemäß der anthropologischen Rollentheorie G.H. Meads - ausschließlich durch ihre sozialen Rollen. Dies hindert sie an der freien Entfaltung ihrer Persönlichkeit. Die Thematik spiegelt sich in der stereotypen und zweidimensionalen Darstellung der Charaktere wider, in der fragmentarischen Erzählstruktur und in der wechselnden Perspektive. Kapitel 3 befaßt sich mit dem Roman Praxis (1978). Die Titelheldin ist ihr Leben lang vergeblich auf der Suche nach ihrem Selbst und erkennt schließlich, daß der Mensch sich ständig verändert und sich daher nie eindeutig definieren läßt. Die Erkenntnis stimmt weitgehend überein mit den Theorien der englischen Philosophen Locke und Hume, nach denen die Persönlichkeit die Summe aller Sinneseindrücke und Erfahrungen ist, die der Mensch im Verlauf seines Lebens sammelt. Die Unzuverlässigkeit der Erinnerung und damit des Selbstbildes wird durch die episodische Darstellungsweise und die Unzuverlässigkeit der Ich-Erzählerin unterstrichen. Kapitel 4 untersucht den Roman The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1983). Die extrem wandlungsfähige Protagonistin Ruth setzt die Existenzphilosophie Sartres von der absoluten Freiheit des Menschen, sich selbst zu erschaffen, wörtlich in die Tat um: Sie schlüpft in stä... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A sizzler
This is perhaps ms. Weldon's most straightforward novel. The thrilling - and chilling - plot will have you on the edge of the seat as you feverihsly turn the pages to get to the end of the story. Do try to get a copy of thisbook. The plot? Well its about a woman who has an out-of-wedlock child withan american politician.All is well until he suddenly is in a position tobecome the next president of The United States. From then on the woman andher child is in deep trouble. ... Read more

Product Description
From the legendary David Bailey comes this collection of photographs - a tribute to his wife, the model Catherine Bailey. Divided into five sections - nudes, fashion, pregnancy, children and beauty - these images capture her in different incarnations, as wife, mother, lover, seductress...and as tramp. The text is provided by Fay Weldon, a close friend of both David and Catherine Bailey. She explores the relationship between the photographer and his wife, and wider themes such as the interaction of commerce and art, the status of photography as a "real" art-form and the different ways men and women see the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Lady Is A Tramp? Don't let the title put you off, buy it
Famous 60's photographer (beau of Jean Shrimpton, Catherine Deneuve and Catherine Bailey) performs here an experiment that few are in a position to try and succeeds brilliantly.His current (and long term) wife, Catherine Bailey, was a sixties supermodel - before the term was invented - and is still a ravishing woman and she here reveals through her husband's eyes some aspects of being female.From stunning fashion shots, to shots with her children, to shots of her *having* children.This is a frank look at a beautiful woman and a touching tribute to someone who comes across as a fine partner and mother.Mystifyingly, the title implies to me something that I couldn't see in the book.No problem, just a puzzle.And you can ignore the text by Fay Weldon.Why did they put that in?I'm very lucky.I've got a copy signed by both Baileys.Christopher Stephens

Magnificent!
I have not had the chance to explore the book itself, but I saw an excerpt in an issue of Penthouse Magizine.I have been unable to locate the book itself in stores.If you have any suggestions, let me know at emc@epm-inc.com ... Read more

Product Description
Fay Weldon's first novel, a sharp and witty parable on the way people see themselves.For several weeks, Esther Sussman had lived in a sordid flat in Earls Court. During the day she read science fiction novels. In the evenings she watched television. And she ate, and ate, and drank, and ate. She had not felt so secure since she spent her days in a pram. It had been her husband's idea that they went on a diet. Together they would fight middle-age flab and feel young again. It was the diet that had made Esther leave home. The lack of food had made her see things very clearly and she had looked at her life -- the daily dusting, sweeping, cooking, washing-up -- and found it all pointless. She had not felt strong enough for marriage, and so she escaped.From the fastness of her Earls Court retreat Esther starts to recount the events leading up to her revelation to her friend Phyllis. 'I suppose you really do believe your happiness is consequent upon your size?' she asks. Phyllis does; Esther does not and triumphantly sets out to prove her point. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Funniest Book I've Ever Read
I picked up this book quite randomly about 25 years ago, and ended up reading it a half-dozen times (now I'm reading it yet again).It's a mean little book - Evelyn Waugh would have been proud - and almost every line in it makes me laugh out loud.Yet I always find it oddly moving by the end.It has the quality of a nasty little fairy tale - Weldon's writing has this hilariously Dr. Seuss-like declarativeness - but everything in it is recognizably human -- shockingly so, since Weldon's characters admit to the horrible motives that most of us successfully hide from our loved ones and ourselves.I don't feel like I'm getting across how enjoyable this book really is, but it's the one that got me hooked on her writing, and the one I always come back to.An incredible mix of human pain and comedy, I recommend reading it slowly to really savour the writing - each time I read it again, I find new comedy just in the way she puts things.

What am I missing?
Perhaps there is something about Fay Weldon's style of writing that I am simply unfamiliar with, but I really did not get anything out of this book at all. Except maybe a headache.

I don't usually give bad reviews of things, mostly because if I'm not enjoying something so much I simply stop reading. But this was a short read, less than 200 pages, and so I perservered, waiting for something to happen and for the characters to come to life. But then suddenly it was the end of the book and I was none the wiser as to what the point of it all had been.

I think the key thing that irritated me was the fact that none of the characters in 'The Fat Woman's Joke' are likeable in any respect. They are not nice people: not nice to each other, and not nice to themselves. This in itself is not a flaw - I think a very interesting book could be written about people who continue to act in destructive and unpleasant ways, but this certainly isn't it. The characters had no depth, no complexity, and it was difficult to understand their motivations for how they acted toward one another.

A big part of this is probably the style in which it is written. The book is almost entirely dialogue, jumping (fairly randomly) between two-person conversations to give an overall picture of what happened and when, but there's no context to any of it. And it wasn't its non-linearity which bothered me; I quite like a novel that meanders through and across time. But it struck me about three-quarters of the way through that what I was actually reading was more like a play without any stage direction included. No pauses in conversation, no silences, no facial expressions, no set description, no background - none of the things that make plays work. It might actually work as a stage play, though, but as a novel it reads like a failed experiment and simply falls flat.

I may possibly be being too harsh here, I'm not sure. Perhaps this was not the best introduction to Fay Weldon and I shouldn't judge her work on the strength of this book. Maybe there is some underlying point she is making that has completely escaped me, or maybe the book is dated, but 'The Fat Woman's Joke' just didn't work for me. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) on September 14, 2001. The length of the article is 1678 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Desayuno en Bulgari: Bulgari ha abierto la brecha al encargar a la escritora Fay Weldon una novela en la que ésta debe hacer publicidad de la firma. ¿Tienen futuro las publinovelas? El debate está servido. (libros).(The Bulgari Connection)(TT: Breakfast at Bulgari's: Bulgari has commissioned a publicity-novel from author Fay Weldon. Is there any future to literary advertising? (Books).)(TA: The Bulgari Connection)
Author: Belén Lorenzana
Publication: Epoca (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 14, 2001
Publisher: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA)
Page: 80(4)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
Contemporary British novelist Fay Weldon negotiates the postmodern "culture industry." Modernizing the strategies traditionally deployed by women writers, Weldon engages with the advertising industry and the mass-oriented literature of radio and television, using them to construct a career and a public identity for herself while advancing an alternative history of women in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. She exploits the distinctions between high, popular, and mass cultures in order to provoke critical reflection; partly for this reason, her work resists academic criticism.The novels Praxis, Puffball, The Cloning of Joanna May, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, and The Bulgari Connection explore the phenomenon Walter Benjamin described as the nullification of "aura" in the age of mechanical reproduction; they interrogate the connections between several kinds of reproduction associated with human gestation, women's bodies and social identities, and language and literature. Too, Weldon experiments with the novel form, often writing metafiction. Her novels have received mixed reception, often split along feminist or gender lines. ... Read more