Weldon, Fay

Average customer rating:

Fun, biting and timely. True Weldon!
For Weldon fans.
A funny, relevant and entertaining read
One of her best books
She's no one's commodity

The Bulgari Connection
Fay Weldon
Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0871137968

Amazon.com

The Bulgari Connection finds Fay Weldon on familiar ground, chronicling the pains and pleasures of the battle of the sexes, in this enjoyably funny novel. Set in glamorous contemporary London, Weldon's story begins with the proverbial love triangle. Wealthy, dissatisfied, self-made businessman Barley Salt leaves his frumpy wife, Grace, for the glamorous TV host Doris Dubois. Grace concedes that her husband "has aged better than I have," and that Doris "is 23 years younger than I am. She is slimmer than I am, and more clever." Grace tries but fails to run Doris over, and for her pains is sentenced to three years in jail. However, when she meets the struggling young artist Walter Wells, with his preference for "the blown rose not the bud," Grace literally has a new lease of life. As her life takes on new meaning, Barley and Doris start to lose control of their own self-centered lives.

The Bulgari Connection is a fast-moving, highly readable novel of greed, middle-aged deceit, and love, but feels like it was written in the 1980s, not the early 21st century. This is effortless Weldon, although many of her fans will feel that it is marking time rather than breaking new ground. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk

Book Description

The Bulgari Connection is the latest book by critically acclaimed author Fay Weldon, whom People magazine calls "wickedly funny." Once again she draws us into a wild, rollicking tale full of her trademark satirical wit and sharp observation. Grace McNab Salt is the recently divorced wife of millionaire Barley Salt, who has since married Doris Dubois, the young, slim host of TV's ArtsWorld Extra. Grace has just emerged from jail, where she was sent for trying to run Doris over with her Jaguar in a supermarket parking lot in an act of revenge. All three attend a London charity ball held by socialite Lady Juliet, where painter Walter Wells auctions off a portrait of Juliet wearing a necklace crafted by the world-famous Bulgari jewelers and Doris, mad with envy, quickly declares that she must have it. As Doris goes to extremes to obtain the necklace, Grace falls into a mad love affair with the painter of the necklace, Barley tries to keep from buying Doris the necklace, and everyone's lives turn upside down. Weldon's world is one of relationships: torrid affairs, lovers' spite, and revenge. Full of clever women, breathless romance, insistent desires, and even a dose of the supernatural, The Bulgari Connection is a boisterously witty and stylish novel.

Customer Reviews:

Fun, biting and timely. True Weldon!.......2006-03-02

I have been a fan of Ms. Weldon's writing for some time and was delighted to have this book read by my bookclub during the Christmas season. This was a fast reading. Funny. Critical of society as it should be expected from this writer. It also has that trace of sci-fi, or should I say, "an imaginative step into the future of scientific news" that's also very Weldon. Marvelous imagination. Wonderful fun. Not as well developed as most of her work.
It was inevitable that in our book club we discussed the sensitive issue of patronage. From a pope ordering the painting of the Sistine Chapel to portraits of lady this and that by English painters such as Gainsborough. And we also talked about patronage in books. In the end those in favor of private patronage won by one vote. We are 16. I believe artists, painters, writers and other talents should seek support from private sources. But that is controversial as we have all discovered.

Good light book. Quick reading. 4 stars.

For Weldon fans........2003-10-03

This is typical of Weldon's less important books. It is a light, but biting comedy, with an insensitive husband, a scorned wife who ends up on top, and a little bit of magic. It is "current" with an older woman-younger man romance. I believe Weldon was too heavy handed with the husband's new wife even for this type of book. At the same time, Bulgari Connection is quite readable, and possibly cathartic for some readers. It captures the emotions and motivations of the husband very well. For a better, more complete novel, I would recommend Worst Fears by Weldon. If you are very interested in the husband's character , and have the time, you might consider Tom Wolfe's "A Man in Full".

A funny, relevant and entertaining read.......2003-08-31

Forget the controversy surrounding corporate sponsorship and how Fay Weldon might have surrendered her integrity when she allowed the world-renowned jeweller to grace the title of her latest fictional work. The truth is that Weldon didn't have to make any concessions, let alone pander to the demands of advertising for she had written a winner and nothing should detract from the fact that "The Bulgari Connection" stands head and shoulders above most other titles in the same genre. It is a contemporary, thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining book and one that I would recommend without hesitation to anyone.

Weldon knows how to tell a story. She understands humour and how to find that elusive funny bone in readers that shuns mediocrity and the common attempts by many inferior novelists to try and pass off vulgarity and cheap nasty jokes as humour. It is a rare craft that Weldon has mastered and one that she wields with confidence and authority, considering how the story of Grace and Barley and Doris and Walter might in lesser hands have degenerated into farce. She manages to avoid all the pitfalls by making her characters and their feelings real and recognisable. How many readers out there wouldn't identify with the spurned and outgrown older wife or the insecure businessman finding success late in life who think that a trophy wife is all he needs to enter the portals of the rich and successful? Even Doris Dubois, the modern career woman, a guttersnipe and a bitch without scruples or redeeming qualities is a misshapen product of our society. When we laugh and cry at the antics and manoeuvres of these four characters, we're not unaware or unconscious of Weldon's social commentary on life in our modern times.

Don't let anyone persuade you that "The Bulgari Connection" is frothy and lightweight. It isn't. It is funny, relevant and entertaining and frankly you can do a lot worse than that.

One of her best books.......2002-08-10

In spite of, or perhaps because of, the corporate sponsorship of this book it's one of her best. Tongue firmly in cheek, funny characters, ridiculous and hysterical plot lines; it's really great.

To people who criticize her taking money to write the book; how else do you expect her to pay the rent?! How nice it must be for the critics to be so "pure", but authors don't make a lot of money and however they scratch out a living is fine with me.

Fay is the best.

She's no one's commodity.......2001-12-17

Despite its corporate underwriting, Fay Weldon's The Bulgari Connection is certainly not evidence of a sellout. After all, Bulgari's funding is undoubtedly a one time deal--c'mon Weldon fans, can you really see Fay writing about jewelry from now on? Her structure is unmatched and her vocabulary is robust; Fay Weldon's work, regardless of financial backing, is not factory-farmed like so much popular literature.

The plot is tight, typical, and right on. Stupid men fare badly in Weldon's world--but not as badly as annoying women! This book was a breeze to read and as enjoyable as a gorgeous little custom-designed bauble.

Book Description

With inimitable wit and insight, this encouraging tome humorously leaps into what makes women happy and what women can do to lead more rounded and balanced lives. Women can learn how to tackle anxiety, envy, guilt, and other sources of female stress, while giving in to indulgences and desires like sex, food, friends, family, shopping, and chocolate. Chapters contain sassy morals, illustrative and sympathetic stories, and a lot of frank advice to show women how to stop obssessing and feeling bad about themselves. Later chapters confront the four horses of a woman's apocalypse: despair, depression, isolation, and self-doubt.

Average customer rating:

a real gem
A Hard Time to be a Father
Very amusing stories.

A Hard Time to Be a Father: Stories
Fay Weldon
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Wicked Women (Weldon, Fay)

ASIN: 1582340110

Book 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.

Customer Reviews:

a real gem.......2001-07-24

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.......2000-05-06

Great storyteller. Full of delightful insights. Will find yourself saying "So true, so true." Could not put it down.

Very amusing stories........1999-05-29

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 characters portrayed. And there are some deadly accurate vignettes focused on New Zealanders and the English: somewhat brutal, but nothing unfair. There are some optimistic stories included which might be inspirational, particularly with parent / child themes. I couldn't put it down.

Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen

Average customer rating:

as much about literature as Austen, and a great read
A "must read" for sceptics of the value of literature
Read This Book
Required reading for all who aspire to create.
Not really about Jane Austen, more for Fay Weldon fans

Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen
Fay Weldon
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0786706880

Book Description

Inspired by a series of instructive letters written by Austen to a novel-writing niece, Letters to Alice is an epistolary novel in which an important modern writer responds to her niece's complaint that Jane Austen is boring and irrelevant. By turns passionate and ironic, "Aunt Fay" makes Alice think - not only about books and literature, but also life and culture.

Customer Reviews:

as much about literature as Austen, and a great read.......2002-04-08

Written in the form of witty letters to a niece taking an undergraduate English Lit course, this book attempts to bring insight to the work of Jane Austen in particular and to answer those who question the relevance of literature in general. First published in 1984, there is no mention of deconstruction's effect on academic departments, but otherwise the author seems to address most issues pertinent to the reading and writing of fiction, beginning with a wonderful chapter on the lovely metaphoric City of Invention. Elsewhere, Weldon discusses non-literature, Latin, a writer's relatives and friends, feminism, literary truth, critics and invention. Austen is here as well,and the author enlightens with her discussions of Austen's life, times, works, style and death. There are many wonderful passages, and I especially admired the analyses of Austen's work, but I would have liked more of this, and in more detail. At one point the author writes: "[Jane Austen] knows how to end a scene, an episode, a chapter, before beginning the next: when to allow the audience to rest, when to and how to underline a statement, when to mark time with idle paragraphs, allowing what went before to settle, before requiring it to inform what comes next. It is a very modern technique. It requires ... consciousness of audience, and audience reaction." It should be evident from that passage that Weldon is an elegant, insightful and articulate writer, and I would have *loved* to have seen extended examples and analysis of specific Austen passages to illustrate the points made in the preceding excerpt.

Ultimately, I didn't think the niece's subplot worked. Weldon first advises her not to attempt to write a novel, and then advises her to write it, and then advises her about dealing with the publisher when the novel is not only published but very successful. What's Weldon's greater meaning? Why would this undergrad's novel be published and who is reading it? Is it a condemnation or just a device to drive the conceit?

I learned a lot about Jane Austen and about writing, and got some help for the next time someone tells me it's a waste of time to read a novel. Very enjoyable and highly recommended.

A "must read" for sceptics of the value of literature.......2000-09-10

There's a national debate going on in my country concerning the value and relevance of literature in modern society. Students are liberally encouraged by their schools to drop literature from their curriculum in favour of more examination friendly subjects to increase their chances of achieving the maximum aggregate score for their "O" and "A" levels. So, it is not without some irony that I should be reading Fay Weldon's "Letters to Alice On First Reading Jane Austen" as my introduction to this author's works. Well, I was completely blown away by its first chapter/letter entitled "The City of Invention" which alone is worth the price of the book and....says it all. The imagery she uses in distinguishing the different genres in writing as well as the intrinsic or superficial merits of each form of writing is absolutely breathtaking. In it, she hints at why Shakespeare in the "city of invention" is that castle that marks the skyline and a compulsory stop for every tour group making the rounds of the "city". Weldon is eloquent, witty and wickedly funny with her pen. While she never quite hits the high of that first chapter again, she offers some rare and valuable insight into why Austen is read even today. Great literature has the power when read (whether quietly or aloud) to touch the masses by revealing the universality of some home truths or values they espouse. Although Austen fans will be delighted to see their favourite characters come to live in Weldon's world, you don't have to like Jane Austen to enjoy this book. To fellow Singaporeans sceptical about the value of literature in schools, my advice is "read this and you will see how absurd the question really is". No matter if you disagree after reading the book, b'cos you would have had a jolly good time. Great stuff. Truly.

Read This Book.......1999-10-30

I loved this book when it first came out years ago, and it still makes me laugh, as Jane Austin still makes me laugh. Fay Weldon is one of the few writers I know of who has the wit and the irony that we Austin-lovers look for. Letters to Alice is wise and insightful; read it!

Required reading for all who aspire to create........1998-06-12

Borrowed from a friend during my Jane Austen period, this book so delighted and inspired that it is now a dog-eared resident of my nightstand. As a neophyte pro-writer, I often have people ask me how I made the transition from "wanna-be" to "real" writer. This book was an important part of that process.

Not really about Jane Austen, more for Fay Weldon fans.......1998-04-04

I thought someone ought to give fair warning to diehard "Jane Fans" that this book is not so much about Jane Austen as it is about coming of age and the relationship between two different generations. Jane is not its main focus. Borrow it from your local library, if they have it, but I wouldn't recommend buying it.

Average customer rating:

a dark, feminist fairy tale
Funny and insightful
Stalker
brilliant novel of revenge!
A very dark story

Life and Loves of a She Devil
Fay Weldon
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0345323750
Release Date: 1985-08-12

Book Description

This is not a book for everyone, but its admirers are vigorously enthusiastic. For example:
Rhoda Koenig in New York Magazine, who calls it ". . . a novel of blazingly hot revenge, one that amply illustrates the saying about heaven having no rage like love turned to hate, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."
Or Rosalyn Drexler, who said on the front page of The New York Times Book Review, "It affords a scintillating, mindboggling, vicarious thrill for any reader who has ever fantasized dishing out retribution for one wrong or another."
Or Carol E. Rinzler, who wrote on The Washington Post Book World's front page, ". . . what makes this a powerfully funny and oddly powerful book is the energy of the language and of the intellect that conceived it, an energy that vibrates off the pages and that makes SHE-DEVIL as exceptional a book in the remembering as in the reading . . . . a small, mad masterpiece."

Download Description

A scathing satire of an image-conscious society, Fay Weldon¿s The Life and Loves of a She-Devil is the story of Ruth, an graceless, unattractive woman. Trapped in a loveless marriage with a cruelly indifferent, philandering husband named Bobbo, Ruth finds herself sinking under the weight of crushed expectations and neglect. But rather than simply accept her lot in life, Ruth decides to embrace the feelings of evil that are welling inside of her and transform herself into an avenging she-devil. The result is an often hilarious black comedy with a powerful message about love and superficiality.

Customer Reviews:

a dark, feminist fairy tale.......2006-11-05

"The Life and Loves of a She-Devil" is the second book by Fay Weldon I have read , after "Remember me", which I had reviewed - rather unfavorably. I liked it much more than "Remember me".

The novel is about Ruth, an ugly, big woman, a housewife with two children, who is left by her husband Bobbo for a tiny, pretty Mary Fisher, a successful writer of trashy novels.
Ruth is devastated, but undergoes a mental transformation and sets off for revenge... All her actions are concentrated on destroying Bobbo's new life (and Mary's, too) and getting him back. The plan requires a lot of effort and suffering, and using other people. Because of all the people involved, almost each social group is depicted and criticized with precision.

The whole story is presented in a convention of a fairy tale (an adult fairy tale!), and thanks to this trick the most absurd actions sound almost plausible.

The novel is funny, easy to read, but at the same time tackles serious matters and makes the reader think, sometimes being scary in its frankness (after all, Ruth's plan is not what all the betrayed women do, but it certainly is what many of them want to do). And what more can the reader want?

Funny and insightful.......2006-10-17

The only problem I have with this book is either that Fay Weldon made a lot of mistakes in the American setting (judge in a wig, the California coast and Park Avenue seemingly within driving distance) or else the book that I have is an Americanized version of the original Brit. novel, and did not have a particularly careful American editor.
Fay Weldon deals vey well with modern-day divorce, in which anyone who wants out can leave with few consequences, and never mind the family unit.

Stalker.......2006-07-21

Ruth's husband, Bobbo, is Mary Fisher's accountant. Mary Fisher is a romance novelist. He is infatuated with her. The narrator knows the financial details of Mary Fisher's life because Bobbo carries the accounts home. There is self-deception and there is wishful thinking. The narrator is not pretty and she is clumsy. The evening Bobbo's parents visit he stays home. He has claimed that he doesn't intend to leave Ruth, he is just in love with Mary Fisher. He does leave Ruth and the two children when the couple quarrels in the presence of Bobbo's parents.

Subsequently Ruth, the narrator of some of the chapters, burns her residence and delivers the children to Mary Fisher and Bobbo at Mary Fisher's tower. She masterminds the release of Mary Fisher's mother from her spot in an old people's home. She is the founder of an employment agency and uses it to put people into contact with Bobbo at his accounting firm. She acquires accounting skills and surreptiously enters his office at night and moves client money in and out of his personal accounts. She becomes the housekeeper and lover of the judge handling his criminal case which results in a long term of incarceration for Bobbo. She connives with plastic surgeons to change her appearance to that of Mary Fisher.

This is rollicking good fun. It is droll. It is a nice critique of stereotypical thinking.

brilliant novel of revenge!.......2006-03-28

This book "The Life and Loves of a She-devil" by Fay Weldon is about a woman who doesn't look good and she wants to revenge her husband who left her with other woman. She gives up her children, love, and even her own body in order to revenge her husband......
This is a wonderful novel that completely reflects to the relationship between wife and husband in today society and the situation of women's lives. After you start to read more and more, it's really hard stop it and keep you turning pages until the end .I do not recommend this book for everyone because this book has a unrelenting dark side and not everybody would like it, but I think this book is good for the woman who has faced hard luck caused by other man or have the same situation as the character of the book does.

A very dark story.......2006-03-22

I got this book because I loved the movie (1989's "She-Devil, staring Roseanne Barr). But the book isn't as good as the movie. I think the character of Ruth is much more cynical and hateful in the book. There isn't a lot of comedy or lightheartedness. Moreover, the book has somewhat of a "dark" feel and has some underlying messages in it about revenge. I did not enjoy this book.

Average customer rating:

Fay Weldon
Stupidest ending I've ever read
What?
An engaging novel chockfull with fascinating subplots

She May Not Leave
Fay Weldon
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802143016

Book Description

Fay Weldon lets her incisive wit loose on a hot issue facing many modern families — child care, and what can happen when that involves having a nanny under your roof. Hattie and Martyn are the proud parents of newborn Kitty; both are in their early thirties, smart, handsome, and, for reasons of liberal principle, not married but partnered. All seems fine at first — healthy baby, happy couple — but when they have to decide who’ll look after little Kitty, things get complicated. Hattie’s dying to get back to work but Martyn fears employing foreign help might hurt his leftist political aspirations. Martyn capitulates when Agnieska arrives — a Polish nanny who happens to be both domestic goddess and first-rate belly dancer, the maker of a mean cup of cocoa who’s also educated in early childhood development. Having her in the house makes life livable again for the young couple, so when problems arise with her immigration papers Martyn and Hattie will do anything to keep her in the country. But will their decision to have Martyn marry her be the trouble-free solution they envision.

Customer Reviews:

Fay Weldon.......2006-10-02

You have to have Fay Weldon's perspective to enjoy her books. Serious Americans don't seem to have it much.
This book may not be as great as a lot of her others and it's even hard
going at times, but if you're into Fay Weldon like most women, you'll appreciate it - especially the ending which is what it's all about.
It just took too long to get there!

Stupidest ending I've ever read.......2006-08-25

I agree with the above reviewer in that finishing this book actually made me really angry. I've never been compelled to write a review on amazon before, but this was the most ridiculous ending I've ever encountered. Without giving it away, it completely negated the preceding 275 pages of character development for one of the main characters. I can't imagine it passing muster in a freshman English writing course, much less a publishing house. I found the grandmother's narration irritatingly self-riteous throughout the novel as well. The only thing that kept me reading was the engaging storyline between Hattie, Martin, and the au pair, but the ending blew that for me. The politics behind it are questionable as well: the tired old villification of the working mother, the sexually available au pair, the husband who just can't help himself, etc. Oh, I could go on but I won't. Just take my advice and don't waste your time on this ridiculous book.

What?.......2006-07-04

I cannot believe I actually read this entire book. While I will not reveal the entire story to you as the reviewer before me did, I will say it is a total waste of money. The book is so out of touch with reality that I wonder exactly how it ever got published. The ending is so unbelievable that I wondered who this writer actually knew to get this book published. If I did not dislike people who "retell" books in their version, I'd tell you exactly how awful it is. Some people just do not understand the difference between your opinion of a book and PLEASE TELL ME THE ENTIRE STORY so I don't have to buy the book. Sorry I sound so angry, I'm just so disappointed in this book and the money I wasted on it.

An engaging novel chockfull with fascinating subplots.......2006-06-26

"When the maid is mistaken for the mistress it is time for the mistress to ask the maid to leave."

Agnieszka comes to live with Martyn and Hattie as an au pair. The family dynamic changes, bit by bit, shifting the daily domestic and child-rearing responsibilities from Hattie to Agnieszka. Kitty, at six months of age, adores her new au pair. Hattie, an editor with a book publisher, looks at Agnieska as a Godsend; Hattie can go back to work after a six-month leave of absence rather than the full-year leave she initially requested.

Fay Weldon has woven countless subplots, offering the reader insight into political and social mores, and the complex relationships between family members and friends. As the narrator is Hattie's grandmother, Francis Watt, we see another generation's views on all of these issues, as well as family history.

Deceit is a quality known by many. It is a quality that Weldon weaves into her tale, offering the reader brief glimpses of the truth, while daring you to believe that the truth could be so devious. Will Martyn and Hattie do anything to keep Agnieszka, even in the face of the Immigration Service? Agnieszka originally states that she's from Poland. She is actually from the Ukraine: "two miles to the west and everything would be different for us."

Hattie's career in book publishing has taken a sudden turn in the road. A man with Tourette's Syndrome has a book he wants published by Hattie's firm. The major objection to this book is the suggested yet unprintable title. Another question arises when the author shows up unannounced in the lobby of Hattie's office. Expecting him to begin yelling streams of profanity, the office workers don't know what to do with him. Hattie suggests that he doesn't even have Tourette's Syndrome; he is just writing from the perspective of a man who does.

There are many gems in SHE MAY NOT LEAVE. Weldon has given the reader countless opportunities to anticipate the final result. It's so subtle and so polished, yet so innocent. Weldon totally sneaks up on you!

--- Reviewed by Marge Fletcher

Average customer rating:

An Utterly Delightful Autobiography

Auto da Fay: A Memoir
Fay Weldon
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802141420

Book Description

An autobiography from a wickedly funny writer who never fails to amuse Fay Weldon, one of England's best selling and most celebrated authors, looks back on her life as wife, lover, playwright, novelist, feminist, antifeminist, and bon vivant in this frank and funny memoir. Born Franklin Birkinshaw in 1931, Fay spent her youth in New Zealand with her sister, mother, and grandmother before moving to England. Later Fay had to scrape by as an unwed mother in London, trying marriage, then advertising, and then writing on her own. She closes her memoir as she drops what will be her first success, a television play, into a mailbox on her way to the hospital to give birth. Riddled with Weldon's customarily fierce opinions, this frank and absorbing memoir is vintage Fay. An icon to many, a thorn in the flesh to others, she has never failed to excite, madden, or interest. With this engaging autobiography, she has finally decided to turn her authorial wit and keen eye on herself.

Customer Reviews:

An Utterly Delightful Autobiography.......2003-06-14

Fay Weldon is the author of twenty-four novels, five short story collections, two children's books, four works of nonfiction, several plays, and now AUTO DA FAY, a memoir. This delightful autobiography is imbued with the same audaciousness and perspicacity as is her other works. As a woman of deep insights she highlights the key, transcendent events of her life. On page one, titled "Pre-name", she writes, "I long for a day of judgment when the plot lines of our lives will be neatly tied, and all puzzles explained, and the meaning of events made clear. We take to fiction ... because no such thing is going to happen, and at least on the printed page we can observe beginnings, middles and ends, and can find out where morality resides." She declares that, while life moves into entropy, each individual does the best with the hand s/he is dealt.

Weldon was born in 1931 and raised in a rural New Zealand town called Napier. She was the daughter of a troubled but creative mother who, along with Fay and her sister Jane, was abandoned by Fay's father, a selfish, philandering doctor named Frank Birkinshaw. The girls attended a private parochial school and, early on, Fay displayed her dislike for authority and disdain for pomposity. "Mother Teresa was nice and motherly, and would hug you and give you sticky treats: all the others ... ruled by sarcasm and violence. I liked their names, but that was about all."

When the sisters wanted to baptize the girls, Fay's mother wouldn't allow it. She describes her parents as "... freethinkers, rationalists - humanists" and, while Jane had been christened as a Protestant, Fay had not even had that benediction to her name. This state of her soul meant that Fay was excluded from much at school and learned to enjoy her own company. She also had to learn to take care of herself and approach life's challenges with a sense of humor. She says she was the 'good' girl, always wanting to please.

Affable or not, Fay grew up in a strange milieu that was often as perplexing as it was pleasing. She attended school, made friends, and her relationship with her troubled mother was as exasperating as any normal girl finds her mother to be, even under the best of circumstances --- and these women certainly didn't have it easy. In 1946, at the end of World War II, upon the death of a relative, Fay's mother received an inheritance of ... "nine hundred pounds." This gift changed all of their lives because it allowed them to go to England. There, the schools Fay attended and the people she met offered the opportunity for her to nurture her genius for writing.

Weldon's life, at times, unfolds like the lives her heroines lead: she became pregnant and gave birth to a son; she married a man whom she thought would take care of her, but didn't want to have sex with her and insisted he be her pimp; she went to work for an ad agency and did so well that she wrote herself out of a job; and twists of fate kept her on a journey into an interesting life that keeps going on and on. Her words are but amulets of power, both here and in her other writing. She uses well her flawless sense of timing to limn her own story effectively and inspirationally. Weldon's fans will delight in visiting the places, sharing the experiences, and looking within themselves, as she does, and asking some of the same questions about life, love, work, parenting, survival and family. But Fay Weldon will deny this. She says of herself that she does not enjoy the journey inward. She does not enjoy examining 'who she is'.

But fortunately for us, she does raise 'those' deep questions; the ones we all struggle with and, fundamentally, Fay Weldon is as unconventional in her writing as she is in her life. Her honest approach to her writing reflects her observations as they regard the 'war between the sexes' and the roles people play in their relationships. This memoir ends when she is getting on with her first novel, THE FAT WOMAN'S JOKE, and the rest is, as they say, history. Enjoy!

Customer Reviews:

One of a kind........2000-09-26

Rosemary Jackson's book approaches the difficult and somewhat unusual topic of mother's who are separated from their children from both a personal and philosophical perspective. The author takes the reader through a historical and cultural journey in an effort to understand why it is so difficult for women in this situation. She explains why women who leave their children invoke such extreme reactions, particularly from other mothers. The book is supplemented with vignettes, women who tell their individual stories, each quite different from the other. Even for those readers who find the much of background content somewhat esoteric, they will be moved by the stories of the women, and by the candour of the author in sharing her own story. Definitely a must have for any woman who has, by choice or design , been separated from their children. This book is also highly recommended for students with an interest in women's issues.

Average customer rating:

An avid reader belonging to a book club
Fay Weldon is marvelous!
Don't count your chickens
An excellent book

Rhode Island Blues
Fay Weldon
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 080213873X

Book Description

In Rhode Island Blues, Fay Weldon brings her deliciously wicked humor and seasoned wisdom to a story set, for the first time, in America. Two strong, colorful women, Felicity, age eighty-three, and her granddaughter, Sophia, dominate the story. Sophia, a thirty-four-year-old film editor living in London, thinks Felicity is her only living relation. But when she travels to Rhode Island to help Felicity settle into a retirement center, she begins to unravel mysteries about her family history that make her suspect she may have more relatives than she's ever known. As Sophia comes to terms with her grandmother's past, Felicity focuses on life in the present: she learns how to gamble, falls in love, and uncovers nursing home fraud. In Rhode Island Blues, Fay Weldon creates a dizzying story of romance, mystery, and mayhem.

Customer Reviews:

An avid reader belonging to a book club.......2001-09-01

As I started reading this book, I felt the author was a very negative person. At the end I still had this feeling, but it was a compelling story none the less. Her writing style made me think, and I had to go back and read several passages again to get the full meaning of her words. The story was a depressing one for the characters, but their life's stories intertwining with each other were fascinating. I'm so glad she didn't let all her characters have the typical happy ending leaving you to feel that their lives would still be full of ups and downs.

Fay Weldon is marvelous!.......2001-02-04

I don't want to say anything particular about the book, only that it was virtually perfect. Fay Weldon understands human emotions and faults. She expresses all of the thoughts and feelings people carry around all bottled up inside, and she does so with great conviction and humor. Just read the book.

Don't count your chickens.......2000-11-18

It would be all too easy to assume from the title of Weldon's latest novel that it is a depressing read. However, I doubt that Weldon could ever seriously be mournful, especially not when you have both nurses and desire inextricably linked, as you have here. There's just a brief mention of Blues hero Stephane Grapelli, but that's just about how far the relevance goes. However, if you do know who Grapelli is, then you may well be of Felicity's generation in this novel. The title's also an oblique reference to Rhode Island Reds, a particularly fancied breed of chicken at the moment. Apparently, these poultry are extremely easy to rear. It's just Felicity's luck however, that she marries an American GI who hasn't a clue about how to run his own farm. She's even more unfortunate in that she believed his tales of a plantation mansion. Fifty years later, the funeral of her son-in-law from this marriage leads to a quite unexpected flirtation with romance.

Admittedly, parts of Felicity's life story are quite grim. Sophia, her only living relative, works in London as a film editor, whilst Felicity herself abides in Connecticut. Felicity has had a minor stroke, and is coming to terms with the reality of her advancing years. Sophia loves her grandmother - it's just that she feels far more comfortable when the Atlantic Ocean is in between them. Her busy life as a film editor means that she cannot just drop everything and be by her grandmother's bedside in Connecticut. Weldon is very perceptive in relating how much guilt can taint love, and how uncomfortable the young can be beside the old.

Sophia, and Charlie the chauffeur, tend to view the world from the perspective of the movies. When Sophia visits an aged relative Weldon notes that this old lady tends to use references from the fairy books of her youth in her conversation. Maybe what Weldon is saying here is that the motion picture is now the dominant form of fiction. Unfortunately, it really grinds my teeth to come across yet another character in an English novel this year that works in the Soho media world. If future readers ever come back to these novels, like Toby Litt's 'Corpsing', and Amy Jenkins' dire 'Honeymoon', they might think that everyone in England was working in film. The only writer who has a credible excuse for writing about Soho is Christopher Fowler who actually works there. The impression I get is that most young English novelists would really much rather prefer writing for the movies, and I can't help but think that this is very sad.

Sophia mentions many films in her narrative, whilst neglecting to mention the most obvious one: 'Harvey'. Okay, so The Golden Bowl is an old peoples' home, but it does stand comparison with the mental institution in Jimmy Stewart's movie. Okay, so you don't get to see the invisible rabbit in 'Rhode Island Blues' either - it's the interaction between the characters and the structure that seems quite similar. You don't see the whole of this story from Sophia's viewpoint, since Weldon chooses to flit between the main characters at times. It's quite a jolt to suddenly see the world from Nurse Dawn's perspective, who seems to be such a minor character otherwise. But then 'Harvey' also strayed from Jimmy Stewart's suspect vision, into other smaller narratives, such as the nurse's romance with the doctor. Although, this being Weldon, the Doctor/Nurse relationship here is far more risqué.

Feliticty's mental health comes into question when she starts seeing a gambling toy boy, and when the staff at The Golden Bowl discover what we've known all along - namely that her Utrillo painting is not a print. With insurance being such a premium in the litigatory States, moves are made to ensure the safe removal of the Utrillo from the Golden Bowl's walls (James Stewart's mental state in 'Harvey' was also brought into question due to a suspect portrait). Unfortunately, Felicity has also let slip to Sophia that she may have more family in England. Sophia, all alone apart from a temporary fling with a film director of Kubrick's stature, can't help but investigate her roots. She finds a couple of quite dull cousins who eventually let her enter their lives. Felicity impulsively decides to remarry at the tender age of 83. Sophia's cousins just as impulsively decide to check out their newly found grandmother, and petulantly join Sophia on her trip to the States. The question on everyone's minds seems to be this: is such an old woman capable of looking after a valuable Utrillo?

Ironically, Utrillo spent much of his own life in and out of institutions, with painting his only therapy. From this point of view, it's very fitting that his work should end up on the walls of an institution like The Golden Bowl. Sophia recognises the name of the old peoples' home as deriving from a passage in Ecclesiastes. No doubt it is also a reference to the novel of the same name - that also featured a suspected gold digger. What this novel seems to be about broadly, is the clash between the new and the old: the disparities between British and American culture, the contrast between the generations, and old and new forms of fiction. Several novels this year have discussed a problem which currently troubles Western culture: what to do with an ever aging population, from Will Self's vulgar 'How the Dead Live', to Barbara Kingsolver's life-affirming 'Prodigal Summer'. Weldon comes somewhere in between the two extremes. There is something quite merciless about some of her observations, mostly concerning the immigrant Charlie and his ever-increasing family. But most chilling and timely of all is Sophia's disquieting journey on Concorde. However, Weldon provides us with a mixed dish here; not all of her prognosis is quite as gloomy as this. The blues are there, but playing quietly in the background with the reds.

An excellent book.......2000-11-06

One of her best; I couldn't put it down. An intricate, clever, funny, touching book that is Fay Weldon in top form. The characters feel very real, and their situations are truly compelling. I really enjoyed this book.

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Nothing to Wear and Nowhere to Hide
Fay Weldon
Manufacturer: Flamingo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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