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She Devil #1
The Life and Loves of a She Devil
Ruth Patchett never thought of herself as particularly devilish. Rather the opposite in fact -- simply a tall, not terribly attractive woman living a quiet life as a wife and mother in a respectable suburb. But when she discovers that her husband is having a passionate affair with the lovely romantic novelist Mary Fisher, she is so seized by envy that she becomes truly diabolic. Within weeks she has burnt down the family home, collected the insurance, made love to the local drunk and embarked on a course of destruction and revenge. A blackly comic satire of the war of the sexes, LIFE AND LOVES OF A SHE DEVIL is the fantasy of the wronged woman made real.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
About the author
Fay Weldon
277 books370 followersFay Weldon CBE was an English author, essayist and playwright, whose work has been associated with feminism. In her fiction, Weldon typically portrayed contemporary women who find themselves trapped in oppressive situations caused by the patriarchal structure of British society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fay_Weldon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fay_Weldon
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 504 reviews
April 10, 2023
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned", said William Congreve and that was the starting point for this story of envy, jealousy and revenge brought to life.
The film, with Meryl Streep, was predictably good, but Streep has a particular style to her acting, it's very good, but it's acting and the woman in the book is far more passionate and emotion-driven than Streep's always-intellectual approach.
Fay Weldon is a feminist but doesn't let her political beliefs get in the way of her understanding of women. Some feminists do. They want to decry anything that doesn't fit their agenda but Weldon doesn't have a thesis to fit everything into neatly and this book is anything but neat. It spills with rage and passion and hatred and the desire to destroy and triumph and is the ultimate, "they're going to get what's coming to them" book.
The film, with Meryl Streep, was predictably good, but Streep has a particular style to her acting, it's very good, but it's acting and the woman in the book is far more passionate and emotion-driven than Streep's always-intellectual approach.
Fay Weldon is a feminist but doesn't let her political beliefs get in the way of her understanding of women. Some feminists do. They want to decry anything that doesn't fit their agenda but Weldon doesn't have a thesis to fit everything into neatly and this book is anything but neat. It spills with rage and passion and hatred and the desire to destroy and triumph and is the ultimate, "they're going to get what's coming to them" book.
July 27, 2023
Darkly comic satire about a wife's revenge on her cheating husband and his mistress. Ruth makes big changes when her husband leaves, going all-out "She Devil" and planning to destroy them. This was funny, feminist and was written in the 80's, so it's full of the social commentary of its time.
December 8, 2008
My favourite extreme-feminist novel. Being male and reading this was somewhat uncomfortable at first, but after a chapter or so I decided that for the duration of the book I was really a woman - then I could settle down and enjoy it. It's very funny and insightful.
February 29, 2016
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0713vvtDescription: A darkly comic fairy tale about revenge, sex and power. 'The Life and Loves of a She Devil', written in 1983, is a gleefully bawdy satire on the war of the sexes, and a fable about the rewards and dangers of our capacity for transformation.
When Ruth discovers her husband is sleeping with a prettier, richer woman, she makes ingenious and diabolical plans to punish them both. Ruth's campaign to punish her husband and his mistress is well-advanced, and now she will still stop at nothing to get the life, and the body, she desires. 
Ruth - Hattie Morahan
Mary Fisher - Lyndsey Marshal
Bobbo - Barnaby Kay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YCSu...
March 27, 2014
This is a special book. It is disturbing, but not in the way you're probably expecting. It would not be inaccurate to call it a horror story. It's gritty and unapologetic storytelling suits the subject matter. It holds no bars and takes no prisoners. If you think this is a funny story about a woman's evil plot for revenge on her cheating husband, well, you are both right, wrong, and in for a surprise...or great confusion, depending on your capacity to perceive subtlety and metaphor.
You will watch the main character evolve through acts of kindness, (bizarre, dark acts of kindness, admittedly). You will see her get stronger, become respected by others, and you'll think she has evolved. That's why the end of the book may confuse and disturb you. Here comes some minor spoilers, that I hope will help put the end of this book in context.
I think the last part of the book is illustrating an outcome that is all too frequent in our society. You take a dynamic, smart, exceptional woman like the main character, who, like so many women do, defined herself primarily by her relationship and through the eyes of the person she is in that relationship with. The title is a dead giveaway, right? Bobbo calls her a she devil and she internalizes that immediately. It becomes her. However, because she is an exceptional woman, and he has rejected her, she is able to use her new assumed identity to her advantage and the advantage of others. But underneath it all, underneath everything she accomplishes, there he still is inside, tearing her down. She never stopped "hearing" those criticisms she had internalized. Nothing in her life experience, not all the other opinions of her in the world, could penetrate more deeply than the things Bobbo made her believe about herself.
THAT is why her aim was and remained to be, to become the person he wanted to look at. Sure, she also wanted to punish him, but she STILL wanted him too. And she felt like she could only touch him by becoming what he wanted first. She didn't really choose to walk away, not ever. We, as the reader, want to believe that she is evolving past that need for his approval, when in fact, every good thing she did was in pursuit of that unworthy goal.
This book is an exploration of a woman's sense of worth, and how society influences the twisted form that the her hard earned version of "self esteem" ultimately takes. It also explores the concept of evil. What constitutes evil, really? If a person is improving the lives of those around her, and earns the respect of all she comes in contact with, even as she pursues an ignoble goal in the long run...well where does that leave her? Is she a devil? Or some kind of unwitting self destructive angel?
Well, this book won't answer those questions, but it will load you with fascinating, amusing, and captivating information to make a decision for yourself.
Enjoy!
You will watch the main character evolve through acts of kindness, (bizarre, dark acts of kindness, admittedly). You will see her get stronger, become respected by others, and you'll think she has evolved. That's why the end of the book may confuse and disturb you. Here comes some minor spoilers, that I hope will help put the end of this book in context.
I think the last part of the book is illustrating an outcome that is all too frequent in our society. You take a dynamic, smart, exceptional woman like the main character, who, like so many women do, defined herself primarily by her relationship and through the eyes of the person she is in that relationship with. The title is a dead giveaway, right? Bobbo calls her a she devil and she internalizes that immediately. It becomes her. However, because she is an exceptional woman, and he has rejected her, she is able to use her new assumed identity to her advantage and the advantage of others. But underneath it all, underneath everything she accomplishes, there he still is inside, tearing her down. She never stopped "hearing" those criticisms she had internalized. Nothing in her life experience, not all the other opinions of her in the world, could penetrate more deeply than the things Bobbo made her believe about herself.
THAT is why her aim was and remained to be, to become the person he wanted to look at. Sure, she also wanted to punish him, but she STILL wanted him too. And she felt like she could only touch him by becoming what he wanted first. She didn't really choose to walk away, not ever. We, as the reader, want to believe that she is evolving past that need for his approval, when in fact, every good thing she did was in pursuit of that unworthy goal.
This book is an exploration of a woman's sense of worth, and how society influences the twisted form that the her hard earned version of "self esteem" ultimately takes. It also explores the concept of evil. What constitutes evil, really? If a person is improving the lives of those around her, and earns the respect of all she comes in contact with, even as she pursues an ignoble goal in the long run...well where does that leave her? Is she a devil? Or some kind of unwitting self destructive angel?
Well, this book won't answer those questions, but it will load you with fascinating, amusing, and captivating information to make a decision for yourself.
Enjoy!
April 23, 2013
Yuck. That Ruth should get angry and rebel against the fact that only pretty women get any love, or that men are able to take love from whomever at their convenience is completely relatable. That she would use this anger to transform herself into someone prettier, and shallower, and ultimately become those she so resented, is not.
The fact that this book has been so championed as a feminist novel, when its premise seems only to be power over men, selfish sexual practices, and making yourself "beautiful" through surgery, shows a deep and almost insulting misunderstanding of feminism.
If men are so worthless and pathetic, why go to so much trouble to win back one miserable cheating husband? If looks are no measure of worth, why go through years of physical alterations to make yourself "pretty"?
As a mother, so many other things bothered me. That a doting mother could dump off her children with a woman she despised and never look back. That a woman who gave birth to her own children and cared for others so competently, could recommend "selling them" to another mother. That NOBODY in this book acknowledged any long-term emotional damage to any children, anywhere in the book.
Aside from the glaring, unbelievable hypocrisy, I did enjoy the vengeance. Everyone likes to see the cheating spouse get their come-uppance. And reinventing yourself in the process; all the better. If you can ignore the WAY in which Ruth was reinvented, and the vapid, shallow, empty person she became, then you might really love this book.
The fact that this book has been so championed as a feminist novel, when its premise seems only to be power over men, selfish sexual practices, and making yourself "beautiful" through surgery, shows a deep and almost insulting misunderstanding of feminism.
If men are so worthless and pathetic, why go to so much trouble to win back one miserable cheating husband? If looks are no measure of worth, why go through years of physical alterations to make yourself "pretty"?
As a mother, so many other things bothered me. That a doting mother could dump off her children with a woman she despised and never look back. That a woman who gave birth to her own children and cared for others so competently, could recommend "selling them" to another mother. That NOBODY in this book acknowledged any long-term emotional damage to any children, anywhere in the book.
Aside from the glaring, unbelievable hypocrisy, I did enjoy the vengeance. Everyone likes to see the cheating spouse get their come-uppance. And reinventing yourself in the process; all the better. If you can ignore the WAY in which Ruth was reinvented, and the vapid, shallow, empty person she became, then you might really love this book.
March 9, 2015
Fay Weldon was in the zone when she penned this masterpiece, and that pen of hers cuts like a knife. The movie made from this book is the worst butchering of a story I've ever been unfortunate enough to encounter. On the other hand the BBC did an excellent adaptation as a mini-series by remaining quite faithful to the book. This novel could be quite dangerous in the hands of the wrong woman. :-)
January 6, 2015
I am pleased to say that my enemies compare me about equally often to both the women in this book, which I interpret as meaning that I'm as attractive as Mary and as smart as Ruth.
Balance. That's what life's all about.
Balance. That's what life's all about.
February 7, 2013
4 Stars
This is one of those books for me - like Robin McKinley's Beauty. It has a special place on my book shelves and I come back to it again and again. Yes, believe it or not this feminist manifesto, revenge fantasy, social satire sits on the same shelf as Robin McKinley. This is a significant book for me; and that is all the connection that these two books need for me to keep them side by side on my bookshelf.
In a nutshell - and I will try not to bore too much with plot synopsis or all of the theories of feminist literary criticism that this book invokes - this is the story of Ruth's revenge on Mary Fischer, the woman who stole her husband. Ruth is a woman outside the bounds of what the world traditionally would call attractive - she is plain. The woman who stole her husband, the romance novelist Mary Fischer, is diminutive and precious - in affectation and appearance she is the very embodiment of the feminine ideals. Ruth, of course, is the exact opposite of this - she is tall and broad and strong - better suited to the everyday physical duties that come with the role of wife and mother than to the fainting couch. After Ruth is left by her husband, instead of succumbing to despair or doing the makeover/ find your self esteem/ "you go girl"/ win your husband back but decide that you don't want him dance, Ruth plots revenge. She financially, emotionally, and physically destroys Mary Fischer - and her husband too - sort of. Ruth turns her back on the almost sacramental belief system of romantic love that is surgically wrapped around the very strands of the female DNA in Western society to become an acolyte of revenge. Ruth sheds her sex - well not really she is still female - but she sheds all of the preconceived notions and beliefs that go along with the feminine in this society. Ruth gives up love to un-wife, un-mother, and essentially un-woman herself to become the she-devil - the making of the witch.
But It's Really a Fairytale: And in reading other peoples' review of this book, I noticed that a lot of reviewers criticized Weldon's intractable, inflexible characterizations. The characters don't really experience anything that could really be called "growth" or "change" - no levitating out of the grooves of their ruts to grasp a glimpse of the objective. Ruth's transformation from mournful, mousy housewife to she-devil being the only exception of course. The characters all seem to be riding unyielding rails that drive them to their bizarre and sometimes horrifying ends. But I think Weldon did this by design. The characters are meant to be as rigid as the archetypes in a fairytale because Weldon is telling us a deeply disturbing and twisted little fairy tale here - an unfiltered by Disney- Brother's Grimn story. And this is supported by the tone and feel of the novel - especially the haunting repetition of the phrase - "Mary Fischer lives in a castle by the sea…" that opens almost every chapter.
This book was written in the 80's. Does it still even hold up today - is it pertinent or is it dated? Well, it is a little bit dated - some of the social and feminist issues Weldon writes about and satirizes - well yes, there have been some gains. The issues have become more subtle and nuanced - women in the work force, careers vs. motherhood, the welfare state etc., etc. - the war limps on but it has changed and shifted battlefields. I still find this a significant work - still an engaging read - just for what it says about romantic love, women and their rage, and how living up to the impossible standards of the feminine ideal is dangerous for both of the sexes.
Me and the She-Devil: I first read this book in my 20's and what I appreciated most was the unflinching characterization of Ruth. She is the archetypal plain woman/ beast of burden who despite not being the societal idea of sexual attractiveness has this undeniable power that pulls people to her. Ruth claims her sexuality with a frankness and self-awareness that gives her power and makes her a magnet for other people. After her transformation to she-devil, Ruth is never without a whole cadre of willing lovers and admirers. But things change in the second half of the novel, as the reader jumps ship from fairytale to Frankenstein. In the second half of the novel, Ruth endures surgery after surgery to physically change herself - to force her physique into the narrow margins of the feminine ideal. Ruth jumps ship from revolutionary to player; from "monstrosity" to goddess. But Ruth the monster was the character that I most identified with; the character who actually gave me the most hope (and hope is a very funny thing to find in this novel - because this is not a very hopeful story). In her planning and her schemes - even as she derides and sheds her old "plain" physical form, she knows herself and accepts herself. In my teenage years I spent far too much time mourning the distance between my physical self and the physical ideals set up for my sex. Every woman out there could write their own novel about this - the hate/shame game that American women play when it comes to their bodies. Coming across this book in my 20's - strangely - allowed me to step outside of that game and to gain some self acceptance and self knowledge. The body ages and fades - but the will and the imagination… that is the true spark of the physical. So I had/ have hope, that in accepting myself I would find someone, at some time who would accept me as well.
Reading this again now - after taking on the mantle of wife and motherhood - the book means other things to me as well. Finding that anger - and boy have I had anger - slinking, hiding, deep dark below the surface anger. And boy does Ruth discover her anger and transmutes it into a power and will that could practically destroy the universe. And I see the possibilities of the un-love - of taking up your anger as your lover and your life - just like Ruth does - but it is as much of a trap as some of the silly notions of romantic love that Weldon is so busily skewering. For some reason, I have made this book my touchstone, my talisman. In my youth and even now, I use it to tap into my anger - to seduce it to the surface - to make myself a portal through which the anger can harmlessly escape - like steam - blasting its way out and through. Better to make myself a portal for this rage than to leave myself a vessel that anger will eventually corrode and corrupt.
And I have no idea if any of this is even close to what Weldon intended for her readers - and I realize I'm getting a little new-agey/ self helpey/ hippie chick here - blame it on my being in my 20's during the 90's. (In the 90's, everywhere you looked women were running with wolves and bubble gum wadding magic and psychiatry so that we could become whole, complete people.) This novel is about a woman who in her loss finds strength, self-knowledge, and power, but she doesn't use these things for self-acceptance. This is a novel about a woman who accepts and understands her anger, but she uses this power to practically destroy herself and the lives of those around her. And ironically, in reading this - coming back to it again and again - I have learned more about self-acceptance and letting go for myself- learned more of hope and peace.
This is one of those books for me - like Robin McKinley's Beauty. It has a special place on my book shelves and I come back to it again and again. Yes, believe it or not this feminist manifesto, revenge fantasy, social satire sits on the same shelf as Robin McKinley. This is a significant book for me; and that is all the connection that these two books need for me to keep them side by side on my bookshelf.
In a nutshell - and I will try not to bore too much with plot synopsis or all of the theories of feminist literary criticism that this book invokes - this is the story of Ruth's revenge on Mary Fischer, the woman who stole her husband. Ruth is a woman outside the bounds of what the world traditionally would call attractive - she is plain. The woman who stole her husband, the romance novelist Mary Fischer, is diminutive and precious - in affectation and appearance she is the very embodiment of the feminine ideals. Ruth, of course, is the exact opposite of this - she is tall and broad and strong - better suited to the everyday physical duties that come with the role of wife and mother than to the fainting couch. After Ruth is left by her husband, instead of succumbing to despair or doing the makeover/ find your self esteem/ "you go girl"/ win your husband back but decide that you don't want him dance, Ruth plots revenge. She financially, emotionally, and physically destroys Mary Fischer - and her husband too - sort of. Ruth turns her back on the almost sacramental belief system of romantic love that is surgically wrapped around the very strands of the female DNA in Western society to become an acolyte of revenge. Ruth sheds her sex - well not really she is still female - but she sheds all of the preconceived notions and beliefs that go along with the feminine in this society. Ruth gives up love to un-wife, un-mother, and essentially un-woman herself to become the she-devil - the making of the witch.
But It's Really a Fairytale: And in reading other peoples' review of this book, I noticed that a lot of reviewers criticized Weldon's intractable, inflexible characterizations. The characters don't really experience anything that could really be called "growth" or "change" - no levitating out of the grooves of their ruts to grasp a glimpse of the objective. Ruth's transformation from mournful, mousy housewife to she-devil being the only exception of course. The characters all seem to be riding unyielding rails that drive them to their bizarre and sometimes horrifying ends. But I think Weldon did this by design. The characters are meant to be as rigid as the archetypes in a fairytale because Weldon is telling us a deeply disturbing and twisted little fairy tale here - an unfiltered by Disney- Brother's Grimn story. And this is supported by the tone and feel of the novel - especially the haunting repetition of the phrase - "Mary Fischer lives in a castle by the sea…" that opens almost every chapter.
This book was written in the 80's. Does it still even hold up today - is it pertinent or is it dated? Well, it is a little bit dated - some of the social and feminist issues Weldon writes about and satirizes - well yes, there have been some gains. The issues have become more subtle and nuanced - women in the work force, careers vs. motherhood, the welfare state etc., etc. - the war limps on but it has changed and shifted battlefields. I still find this a significant work - still an engaging read - just for what it says about romantic love, women and their rage, and how living up to the impossible standards of the feminine ideal is dangerous for both of the sexes.
Me and the She-Devil: I first read this book in my 20's and what I appreciated most was the unflinching characterization of Ruth. She is the archetypal plain woman/ beast of burden who despite not being the societal idea of sexual attractiveness has this undeniable power that pulls people to her. Ruth claims her sexuality with a frankness and self-awareness that gives her power and makes her a magnet for other people. After her transformation to she-devil, Ruth is never without a whole cadre of willing lovers and admirers. But things change in the second half of the novel, as the reader jumps ship from fairytale to Frankenstein. In the second half of the novel, Ruth endures surgery after surgery to physically change herself - to force her physique into the narrow margins of the feminine ideal. Ruth jumps ship from revolutionary to player; from "monstrosity" to goddess. But Ruth the monster was the character that I most identified with; the character who actually gave me the most hope (and hope is a very funny thing to find in this novel - because this is not a very hopeful story). In her planning and her schemes - even as she derides and sheds her old "plain" physical form, she knows herself and accepts herself. In my teenage years I spent far too much time mourning the distance between my physical self and the physical ideals set up for my sex. Every woman out there could write their own novel about this - the hate/shame game that American women play when it comes to their bodies. Coming across this book in my 20's - strangely - allowed me to step outside of that game and to gain some self acceptance and self knowledge. The body ages and fades - but the will and the imagination… that is the true spark of the physical. So I had/ have hope, that in accepting myself I would find someone, at some time who would accept me as well.
Reading this again now - after taking on the mantle of wife and motherhood - the book means other things to me as well. Finding that anger - and boy have I had anger - slinking, hiding, deep dark below the surface anger. And boy does Ruth discover her anger and transmutes it into a power and will that could practically destroy the universe. And I see the possibilities of the un-love - of taking up your anger as your lover and your life - just like Ruth does - but it is as much of a trap as some of the silly notions of romantic love that Weldon is so busily skewering. For some reason, I have made this book my touchstone, my talisman. In my youth and even now, I use it to tap into my anger - to seduce it to the surface - to make myself a portal through which the anger can harmlessly escape - like steam - blasting its way out and through. Better to make myself a portal for this rage than to leave myself a vessel that anger will eventually corrode and corrupt.
And I have no idea if any of this is even close to what Weldon intended for her readers - and I realize I'm getting a little new-agey/ self helpey/ hippie chick here - blame it on my being in my 20's during the 90's. (In the 90's, everywhere you looked women were running with wolves and bubble gum wadding magic and psychiatry so that we could become whole, complete people.) This novel is about a woman who in her loss finds strength, self-knowledge, and power, but she doesn't use these things for self-acceptance. This is a novel about a woman who accepts and understands her anger, but she uses this power to practically destroy herself and the lives of those around her. And ironically, in reading this - coming back to it again and again - I have learned more about self-acceptance and letting go for myself- learned more of hope and peace.
July 26, 2011
I picked up this book from my local library thinking it would be the literary equivalent of the 1989 movie with Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr. I love the movie with inexcusable glee - - it's a guilty pleasure, the revenge is wonderfully satisfying and Meryl Streep is incredible, as always. Unfortunately I was sorely mistaken.
First, the book is quite different from the movie. Or perhaps I should say that the movie is quite different from the book, since the book came first. I felt sympathy for the movie version of Ruth. She was unattractive (although not the towering giant as portrayed in the book) and put upon by her husband, who had absolutely no problem being unfaithful. Despite destroying her husband's life one calculated step at a time, you still want movie Ruth to succeed and best not only cheating Bob but also the annoyingly pink romance author Mary Fisher who embarks on an affair with Bob.
Not so with the literary Ruth, who comes across as cold, uncaring and almost sociopathic. In other words, completely unsympathetic. Her actions felt extreme, to say the least, from the destruction of the family home, leaving a pet inside, to abandoning her children to the care of their cheating father and his mistress, who was hardly maternal, to her almost casual and callous attitude toward sex post-split. I felt absolutely no bond or connection with her whatsoever, nor did I understand what drove her.
The plot could have been a fantastic one - - betrayed wife seeks revenge. It could have been a serious book or a tongue-in-cheek, campy styled one. Either would have worked but "The Life and Loves of a She Devil" doesn't seem to know which direction it should take - - serious cautionary tale or humorous tale of love gone wrong? Not knowing what direction to take left me, as the reader, in the same state of confusion.
I expected that "The Life and Loves of a She Devil" would be humorous, witty and cutting. It was certainly cutting but the wit and humor was lacking. Scenes that were funny in the movie came across flat out mean in the book (if they were included in the book). For me, I simply did not enjoy reading about Ruth, who was allegedly symbolizing the liberated and independent female of the age (late 70s/early 80s), acting more like a felon than a strong woman. By the end of the book, I simply didn't like her.
Had I not seen "She Devil" and adored the movie for its late 80s overblown silliness, I likely would not have finished the book. The first chapter drew me in but I quickly lost interest. I persevered and finished the book but only because I continued to hope that the story would improve.
I personally did not care for the book and would not recommend it. If you are looking for a wife's revenge tale, "The First Wives Club" might be a better choice. However, I would not hesitate to recommend "She Devil" for its guilty pleasure and the always impressive Meryl Streep.
First, the book is quite different from the movie. Or perhaps I should say that the movie is quite different from the book, since the book came first. I felt sympathy for the movie version of Ruth. She was unattractive (although not the towering giant as portrayed in the book) and put upon by her husband, who had absolutely no problem being unfaithful. Despite destroying her husband's life one calculated step at a time, you still want movie Ruth to succeed and best not only cheating Bob but also the annoyingly pink romance author Mary Fisher who embarks on an affair with Bob.
Not so with the literary Ruth, who comes across as cold, uncaring and almost sociopathic. In other words, completely unsympathetic. Her actions felt extreme, to say the least, from the destruction of the family home, leaving a pet inside, to abandoning her children to the care of their cheating father and his mistress, who was hardly maternal, to her almost casual and callous attitude toward sex post-split. I felt absolutely no bond or connection with her whatsoever, nor did I understand what drove her.
The plot could have been a fantastic one - - betrayed wife seeks revenge. It could have been a serious book or a tongue-in-cheek, campy styled one. Either would have worked but "The Life and Loves of a She Devil" doesn't seem to know which direction it should take - - serious cautionary tale or humorous tale of love gone wrong? Not knowing what direction to take left me, as the reader, in the same state of confusion.
I expected that "The Life and Loves of a She Devil" would be humorous, witty and cutting. It was certainly cutting but the wit and humor was lacking. Scenes that were funny in the movie came across flat out mean in the book (if they were included in the book). For me, I simply did not enjoy reading about Ruth, who was allegedly symbolizing the liberated and independent female of the age (late 70s/early 80s), acting more like a felon than a strong woman. By the end of the book, I simply didn't like her.
Had I not seen "She Devil" and adored the movie for its late 80s overblown silliness, I likely would not have finished the book. The first chapter drew me in but I quickly lost interest. I persevered and finished the book but only because I continued to hope that the story would improve.
I personally did not care for the book and would not recommend it. If you are looking for a wife's revenge tale, "The First Wives Club" might be a better choice. However, I would not hesitate to recommend "She Devil" for its guilty pleasure and the always impressive Meryl Streep.
September 20, 2021
Click here to read Roger Ebert's review of the 1989 Meryl Streep movie version
Oof, you may safely skip this one-joke museum piece of mean-spirited second-wave feminism.
Go read something by Roxane Gay instead, and you'll most likely learn a lot more.
7 hrs 180 w/m
September 21, 2008
This book was unbelievably shallow, mean, and petty, and I did not enjoy it at all. At first you sort of feel sorry for the main character, Ruth, because her husband cheats on her and essentially blames her for all of their problems. But her idea of revenge is to not only destroy the life of her husband's mistress, but to then take over that life. She becomes a horrible person who does far worse things than the mistress ever did, and we're supposed to still care about her and empathize with her? No, I don't think so. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
January 31, 2016
I expect that many people who read this will have seen the film, Lives and Loves of a She-Devil. The film is a lot of fun, but it doesn’t really do justice to the Fay Weldon novel on which it’s based. The film with Roseanne Barr and her rival in life and love played by Meryl Streep is really very funny, but the book is much, much darker, and while like the film version, this is a tale of revenge, the book is much more subversive and its humour is black. You’ll laugh at the film but chances are you won’t have the same reaction to the book. Weldon is an outspoken feminist writer who’s come in for her share of controversy, and simply because she is a figure of some controversy, she’s all too easy to misquote. Fay Weldon’s style is very typically spare, and low on descriptions. This novel is also high on mythic qualities and alternates between first and third person narrative.
While Weldon’s work obviously fits in any feminist canon, her work can also be considered Transgressive fiction for the way her marvelous characters subvert societal norms. Weldon’s frequent themes include gender inequality, female reinvention, female identity and self-image and the often vicious relationships between women. Lives and Loves of a She-Devil is a tremendously powerful story–the tale of how one woman, a wife and mother, is abandoned by her husband and replaced by a prettier, sexier woman. Rising from her despair and thrusting aside all societal norms, maternal concerns, & obligations the discarded woman eventually triumphs over her enemies. Yes, a story of female empowerment and a rather frightening tale of a woman scorned who, because she’s willing to go as far as necessary, learns to live her life according to an entirely new set of rules.
Ruth, an overweight, unattractive woman who’s 6′ 2″, is an excellent wife and mother. While she’s appreciated by her somewhat scatter-brained in-laws, she’s neglected and undervalued by her accountant husband, Bobbo, who at the best of times says that Ruth is “no beauty, but a good soul.” Ruth, who is virtually powerless in the relationship, does everything to please Bobbo, even tolerating his announcement that he wants an “open marriage.” She’s aware of his extra-marital affairs which he discusses with relish, but now Bobbo has fallen in love with one of his clients, Mary Fisher, a wealthy, prolific author of trashy romances. Ruth is trying her best to ignore the affair, but after a particularly degrading scene, Bobbo moves out of his home in the suburb of Eden Grove, abandons his wife and two children and moves to Mary Fisher’s splendid home, the High Tower.
Mary Fisher is the embodiment of everything Ruth isn’t: small, petite, feminine and highly desirable. And here’s a quote that shows just how well Fay Weldon can write:
"Now outside the world turns: tides surge up the cliffs at the foot of Mary Fisher’s tower, and fall again. In Australia the great gum trees weep their bark away; in Calcutta a myriad flickers of human energy ignite and flare and die; in California the surfers weld their souls with foam and flutter off into eternity; in the great cities of the world groups of dissidents form their gaunt nexi of discontent and send the roots of change through the black soil of our earthly existence. And I am fixed here and now, trapped in my body, pinned to one particular spot, hating Mary Fisher. It is all I can do. Hate obsesses and transforms me; it is my singular attribution."
While Bobbo and Mary Fisher have the looks, the power and the money on their side, Ruth is dumped with the two squabbling children, a gluttonous vomiting dog who humps anyone lower on the totem pole, a cat who fouls the house, and an unfortunate guinea pig. Bobbo and Mary live in sex-soaked idyllic bliss while Ruth suddenly has to worry about money–how to pay bills and buy food (there’s one great scene in which Ruth directs the children to search the house for coins). To add to the worries, Bobbo tells her to move to a smaller, cheaper home. Part of Ruth accepts what has happened to her–after all, she reasons ”to those who hath, such as Mary Fisher, shall be given, and to those who hath not, such as myself, even that which they have shall be taken away.”
Ruth has always behaved well and put Bobbo’s needs before her own. Why shouldn’t she accept divorce, destitution and displacement and be happy for the few years she had? But Ruth doesn’t see it that way, and she doesn’t react the way Bobbo expects her to. Strangely, once removed from the position of wife, something begins to happen to Ruth. Liberated from her own repressive behavior, ”Hate obsesses and transforms” her, and she has revenge in mind. As events unfold, it becomes clear that revenge is an emotion that can take you to the place you want to go. Ruth abandons the roles assigned to her: doting wife, patient mother and begins a transformative journey–both literal and figurative, and along the way she confronts other women in various miserable circumstances including a clueless welfare mother who’s impregnated by a series of transient rogue males, a group of Wimmin, and also the much-abused wife of a judge who has a secret “passion for bondage and whips.” As Ruth continually reinvents herself, she leaves an imprint on the lives of everyone she touches, and rather magnificently, she becomes all the things her husband, to assuage his guilt, accused her of. She becomes a She-Devil who “creates havoc and destruction all around,“ and by abandoning the roles she is expected to endure, and breaking all the ”rules” she plots her revenge…
June 8, 2014
When I say this book is brilliant, I do not mean it in the British sense, as in casually cool, nice job, well done... I mean it is insightful, creative, well-written, highly developed characters and an incredible story line. Just when you think it cannot get any better, it does! And, which I love, is it makes you really think about thinks like societal expectations of women, good versus evil, and right/wrong. I haven't ripped through a book like this in years, and I loved every second of this book. Wonderful.... I can see why they made it into a movie (highly underrated, I might add). And I propose a re-make, one that fleshes out Ruth in more depth than the fluffy 80's version. She is, and does, so much more - ah, but that is always true of novels. Must read!
June 27, 2012
As a child, I stumbled upon a British mini-series airing on A&E in America based on this series and I was absolutely fascinated. It's been forever since I've seen it, but at the time I felt like I was getting away with something. It seemed rather racy to me at the time because it had some Adult Themes. It was also as though I were consuming some very high quality, decadent sweet that had no major nutritional value, but nourished me nonetheless. Several years later I indulged in another interpretation, the Roseanne Barr/Meryl Streep comedy vehicle She-Devil. Critics panned the movie in major ways but I adored it, and still do, as a slice of campy fun. True, it's quite a de-fanged version compared to the televised mini-series, but some of the themes remain intact despite the overall lightening of the content. And yet somehow I never laid eyes on the original literary version until a friend handed me a used copy she found during her travels after we bonded over our mutual love of the series and film. And it was every bit as deliciously enjoyable as both celluloid adaptations.
Weldon pulls the reader in from the go by introducing one of two narrative themes, the first being a present tense voice that is the omniscient voice of Ruth, the protagonist of the novel. She shifts between this and a standard, omniscient, past-tense author's voice and it makes for a compelling contrast. She also resists any moralizing in this second voice, although Ruth has a clear and particular set of morals and ethics that she adheres to. It would be interesting to do a close, feminist reading of the text and I'm sure there's been such things written about this book. Themes of women's value laying in their appearance, female competition, sexual power and self-determination guide the story. But again, Weldon never prescribes one point of view as the correct one, although Ruth's tends to be the dominant mindset throughout. But with that sort of reading or not, it's an immensely enjoyable book and it's making me seek out the original mini-series to compare it to because it was far truer to the book, if memory serves.
Weldon pulls the reader in from the go by introducing one of two narrative themes, the first being a present tense voice that is the omniscient voice of Ruth, the protagonist of the novel. She shifts between this and a standard, omniscient, past-tense author's voice and it makes for a compelling contrast. She also resists any moralizing in this second voice, although Ruth has a clear and particular set of morals and ethics that she adheres to. It would be interesting to do a close, feminist reading of the text and I'm sure there's been such things written about this book. Themes of women's value laying in their appearance, female competition, sexual power and self-determination guide the story. But again, Weldon never prescribes one point of view as the correct one, although Ruth's tends to be the dominant mindset throughout. But with that sort of reading or not, it's an immensely enjoyable book and it's making me seek out the original mini-series to compare it to because it was far truer to the book, if memory serves.
February 28, 2016
From BBC Radio 4 - Riot Girls
by Fay Weldon, adapted by Joy Wilkinson. A darkly comic fairy tale about revenge, sex and power.
When Ruth discovers her husband is sleeping with a prettier, richer woman, she makes ingenious and diabolical plans to punish them both.
'The Life and Loves of a She Devil', written in 1983, is a gleefully bawdy satire on the war of the sexes, and a fable about the rewards and dangers of our capacity for transformation.
It is part of Riot Girls on Radio 4, a series of no-holds-barred women's writing that includes Erica Jong's 'Fear of Flying' and original plays following three generations of women by Lucy Catherine and Ella Hickson.
Adapted by Joy Wilkinson
Directed by Abigail le Fleming
The Writer
Fay Weldon CBE has written 34 novels, numerous TV dramas, several radio plays, 5 full length stage plays and five collections of short stories. She works as Professor teaching creative writing at Bath Spa University.
The Adapter
Joy Wilkinson was selected as a Screen International Star of Tomorrow 2015. She has several original feature projects and TV series in development, including the thriller KILLER CV, which was selected for the 2014 Brit List. Joy writes extensively for radio, on original dramas and adaptations. In theatre, her work has won prizes including the Verity Bargate Award.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0713vvt
by Fay Weldon, adapted by Joy Wilkinson. A darkly comic fairy tale about revenge, sex and power.
When Ruth discovers her husband is sleeping with a prettier, richer woman, she makes ingenious and diabolical plans to punish them both.
'The Life and Loves of a She Devil', written in 1983, is a gleefully bawdy satire on the war of the sexes, and a fable about the rewards and dangers of our capacity for transformation.
It is part of Riot Girls on Radio 4, a series of no-holds-barred women's writing that includes Erica Jong's 'Fear of Flying' and original plays following three generations of women by Lucy Catherine and Ella Hickson.
Adapted by Joy Wilkinson
Directed by Abigail le Fleming
The Writer
Fay Weldon CBE has written 34 novels, numerous TV dramas, several radio plays, 5 full length stage plays and five collections of short stories. She works as Professor teaching creative writing at Bath Spa University.
The Adapter
Joy Wilkinson was selected as a Screen International Star of Tomorrow 2015. She has several original feature projects and TV series in development, including the thriller KILLER CV, which was selected for the 2014 Brit List. Joy writes extensively for radio, on original dramas and adaptations. In theatre, her work has won prizes including the Verity Bargate Award.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0713vvt
May 5, 2014
The plot of this book was genius. I often felt as though I was reading the screenplay for a psychological thriller and found myself unable to put the book down—I read it cover-to-cover in one day, clinging to each page. I found myself constantly surprised at the turns the plot took and unable to predict what would happen next. However, what is truly special about this book is that it goes beyond being a mere page-turner and presents a quite brilliant commentary on the balance (or imbalance) of power in numerous societal contexts, beginning with the relationship between a husband and wife.
Ruth, who had been utterly powerless in her marriage and was then betrayed by her husband, begins a ruthless mission to flip the power dynamic. Throughout her quest to gain power and control over both her husband and the fate of his mistress, Ruth explores many other power-dynamics: the relationship between a doctor/dentist and patient; a boss and an employee; the helpless (elderly, children, mentally ill) and those that are employed to help them; the church/religion and a priest; a priest and his flock; the poor and the rich; judges and criminals; and prisoners and the state.
Through these dealings, it often appeared that power was merely an illusion existing in the mind of the oppressed. This notion was reinforced as Ruth developed a pattern of indirectly benefitting the socially disenfranchised individuals whom she used for various aims. By suggesting to an impoverished, uneducated single mother for instance, that she sell her children, it becomes apparent to the young woman that she does in fact have the power to free herself and take control of her own life—the option had just been so unthinkable that previously it had been a barrier to mere consideration of such possibilities.
As the book progresses however, Ruth becomes a less sympathetic character. It is unclear, but worth considering, whether this is because Ruth becomes more powerful, or whether power simply becomes Ruth, much like a parasite consuming its host.
Ruth, who had been utterly powerless in her marriage and was then betrayed by her husband, begins a ruthless mission to flip the power dynamic. Throughout her quest to gain power and control over both her husband and the fate of his mistress, Ruth explores many other power-dynamics: the relationship between a doctor/dentist and patient; a boss and an employee; the helpless (elderly, children, mentally ill) and those that are employed to help them; the church/religion and a priest; a priest and his flock; the poor and the rich; judges and criminals; and prisoners and the state.
Through these dealings, it often appeared that power was merely an illusion existing in the mind of the oppressed. This notion was reinforced as Ruth developed a pattern of indirectly benefitting the socially disenfranchised individuals whom she used for various aims. By suggesting to an impoverished, uneducated single mother for instance, that she sell her children, it becomes apparent to the young woman that she does in fact have the power to free herself and take control of her own life—the option had just been so unthinkable that previously it had been a barrier to mere consideration of such possibilities.
As the book progresses however, Ruth becomes a less sympathetic character. It is unclear, but worth considering, whether this is because Ruth becomes more powerful, or whether power simply becomes Ruth, much like a parasite consuming its host.
February 20, 2008
I first read this book when I was in seventh grade, and loved it so much that I kept a notebook full of quotes from the book (such things as "I sing a hymn to the death of love and the end of pain"). When I reread it, I found it to be a lot more inherently disturbing than I had remembered. Ruth is a large, ugly housewife whose husband, Bobbo, feels justified in having affairs with more attractive, daintier women. He feels that Ruth should be happy that he married her and gave her children and a house to tend to. Ruth goes along with the status quo until Bobbo moves in with his latest mistress, Mary Fisher, a blonde, dainty penner of romance novels--the sterotypical ideal of the childless woman. Before he leaves he calls Ruth a "she-devil", and from that point on Ruth systematically reforms herself, sheds her old life, wreaks havoc upon the lives of Mary Fisher and Bobbo and ultimately, in the end, becomes Mary Fisher, with Bobbo as her pathetic, doting slave.
This book deals with themes such as the importance of image upon women in our society, gender roles, cosmetic surgery, and most of all the struggle between the powerful and powerless. In reversing roles with her husband, Ruth becomes the powerful and he the oppressed. However, while Ruth appears to have "won", in actuality there are no winners here. Ruth goes through years of difficulty and pain, and millions of dollars, only to prove that she is able to--with the help of some major cosmetic surgery--come out on top. But is she happy now that she has become the sterotype? I don't see how a woman of her intellect and resourcefulness could be.
This is a provacative and enjoyable, oftentimes humorous read. I highly recommend it.
This book deals with themes such as the importance of image upon women in our society, gender roles, cosmetic surgery, and most of all the struggle between the powerful and powerless. In reversing roles with her husband, Ruth becomes the powerful and he the oppressed. However, while Ruth appears to have "won", in actuality there are no winners here. Ruth goes through years of difficulty and pain, and millions of dollars, only to prove that she is able to--with the help of some major cosmetic surgery--come out on top. But is she happy now that she has become the sterotype? I don't see how a woman of her intellect and resourcefulness could be.
This is a provacative and enjoyable, oftentimes humorous read. I highly recommend it.
September 8, 2009
This novel is something of a cultural artifact, from a time when feminism had won most of its legal victories but the idea of equality hadn't become socially or culturally entrenched. Consequently, although the book depicts the complete triumph of a scorned woman over her cheating husband and his mistress, this victory is mostly won on anti-feminist terms. Ruth shows herself capable of building a successful business (albeit, one partially based on the exploitation of other working women), and her investments bring her fortune. Yet she achieves most of her goals by manipulation and deceit, rather than by claiming an active place in the world as a person of power and influence. Ruth also submits herself to a long series of painful and medically unnecessary surgeries, to recreate herself in the image of the small and delicate woman for whom her husband abandoned her. As Ruth breaks further and further away from her unhappy past as a suburban housewife, though, it becomes increasingly difficult to see why she continues to spare any thought for her callous husband or his shallow paramour. (It's also difficult to determine why the mistress, whose life is turned upside-down by Ruth's husband and children, doesn't simply cut her lover loose.) In short, this book is not about a woman who defies an unjust system, but about people who wage bitter and unpleasant battles, in order to succeed on the system's biased terms.
January 19, 2016
Hah! Well, this is a wild and wonderful book if you are fond of the idea of revenge or have ever day dreamed of it.
Ruth is a ponderous creature of gargantuan proportions who is married to Bobbo, an accountant who happens to be in love with Mary Fisher, a writer of romance novels who lives in a lighthouse overlooking the California coastline.
Bobbo, being a modern man, feels free to tell Ruth of his love for Mary Fisher and his excursions into her bedroom, while reminding Ruth of how inept, unlovable and clumsy she is. One day Ruth snaps this is all too much for her and she turns into a she-devil.
She carefully and patiently plots her revenge. This is the story of her trip of revenge and transformation.
To me it is beyond funny and a quick read. I loved the characters who Ruth met on her road of revenge.
It is humor and not high art.
Ruth is a ponderous creature of gargantuan proportions who is married to Bobbo, an accountant who happens to be in love with Mary Fisher, a writer of romance novels who lives in a lighthouse overlooking the California coastline.
Bobbo, being a modern man, feels free to tell Ruth of his love for Mary Fisher and his excursions into her bedroom, while reminding Ruth of how inept, unlovable and clumsy she is. One day Ruth snaps this is all too much for her and she turns into a she-devil.
She carefully and patiently plots her revenge. This is the story of her trip of revenge and transformation.
To me it is beyond funny and a quick read. I loved the characters who Ruth met on her road of revenge.
It is humor and not high art.
Read
March 30, 2024Hm. I don’t know how to feel…
March 16, 2015
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! Hmm, whoever said that obviously never ran into Ruth Patchett. She makes that statement pale in comparison! Imagine being born an ugly looking person--too tall, ugly moles with hair growing out of them on your face, wide set jaw and a passive personality and having to go through life with everyone looking at you as if you were a freak of nature.
Yes, this was the life Ruth came to know all too well and it began to wear on her nerves, but nothing wore her down like her ungrateful cheating husband, Bobbo. Ooh poor Bobbo! In an act of weakness years ago, he slept with Ruth because she was something warm next to him, and as an added bonus, she was renting his bed from his parents, while he was away at college, and in stead of sleeping in the living room, as his parents suggested, he decided he wanted his comfortable bed, where he found the grotesque, Ruth, lying.
As poor Bobbo found out, it only takes one time for a woman to become impregnated. Back in those days, parents made you get married when the little woman, well in the case, the ogre of Ruth, got in the family way. For poor Bobbo there was never any "real love" between them. So, now it's 15 years later, and he's grown very, very tired of his wife. He can't stand her largeness, her voice, her nature, just her being. He wants out! He wants something new! What does poor Bobbo do? He tells his wife that he wants an open marriage, and proceeds to have as many affairs as his little heart desired. But what he didn't count on nor did he give a damn about, was Ruth's feelings. She's a hideous woman that no one wants. Hell, he even encourages her to go out and find someone else to love, as he snickered behind her back knowing there wasn't a man on earth that would want this thing he was 'forced' to marry.
The lovely and beautiful authoress, Mary Fisher, hired Bobbo to do her books and invited him to parties and the like, and a full-blown lustful affair struck between the two lovers. Oooh they couldn't help themselves, it was fate.
Mary Fisher lived in a high tower by the sea and with it she took the only man that Ruth ever loved, Bobbo. After he moved out of the house and told her he could no longer put up with the charade of their marriage, he moved in with Mary Fisher, because 'she' was what a woman was supposed to be.
Needless to say, if you saw the movie adaptation of She-Devil starring Meryl Streep and Rosanne Barr, as usual, Hollywood couldn't have gotten it more wrong! The book was 100 times better. Revenge was oooh so sweet and she definitely went to hell and back to make sure that the lovely Mary Fisher and Bobbo suffered tremendously for what they did to her.
The humor in this book will have you laughing hysterically. She-Devil, the American movie is one of my all-time favorites, but after having read the book, OMG, I'm a bigger fan of the words. There's so much that never made it into the movie, and after you read it, you'll discover why! Outstanding read!
When it comes to the affairs of the heart, one never knows just how far someone will go!
Yes, this was the life Ruth came to know all too well and it began to wear on her nerves, but nothing wore her down like her ungrateful cheating husband, Bobbo. Ooh poor Bobbo! In an act of weakness years ago, he slept with Ruth because she was something warm next to him, and as an added bonus, she was renting his bed from his parents, while he was away at college, and in stead of sleeping in the living room, as his parents suggested, he decided he wanted his comfortable bed, where he found the grotesque, Ruth, lying.
As poor Bobbo found out, it only takes one time for a woman to become impregnated. Back in those days, parents made you get married when the little woman, well in the case, the ogre of Ruth, got in the family way. For poor Bobbo there was never any "real love" between them. So, now it's 15 years later, and he's grown very, very tired of his wife. He can't stand her largeness, her voice, her nature, just her being. He wants out! He wants something new! What does poor Bobbo do? He tells his wife that he wants an open marriage, and proceeds to have as many affairs as his little heart desired. But what he didn't count on nor did he give a damn about, was Ruth's feelings. She's a hideous woman that no one wants. Hell, he even encourages her to go out and find someone else to love, as he snickered behind her back knowing there wasn't a man on earth that would want this thing he was 'forced' to marry.
The lovely and beautiful authoress, Mary Fisher, hired Bobbo to do her books and invited him to parties and the like, and a full-blown lustful affair struck between the two lovers. Oooh they couldn't help themselves, it was fate.
Mary Fisher lived in a high tower by the sea and with it she took the only man that Ruth ever loved, Bobbo. After he moved out of the house and told her he could no longer put up with the charade of their marriage, he moved in with Mary Fisher, because 'she' was what a woman was supposed to be.
Needless to say, if you saw the movie adaptation of She-Devil starring Meryl Streep and Rosanne Barr, as usual, Hollywood couldn't have gotten it more wrong! The book was 100 times better. Revenge was oooh so sweet and she definitely went to hell and back to make sure that the lovely Mary Fisher and Bobbo suffered tremendously for what they did to her.
The humor in this book will have you laughing hysterically. She-Devil, the American movie is one of my all-time favorites, but after having read the book, OMG, I'm a bigger fan of the words. There's so much that never made it into the movie, and after you read it, you'll discover why! Outstanding read!
When it comes to the affairs of the heart, one never knows just how far someone will go!
July 6, 2013
I was swept up and enchanted by this book almost from the first page, although towards the end the enchantment wore off. Ruth is described as a large, lumbering, plain, not pretty or attractive at all woman married to Bobbo, whom she loves. Bobbo is having a not secret affair with Mary Fisher, who is Ruth's opposite in every way imaginable, and whom he loves. After a family dinner with his parents goes horribly wrong, Bobbo decides he's had enough, tells Ruth she's a she devil, packs his bags, and moves in with Mary Fisher. Thus begins Ruth's road to revenge.*
Some chapters are told in first person point of view with Ruth as the narrator, other chapters are in third person. The writing is what drew me in. The author has a distinctive voice, regardless of which point of view is being used at the time. It's almost lyrical, sort of in the vein of an old fashioned fairytale set in modern times.
Ruth's plan to take down Mary Fisher and Bobbo is very long reaching, with plenty of planning and manipulation. At first I felt sympathetic towards Ruth. She is a woman scorned, a woman who's husband ignored her and took her for granted and then tossed her aside. Her heart has been broken, her life destroyed. But as she carried out her Machiavellian plan, she became so ruthless, so cruel, so hard hearted, that it became difficult to feel sympathy for her, and instead I moved more towards being Team Mary Fisher. At that point the book lost it's enchantment for me, and I was ready for the story to be over and done with.
Still, I very much want to read more from Ms. Weldon, and maybe more about her as she seems a very interesting person.
*I Googled Ms. Weldon, and on Wikipedia it says that she says this book is about envy, not about revenge.
Some chapters are told in first person point of view with Ruth as the narrator, other chapters are in third person. The writing is what drew me in. The author has a distinctive voice, regardless of which point of view is being used at the time. It's almost lyrical, sort of in the vein of an old fashioned fairytale set in modern times.
Ruth's plan to take down Mary Fisher and Bobbo is very long reaching, with plenty of planning and manipulation. At first I felt sympathetic towards Ruth. She is a woman scorned, a woman who's husband ignored her and took her for granted and then tossed her aside. Her heart has been broken, her life destroyed. But as she carried out her Machiavellian plan, she became so ruthless, so cruel, so hard hearted, that it became difficult to feel sympathy for her, and instead I moved more towards being Team Mary Fisher. At that point the book lost it's enchantment for me, and I was ready for the story to be over and done with.
Still, I very much want to read more from Ms. Weldon, and maybe more about her as she seems a very interesting person.
*I Googled Ms. Weldon, and on Wikipedia it says that she says this book is about envy, not about revenge.
June 24, 2022
This book was… confusing. ‘Confused’ is the perfect term to describe how I felt reading, page after page. I’ve finished it just now and I feel, well, pretty muddled.
The storyline itself is reasonable, so I’ve nothing to say about that, really.
The thing that I found disturbing of this novel, was the story itself. I thought this book would be an ‘extreme-feminist’ novel, which is not even close to the truth. Ruth (the protagonist) is literally making herself a slave to men and their sexual desires. Why? Just to get revenge on her (ex)husband and to be adored by him again. This she does by making the lives of so many people (men, women, and even her own children) miserable, without even feeling one little bit of guilt. Again: entirely because of getting revenge, for her own egoistic reasons.
I am wondering what Fay Weldon thinks feminism is.. Let me tell you, sis: this is not even close to it. It’s just weird to portray women this absurd after you claim you wrote a feminist novel. It’s obvious Ruth is mental, just like Bobbo and Mary Fisher. I could not find one rational character in this novel, lol. All characters are so self-centered and enslaved to their egos. Nothing about this book is feminist. It’s just full of contradictions.
The storyline itself is reasonable, so I’ve nothing to say about that, really.
The thing that I found disturbing of this novel, was the story itself. I thought this book would be an ‘extreme-feminist’ novel, which is not even close to the truth. Ruth (the protagonist) is literally making herself a slave to men and their sexual desires. Why? Just to get revenge on her (ex)husband and to be adored by him again. This she does by making the lives of so many people (men, women, and even her own children) miserable, without even feeling one little bit of guilt. Again: entirely because of getting revenge, for her own egoistic reasons.
I am wondering what Fay Weldon thinks feminism is.. Let me tell you, sis: this is not even close to it. It’s just weird to portray women this absurd after you claim you wrote a feminist novel. It’s obvious Ruth is mental, just like Bobbo and Mary Fisher. I could not find one rational character in this novel, lol. All characters are so self-centered and enslaved to their egos. Nothing about this book is feminist. It’s just full of contradictions.
January 19, 2020
Once again Fay Weldon wrote a fabulous tale of an unattractive woman, Ruth, taking revenge on her unfaithful husband Bobbo, who takes her for granted and his mistress, Mary Fisher. I'm not sure why Fay Weldon is not as celebrated as Margaret Atwood. I suspect they'd get on like a house on fire. I knew it had been made into a film starring Roseanne Barr as Ruth, Meryl Streep as Mary and Ed Begley as Bobbo, but it bears little relationship to the book. The BBC series starring Julie T. Wallace as Ruth, Patricia Hodge as a perfect Mary and Dennis Waterman as Bobbo follows the book much more faithfully and is well worth watching on YouTube.
January 5, 2018
This is a subversive revenge tale because the desire for revenge is shown for the twisted envy that can develop for the target of the revenge. This is touted as a feminist revenge tale, but it is more of a subtle critique than the bludgeon I have seen it reviewed as. Feminism is critiqued. Men are critiqued. Religion is critiqued. Government, plastic surgeons, feminist communes, the poor -- no one comes out unscathed. Not to mention romance novels. The interesting thing is I didn't fully realize how skillfully it was all done until I sat down and started to review the book.
February 9, 2020
Even though the book itself is already quite old, it does not change the liveliness of the story. Very original, in a weird way funny and a suprising good read!
February 26, 2015
I really loved this up until, oh say maybe about page 200 or so. And then I hated the end. But overall I still liked it four stars enough.
Down with the isolated, taken for granted role of the suburban housewife and mother! Down with being overlooked just for the accident of being born unattractive! Burn all the houses! Get revenge. Cold, cold vengeance.
A bit of hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-woman-scorned with a dash of i-am-woman-hear-me-roar thrown in.
I do love a good vengeance story, and this on features at the top. Most of the vengeance I consume is in film form, and most of it is perpetrated by men. Male vengeance is all about the hunting with a weapon for the kill. The type of vengeance we're served in this book is incredibly elaborate, time-consuming, and miserable.
(On a side note related to vengeance, I heard an interesting review on Fresh Air by David Edelstein last week: "It's written in the Bible, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. But with cleverness and style, director Damian Szifron sums up humans' response since time immemorial. Sorry, Lord, only chumps wait for that." http://www.npr.org/2015/02/20/3877666...)
Here is a taste:
"I know what life is like: I know what people are like. I know that we all make common cause in self-deception and wishful thinking, and who more so than adulterous lovers? I have time to think about it, when the dishes are done, and the house is quiet, and life ticks by, and there is nothing to do except wonder whether Bobbo and Mary Fisher are together now, now--how strange time seems! And I think and think and I act each role, sometimes him, sometimes her. It makes me feel part of the whole both make. I, who have been made nothing. And then Bobbo rings and says he won't be home, and the children come back from school, and a strange familiar silence descends upon the house, a think, white muffling blanket thrown over our lives: and even when the cat catches a mouse, the yowls and yelps seem to come from a distant place, another world." (6)
"What I think is that the other women up and down Eden Grove are better than I am at telling themselves lies. Their own husbands are away often enough. How otherwise but by lies do they live, do they keep their self-esteem? Sometimes, of course, not even lies can protect them. They are found hanging in the garage, or cold and overdosed in the marital bed. Love has killed them, murderous in its own death throes, flailing and biting and poisonous." (6)
"And how, especially, do ugly women survive, those whom the world pities? The dogs, as they call us. I'll tell you; they live as I do, outfacing truth, hardening the skin against perpetual humiliation, until it's as tough and cold as a crocodile's. And we wait for old age to equalize all things. We make good old women." (6-7)
"Love, compared to hate, is a pallid emotion. Fidgety and troublesome, and making for misery." (10)
"The judge took his work seriously. He knew he must stand above and beyond the common man, guarding himself from error, protecting himself from corruption. He knew how rare a man he was, how very few there were prepared to wield the fine rapier-blade of justice within the vulnerable substance of society: how difficult it was to dispose of another man's life when he personally had done you no particular harm, how peculiar to steal his time away in yearly chunks--twelve months for this, eighteen for that, a dozen years for the other. How disconcerting to be the one to say this is bad, this is worse, for this there's hell to pay! But there it was. And it was, when it came to it, a vocation. He had been born to it." (138)
Down with the isolated, taken for granted role of the suburban housewife and mother! Down with being overlooked just for the accident of being born unattractive! Burn all the houses! Get revenge. Cold, cold vengeance.
A bit of hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-woman-scorned with a dash of i-am-woman-hear-me-roar thrown in.
I do love a good vengeance story, and this on features at the top. Most of the vengeance I consume is in film form, and most of it is perpetrated by men. Male vengeance is all about the hunting with a weapon for the kill. The type of vengeance we're served in this book is incredibly elaborate, time-consuming, and miserable.
(On a side note related to vengeance, I heard an interesting review on Fresh Air by David Edelstein last week: "It's written in the Bible, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. But with cleverness and style, director Damian Szifron sums up humans' response since time immemorial. Sorry, Lord, only chumps wait for that." http://www.npr.org/2015/02/20/3877666...)
Here is a taste:
"I know what life is like: I know what people are like. I know that we all make common cause in self-deception and wishful thinking, and who more so than adulterous lovers? I have time to think about it, when the dishes are done, and the house is quiet, and life ticks by, and there is nothing to do except wonder whether Bobbo and Mary Fisher are together now, now--how strange time seems! And I think and think and I act each role, sometimes him, sometimes her. It makes me feel part of the whole both make. I, who have been made nothing. And then Bobbo rings and says he won't be home, and the children come back from school, and a strange familiar silence descends upon the house, a think, white muffling blanket thrown over our lives: and even when the cat catches a mouse, the yowls and yelps seem to come from a distant place, another world." (6)
"What I think is that the other women up and down Eden Grove are better than I am at telling themselves lies. Their own husbands are away often enough. How otherwise but by lies do they live, do they keep their self-esteem? Sometimes, of course, not even lies can protect them. They are found hanging in the garage, or cold and overdosed in the marital bed. Love has killed them, murderous in its own death throes, flailing and biting and poisonous." (6)
"And how, especially, do ugly women survive, those whom the world pities? The dogs, as they call us. I'll tell you; they live as I do, outfacing truth, hardening the skin against perpetual humiliation, until it's as tough and cold as a crocodile's. And we wait for old age to equalize all things. We make good old women." (6-7)
"Love, compared to hate, is a pallid emotion. Fidgety and troublesome, and making for misery." (10)
"The judge took his work seriously. He knew he must stand above and beyond the common man, guarding himself from error, protecting himself from corruption. He knew how rare a man he was, how very few there were prepared to wield the fine rapier-blade of justice within the vulnerable substance of society: how difficult it was to dispose of another man's life when he personally had done you no particular harm, how peculiar to steal his time away in yearly chunks--twelve months for this, eighteen for that, a dozen years for the other. How disconcerting to be the one to say this is bad, this is worse, for this there's hell to pay! But there it was. And it was, when it came to it, a vocation. He had been born to it." (138)
June 23, 2009
This is the story of Ruth, a large, clumsy, ugly woman, married to unappreciative and philandering Bobbo and living as a suburban housewife. When Bobbo leaves Ruth for his mistress, Mary Fisher, a delicate-looking and wealthy writer of romance novels, Ruth begins her transformation from docile, long-suffering hausfrau to diabolical and courageous "she-devil," stopping at nothing to get her elaborately plotted revenge on her husband's mistress and to eventually take over her life.
Initially, Ruth's exploits and creative evil doings are really funny, and Faye Weldon's clever writing style enhances the effect. Nice girls like me can really appreciate the vicarious thrills of reading about an underdog getting her revenge on those who've wronged her. Somehow, Ruth manages to invade Bobbo and Mary's love nest with Ruth's two bratty children and Mary's demanding aging mother, frame Bobbo for fraud, and get Mary to stop writing romance novels.
After a while, though, the plot gets repetitive as Ruth uses yet another alias to obtain yet another caretaker position in some unsuspecting household, form a relationship (often sexual) with her employer, and then abruptly leave once her latest revenge goal has been achieved. And then, the whole plastic surgery thing irritated me and was, aside from being a cliche for this type of story, a betrayal of Weldon's feminist ideals in my opinion. Why couldn't she simply find happiness and fulfillment as an ugly woman, or learn to feel better about the looks she had?
Luckily, it was a fast and easy read and clever enough to earn 3 stars despite my other complaints.
Initially, Ruth's exploits and creative evil doings are really funny, and Faye Weldon's clever writing style enhances the effect. Nice girls like me can really appreciate the vicarious thrills of reading about an underdog getting her revenge on those who've wronged her. Somehow, Ruth manages to invade Bobbo and Mary's love nest with Ruth's two bratty children and Mary's demanding aging mother, frame Bobbo for fraud, and get Mary to stop writing romance novels.
After a while, though, the plot gets repetitive as Ruth uses yet another alias to obtain yet another caretaker position in some unsuspecting household, form a relationship (often sexual) with her employer, and then abruptly leave once her latest revenge goal has been achieved. And then, the whole plastic surgery thing irritated me and was, aside from being a cliche for this type of story, a betrayal of Weldon's feminist ideals in my opinion. Why couldn't she simply find happiness and fulfillment as an ugly woman, or learn to feel better about the looks she had?
Luckily, it was a fast and easy read and clever enough to earn 3 stars despite my other complaints.
January 28, 2008
This was a re-read for me, actually--I read it the first time when I was 19, and I still love it just as much.
ANYONE who's ever been jilted and ill-used by a lover/spouse/partner and fantasized about getting the ultimate revenge, this book tells the (fictional, of course) story of one woman who actually goes for it.
Some of her actions are cringe-worthy...she steps over a lot of lines, and makes unthinkable sacrifices. Many of the things she does would be impossible in today's tech-savvy world, where every action can be traced by some record. But her story (which toggles between first-person and third-person narrative) offers an interesting perspective on the struggle between nature and human will, as well as showing us the possible advantages of being among society's "invisibles," those who just don't fit in, and whom "the beautiful people" would rather forget exist--if they dare!
ANYONE who's ever been jilted and ill-used by a lover/spouse/partner and fantasized about getting the ultimate revenge, this book tells the (fictional, of course) story of one woman who actually goes for it.
Some of her actions are cringe-worthy...she steps over a lot of lines, and makes unthinkable sacrifices. Many of the things she does would be impossible in today's tech-savvy world, where every action can be traced by some record. But her story (which toggles between first-person and third-person narrative) offers an interesting perspective on the struggle between nature and human will, as well as showing us the possible advantages of being among society's "invisibles," those who just don't fit in, and whom "the beautiful people" would rather forget exist--if they dare!
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