RULES OF LIFE

by Fay Weldon

Miss Gabriella Sumpter, born in 1941 and laid to rest in 2002 after a totally selfish but quite agreeable life, has discovered that many of the accepted rules of life are simply untrue, and has decide that she, who had done so little good in her life except to herself, would like to help others by passing on a few conclusions she's reached after three months under the sod. In this vivid and ribald tale Fay Weldon, known for her witty feminist fiction, has created a memorable character in the form of Gabriella's ghost. Set in the near future, after a technological breakthrough that allows priests of "The Great New Fictional Religion" to record the voices of the recently departed, The Rules of Life is a light-hearted and wickedly funny satire on the present, coupling the revelations of the GNFR (whose dogmas are still being hammered out) with the memoirs of a sublimely hard-hearted vamp.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novella, Feminism, British Literature

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Fay 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

Reviews

[Julene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, the rules, I love this little book and have read it several times. I love Fay Weldon black humor and this is a gem I'll never let go of.

[Suli Scatchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read, I definitely think it could have been so much more than a novella. The dystopian (?) setting for the story was very quickly glossed over, although I can understand in keeping it a short story there was little point in exploring it in depth.

I really wanted more meat to this, particularly in exploring the main character’s growing obsession with Gabriella, despite being a woman that he initially claims he rebukes. His lack of self-awareness in how fickle he is comparing the two main women in the story (i.e. Gabriella and his own wife Honor) could definitely have been further explored through a feminist lens, if that is what the author intended. One moment, he criticises the superficiality of Gabriella, and speaks highly of his more subdued wife, but then the next moment he has visions of a buxom sixteen year old (!!!) Gabriella and criticises his wife’s lack of attention to the laundry in a way Gabriella never would have done! Women must somehow be a loving and loyal wife, yet also a seductive provocateur to be chased… at the same time but not at the same time!

At first we see Gabriella for an egocentric and shallow character, and this she may be… for that’s what everyone else in the story tells us she is, and there’s no doubt that her inconsiderate behaviour towards her serving staff is abhorrent. Yet, there is something sad in the way that throughout her life, Gabriella goes through phrases of being “owned” starting with the manner in which her father literally gambles her away. But! It is not only through life that she is controlled by the equally egotistical men around her, but after death, where the protagonist sees his ownership of her “rewind” as his right to ownership of her, leading to him ultimately referring to “my Gabriella” despite her not having the ability to respond to him. This however, was spoilt, in my opinion, by the visiting of her ghost to both him and his wife Honor.

Fun dark comedy, was a nice morning read but ultimately needed to be more than a novella in my very very humble opinion.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Rules Of Life by Fay Weldon aspires to the feeling of a full-length novel in the guise of a small novella. In less than 30,000 words, we are presented with a science fiction scenario, a society- and even culture-wide ideological and religious shift, a transformation of our approach to death, and then, if that were not enough to make a cake, a life history and the reactions of others to it iced on top. It is a remarkable feat to bring all that off, create a complete and highly satisfying experience for the reader and to do it in an easy, but sophisticated style that is never didactic.

The Rules Of Life begins in a new era, that of the GNFR, the Great New Fictional Religion. Grades of priests proclaim different levels of access to truth. Not a lot new there, then! It’s an age of science, apparently, despite the general absence of anything that seems even vaguely scientific. GSWITS is a character who figures prominently in the book, but we never meet her. She, or perhaps he, is the Great Screen Writer In The Sky, and was probably a comedian in an earlier life, though few laughs are raised. Thus the book opens, and we expect we are to be transported into yet another clichéd distopia, full of romantic references to dysfunctional but homely aspects of the present. How easy is it for a writer to play on people’s shallow fears?

But The Rules Of Life does something more subtle than this. Fay Weldon uses the scenario merely as a means to examine further – and in a different way – those apparently permanent aspects of life that have been the raw material for writers since writing began, and for people in general even before that.

Ghosts have a new status in this rather cowardly new world. Lives can be replayed like cassette tapes. They can be examined, but not quite reconstructed or relived. Our narrator, a recorder priest in the new order, has a disc to examine. It contains, he finds, the life of one Gabriela Sumpter. As he replays the dead woman’s life, he finds himself ever more engaged in her experience. A relationship develops between them as Gabriela relates her life story.

The point of The Rules Of Life may be that no matter how much human society changes its assumptions, its organisation or even its adopted values, there are aspects of life that remain immutable, perhaps inevitable. But despite inevitability, each individual experiences these givens of human existence in what – at least at the personal level – feels like a wholly unique way. No matter how many times we replay it, it only ever happens once. That maybe is the only rule of life.

[Harley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black humor, among my favorite genres. Fay Weldon, the author of Life and Loves of a She-Devil, writes a small novel about the dictation of rules of life, along with her own story, by a woman named Gabriella Sumpter -- a woman who happens to be dead, and whose recording from the grave is being reviewed by a member of the GNFR (Great New Fictional Religion), a priest who is a servant of the GSWITS (The Great Screen Writer in the Sky). Yes, it's that strange. Gabriella is a woman, by her own account, "who had done little good in her life except to herself," mostly she has love affairs. Although among her rules of life are not to marry and not to have children, because "there is entirely too much life about." The old priest who is reviewing her re-wind is falling under her spell. Most of the rules Gabriella passes back are about laundry, lots of details about removing stains and refreshing fabrics and such. If the book were longer I might have gotten tired of the unrelenting irony, but it's only 80 pages.

[Em · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zeker niet Weldons beste boek. Het verhaal is origineel maar zo beknopt uitgewerkt dat het wat vaag voor me bleef. Ook was het verhaal te kort om de diepte in te gaan. Wel heeft Weldon ook dit boek met humor geschreven:

"I died of cancer of the liver. It is not a painful death. One just gets more and more languid, and finally expires. I recommend it."

Een ander citaat vond ik erg interessant:
"Could they say of me that mine was a successful life? I think so. I did not marry; I did not have children. That was my great achievement. We cannot escape the destiny of being born - we are, therefore we must be, so the best we can do, while living, is not, by marrying, to burden others with our existence, and not, irresponsibly, by having children, to pass life on."

Ten slotte is de visie die Weldon op de toekomst heeft interessant om te lezen. Een overheid die mensen verplicht om in vorm te blijven? Het lijkt nu nog een ver-van-m'n-bed-show, maar wie weet wat de toekomst ons zal leren...

[Sasha Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short SF novella set in a near-future where people with HIV are restricted to certain towns, the Government forces people to exercise, and society is largely run by a new religion based on a technology which allows priests to listen to dead people’s memories. I started out enjoying this quite a lot, but found that it got dull towards the end.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anther good read from Fay Weldon, but beware. Only 75% of the book content is the story, the rest is a long preview of 'Praxis', another of her books, which I've read, so felt a bit short-changed. A good story, although it felt a bit truncated; I wanted more. Hence only 4 stars.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some sort of hand wave-y technology allows for the dead to be summoned up to talk, although they can't be questioned. An unoriginal premise which is not saved by focusing on a self-absorbed dead woman with a laundry obsession.

[Gisela Povea · Rating 3 out of 5]

D'estil irònic, una sàtira sobre les normes socials i la vida quotidiana. M'ha agradat l'humor negre que té i anar descobrint les regles de la vida a mesura que la protagonista narra la seva història, la qual té una obsessió a fer la bugada que fa el llibre una mica pesat.

[Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another not very sympathy-inducing woman. Well, there were some innovative ideas about communing with the dead, and not being overly fond of suspense, this could be considered par excellent there ...

[Benedict Reid]

Despite being very, very short... this book outstays its welcome. Perhaps an interesting idea for a short story, but frankly as a novella it seemed a little padded. And the sexual politics is so very outdated.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite a curious little book. You can't help but feel for Gabriella and her endearing obsession with laundry. An excellent resource for stain removal.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gabriella Sumpter is a great character. All about lovers and laundry. "The rules of laundry are not the rules of life!"

[Ida]

"The rules of laundry are not the rules of life."

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not quite get the dystopian setting ("Strange days indeed!") but I certainly enjoyed Gabriella's story and the way it influences the protagonist.

[Joan Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well that was an experience! recommend.

[Robin Reynolds]

What a boring little book.