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The Hearts and Lives of Men
Clifford Wexford, a thirty-five-year-old art dealer, and Helen Lally, the twenty-two-year-old daughter of an artist, meet, fall in love, marry, produce Nell, and divorce
357 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1987
23 people are currently reading
498 people want to read
About the author
Fay Weldon
159 books398 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 30 reviews
July 25, 2022
3.5 stars. A wacky, oddball, delightful, tongue in cheek, very eventful fairy tale for adults. Clifford and Helen fall in love and marry. They have a baby, Nell. They divorce. Clifford is unfaithful, Helen is too! There is a custody battle and Nell lives with one parent, then the other. Nell is kidnapped. Nell is on a plane that crashes killing all passengers except Nell and her kidnapper. We follow Nell as an orphan. Clifford is loved by a heiress. Helen marries a fine man who fathers more children and bores her. Helen’s father is a famous painter. Clifford is an art dealer who has profited from selling Helen’s fathers’ paintings.
A wild ride of a tale with many ‘dear reader’ smarty asides about the foolishness of humans.
This book was first published in 1987.
A wild ride of a tale with many ‘dear reader’ smarty asides about the foolishness of humans.
This book was first published in 1987.
May 18, 2009
I'm never really sure why I like Fay Weldon so much, but I really do. (Pretty much everyone in my family feels the same way.) Her narrator-voice reminds us all the time that there are non-rich people in the world, and they're important too, but her books are mostly focused on the rich and beautiful and annoying anyway. _Hearts and Lives_ is really scattered and weird pacing-wise, but somehow she makes it work. One of those if-you're-good-enough-you-can-break-the-rules things, I guess... But on the other hand, there's lots of inconsistencies, including a few real howlers of the characters-suddenly-on-the-wrong-continent kind, which make me think maybe she just really was sloppy and writing off the top of her head without much editing. But still, still, it works. I think it's the lightness of it. (Not in the 'light fiction' sense -- trashy and unedifying -- but, um, well, Italo Calvino has a list somewhere of the desiderata for writing: 'lightness, swiftness, visibility, multiplicity', and whatever he meant by that, I think that's what I mean.)
Or perhaps I like her for less lofty reasons, like the fact that she refers to people in their mid-thirties as young and talks a lot about how Beautiful People can get away with anything. (I'm one of those People With a Chip on Their Shoulder About Beautiful People.) But I'd like to think it's because she's actually a really good writer.
Or perhaps I like her for less lofty reasons, like the fact that she refers to people in their mid-thirties as young and talks a lot about how Beautiful People can get away with anything. (I'm one of those People With a Chip on Their Shoulder About Beautiful People.) But I'd like to think it's because she's actually a really good writer.
June 16, 2009
I read this book for the first time when it came out in 1989 and returned to it this year to find it just as fresh and funny as it was twenty years ago: a 1960's love story, fraught with complications, endearing idiots and paunchy villains, told in the voice of Jane Austen.
November 5, 2025
Favorite book
Anyone who reads happens to answer the question: what is your favorite book? I usually get lost, like everyone else, and start explaining that there are many of them, one for each age, life circumstances, condition, and mood. But now I'm absolutely sure that this is my favorite book, it became a friend in a dark time, I read it in circles, and when life got better, I didn't come back for a long time, fearing that my gold would turn to dust. But now I've reread it, and I see that I shouldn't have been afraid. The story of Helen, Clifford, and their daughter Nell: the most Dickensian read since Dickens, and the most Austenian read since Jane Austen, is still my favorite.
Hearts and Destinies was even written as a Dickensian novel with a sequel and was first published in the weekly Woman from February to November 1986. In a way, this explains why the novel turned out to be so dense, full of unimaginable plot somersaults - it was necessary to deliver the next part by the next deadline, taking care that the reader's interest did not weaken. It does not explain the amazing integrity of the narrative and the precious nectar of support and understanding, reliability and kindness that Faye Weldon bestows on the reader, who is usually not prone to sentiment and is much tougher (in case you don't know anything about her at all, "The Life and Love of the devil" is the most famous of her books, besides, well-adapted with Meryl Streep).
Clifford Wexford, a successful gallerist, handsome, intellectual twenty-eight years old, meets Helen Lally, the young and beautiful seventeen-year-old daughter of the artist John Lally, wildly talented and equally financially unsuccessful, who from time to time throws work on the design of exhibitions and buys his paintings cheaply, waiting for them to rise in price by the tens, or even hundreds of times - Clifford, you see, has a sense of potential, which he trusts with good reason. She meets him at the opening day, where she came with her parents, and he is accompanied by a scary but obscenely rich heiress of diamond mines in South Africa, Angie Welbrook. Without hesitation, he left this last one alone as soon as he saw Helen.
It's the mid-60s, the time when the Beatles flooded the airwaves, and when you looked down, you found that your shoes were green or pink, not brown or black, as your ancestors of both sexes wore. The girl swallowed a pill in the morning so that she could rush into sexual adventures without trembling, and the young man lit a cigarette without thinking about cancer and dragged the girl into bed without fear of anything worse. No one had ever heard of a carbohydrate-free diet, and it never occurred to anyone to show babies dying of hunger on TV." Love popped out in front of them like a murderer popping out of the ground, and they turned out to be a wonderful couple, and Clifford saved his beloved at the last moment from the abortion clinic, where baby Nell's life was supposed to end before it began. And then they got married, despite the difference in property and estate status, and were happy. Almost a year.
Until at the Christmas party, where Helen arrived before Clifford and managed to drink a couple of cocktails, which was two more than would have been reasonable, she did not see him on the arm of Angie, who called her on the night of the wedding to inform her that she had slept with her husband and intended to continue, and Helen did not wake up then. I didn't try to find out about him, but that doesn't mean anything. that it didn't hurt her. And now she had another drink, picked up the first guy she saw, left the party with him, and when she returned home in the morning, dying of remorse and a hangover, she discovered that the locks had been changed. As for the house, the husband and the child, she no longer has them. And this is just the beginning.
"Hearts and Destinies" can, of course, be called a romance novel, although it is more likely to be a femme novel, but it is also an adventure novel, a novel of growing up, and a book about orphanhood - because the saying about the children of lovers who are always orphans, in the case of Nell (she will be the heroine) is literal. There is a place for custody lawsuits, kidnapping, plane crash, life in a castle, an orphanage, a thieves' den and a dog kennel. But, shh, I won't say anything more. Just because this book is the best thing that has happened to me in my journey through the book worlds, and I really, really want you to have it. I'll just hint that this is a Christmas story, and their peculiarity is that the characters, after all the trials, find a home, a family and quiet happiness.
And I'll never understand why it has five hundred readers on Goodreds. But if this review adds you to their number, I will be glad. And what a gift it will be for you!
Любимая книга
Любому читающему человеку случается отвечать на вопрос: какая твоя любимая книга? Обычно я, как все, теряюсь, начинаю объяснять, что их много, своя для каждого возраста, жизненных обстоятельств, состояния, настроения. Но сейчас абсолютно уверена - моя любимая книга эта, она стала другом в беспросветное черное время, ее перечитывала по кругу, а когда жизнь наладилась, долго не возвращалась, опасаясь, что мое золото обратится сором. Но вот перечитала, и вижу, что зря боялась. История Хелен, Клиффорда и их дочери Нэлл: самая диккенсовская из прочитанных после Диккенса, и самая остиновская, прочитанная после Джейн Остин - по-прежнему самая моя.
"Сердца и судьбы" даже писались как диккенсовы романы с продолжением и впервые публиковались в еженедельнике "Woman" с февраля по ноябрь 1986. В каком-то смысле это объясняет, почему роман получился таким плотным, насыщенным немыслимыми сюжетными кульбитами - нужно было сдавать к очередному дедлайну очередную часть, позаботившись о том, чтобы читательский интерес не ослабел. Не объясняет удивительной цельности повествования и драгоценного нектара поддержки и понимания, надежности и доброты, которым оделяет читательницу, обычно не склонная к сантиментам и куда более жесткая, Фэй Уэлдон (на случай, если вы совсем ничего о ней не знаете, "Жизнь и любовь дьяволицы" самая знаменитая из ее книг, к тому же, неплохо экранизированная с Мэрилл Стрип).
Клиффорд Вексфорд, преуспевающий галерист, красавец, интеллектуал двадцати восьми лет встречает Хелен Лалли, юную и прекрасную семнадцатилетнюю дочь художника Джона Лалли, дико талантливого и столь же финансово неуспешного, которому время от времени подбрасывает работу по оформлению выставок и по-дешевке скупает его картины, ожидая, пока они вырастут в цене в десятки, а то и сотни раз - у Клиффорда, видите ли, чутье на потенциал, которому он не без оснований доверяет. Встречает на вернисаже, куда она пришла с родителями, а он в сопровождении страшненькой, но неприлично богатой наследницы алмазных рудников в ЮАР Анджи Уэлбрук. Без колебаний оставив эту последнюю в одиночестве, едва увидел Хелен.
На дворе середина 60-х, время, когда "Битлы заполонили радиоволны, а взглянув вниз, вы обнаруживали, что туфли на вас зеленые или розовые, а вовсе не коричневые или черные, какие носили ваши предки обоего пола. Девушка утром глотала пилюлю, чтобы без трепета бросаться в сексуальные приключения, а юноша закуривал сигарету без мысли о раке и увлекал девушку в постель, не опасаясь чего-нибудь похуже. Про безуглеводную диету никто слыхом не слыхивал, и никому в голову не приходило показывать по телевизору умирающих от голода младенцев." Любовь выскочила перед ними как из-под земли выскакивает убийца, и они оказались чудесной парой, и Клиффорд в последний момент спас любимую из абортария, где жизнь крошки Нэлл должна была оборваться, не начавшись. А после они поженились, несмотря на разницу в имущественном и сословном статусе, и были счастливы. Почти год.
Пока на рождественской вечеринке, куда Хелен пришла раньше Клиффорда и успела выпить пару коктейлей, что на два больше, чем это было бы разумно, она не увидела его под руку с Анджи, которая позвонила ей в ночь свадьбы, чтобы сообщить, что спала с ее мужем и намерена продолжать, и Хелен тогда не разбудила его, не стала выяснять отношений, но это не значит. что ей не было больно. И сейчас она выпила еще, подхватила первого попавшегося мужика, ушла с ним с этой вечеринки, а когда вернулась утром домой, умирая от раскаяния и похмелья, обнаружила, что замки поменяны. Что до дома, мужа и ребенка - их у нее больше нет. И это только начало.
"Сердца и судьбы" можно, конечно, назвать любовным романом, хотя скорее он фем, но это еще и приключенческий, и роман взросления, и книга о сиротстве - потому что поговорка о детях влюбленных, которые всегда сироты, в случае Нэлл (именно она будет героиней) буквализуется. Тут найдется место судебным тяжбам за опеку, похищению, авиакатастрофе, жизни в замке, пр��юте, воровском притоне и собачьем питомнике. Но, тсс, больше я ничего не скажу. Просто потому, что эта книга лучшее, что случалось со мной в странствии по книжным мирам, и я очень, очень хочу, чтобы она была у вас. Лишь намекну, что это рождественская история, а их особенность в том, что герои, после всех испытаний обретают дом, семью и тихое счастье.
И я никогда не пойму, почему на ЛЛ у нее четыре десятка читателей, а на гудридс чуть больше пяти сотен. Но если эта рецензия добавит вас к их числу, я буду рада. А уж каким подарком это станет для вас!
Anyone who reads happens to answer the question: what is your favorite book? I usually get lost, like everyone else, and start explaining that there are many of them, one for each age, life circumstances, condition, and mood. But now I'm absolutely sure that this is my favorite book, it became a friend in a dark time, I read it in circles, and when life got better, I didn't come back for a long time, fearing that my gold would turn to dust. But now I've reread it, and I see that I shouldn't have been afraid. The story of Helen, Clifford, and their daughter Nell: the most Dickensian read since Dickens, and the most Austenian read since Jane Austen, is still my favorite.
Hearts and Destinies was even written as a Dickensian novel with a sequel and was first published in the weekly Woman from February to November 1986. In a way, this explains why the novel turned out to be so dense, full of unimaginable plot somersaults - it was necessary to deliver the next part by the next deadline, taking care that the reader's interest did not weaken. It does not explain the amazing integrity of the narrative and the precious nectar of support and understanding, reliability and kindness that Faye Weldon bestows on the reader, who is usually not prone to sentiment and is much tougher (in case you don't know anything about her at all, "The Life and Love of the devil" is the most famous of her books, besides, well-adapted with Meryl Streep).
Clifford Wexford, a successful gallerist, handsome, intellectual twenty-eight years old, meets Helen Lally, the young and beautiful seventeen-year-old daughter of the artist John Lally, wildly talented and equally financially unsuccessful, who from time to time throws work on the design of exhibitions and buys his paintings cheaply, waiting for them to rise in price by the tens, or even hundreds of times - Clifford, you see, has a sense of potential, which he trusts with good reason. She meets him at the opening day, where she came with her parents, and he is accompanied by a scary but obscenely rich heiress of diamond mines in South Africa, Angie Welbrook. Without hesitation, he left this last one alone as soon as he saw Helen.
It's the mid-60s, the time when the Beatles flooded the airwaves, and when you looked down, you found that your shoes were green or pink, not brown or black, as your ancestors of both sexes wore. The girl swallowed a pill in the morning so that she could rush into sexual adventures without trembling, and the young man lit a cigarette without thinking about cancer and dragged the girl into bed without fear of anything worse. No one had ever heard of a carbohydrate-free diet, and it never occurred to anyone to show babies dying of hunger on TV." Love popped out in front of them like a murderer popping out of the ground, and they turned out to be a wonderful couple, and Clifford saved his beloved at the last moment from the abortion clinic, where baby Nell's life was supposed to end before it began. And then they got married, despite the difference in property and estate status, and were happy. Almost a year.
Until at the Christmas party, where Helen arrived before Clifford and managed to drink a couple of cocktails, which was two more than would have been reasonable, she did not see him on the arm of Angie, who called her on the night of the wedding to inform her that she had slept with her husband and intended to continue, and Helen did not wake up then. I didn't try to find out about him, but that doesn't mean anything. that it didn't hurt her. And now she had another drink, picked up the first guy she saw, left the party with him, and when she returned home in the morning, dying of remorse and a hangover, she discovered that the locks had been changed. As for the house, the husband and the child, she no longer has them. And this is just the beginning.
"Hearts and Destinies" can, of course, be called a romance novel, although it is more likely to be a femme novel, but it is also an adventure novel, a novel of growing up, and a book about orphanhood - because the saying about the children of lovers who are always orphans, in the case of Nell (she will be the heroine) is literal. There is a place for custody lawsuits, kidnapping, plane crash, life in a castle, an orphanage, a thieves' den and a dog kennel. But, shh, I won't say anything more. Just because this book is the best thing that has happened to me in my journey through the book worlds, and I really, really want you to have it. I'll just hint that this is a Christmas story, and their peculiarity is that the characters, after all the trials, find a home, a family and quiet happiness.
And I'll never understand why it has five hundred readers on Goodreds. But if this review adds you to their number, I will be glad. And what a gift it will be for you!
Любимая книга
Любому читающему человеку случается отвечать на вопрос: какая твоя любимая книга? Обычно я, как все, теряюсь, начинаю объяснять, что их много, своя для каждого возраста, жизненных обстоятельств, состояния, настроения. Но сейчас абсолютно уверена - моя любимая книга эта, она стала другом в беспросветное черное время, ее перечитывала по кругу, а когда жизнь наладилась, долго не возвращалась, опасаясь, что мое золото обратится сором. Но вот перечитала, и вижу, что зря боялась. История Хелен, Клиффорда и их дочери Нэлл: самая диккенсовская из прочитанных после Диккенса, и самая остиновская, прочитанная после Джейн Остин - по-прежнему самая моя.
"Сердца и судьбы" даже писались как диккенсовы романы с продолжением и впервые публиковались в еженедельнике "Woman" с февраля по ноябрь 1986. В каком-то смысле это объясняет, почему роман получился таким плотным, насыщенным немыслимыми сюжетными кульбитами - нужно было сдавать к очередному дедлайну очередную часть, позаботившись о том, чтобы читательский интерес не ослабел. Не объясняет удивительной цельности повествования и драгоценного нектара поддержки и понимания, надежности и доброты, которым оделяет читательницу, обычно не склонная к сантиментам и куда более жесткая, Фэй Уэлдон (на случай, если вы совсем ничего о ней не знаете, "Жизнь и любовь дьяволицы" самая знаменитая из ее книг, к тому же, неплохо экранизированная с Мэрилл Стрип).
Клиффорд Вексфорд, преуспевающий галерист, красавец, интеллектуал двадцати восьми лет встречает Хелен Лалли, юную и прекрасную семнадцатилетнюю дочь художника Джона Лалли, дико талантливого и столь же финансово неуспешного, которому время от времени подбрасывает работу по оформлению выставок и по-дешевке скупает его картины, ожидая, пока они вырастут в цене в десятки, а то и сотни раз - у Клиффорда, видите ли, чутье на потенциал, которому он не без оснований доверяет. Встречает на вернисаже, куда она пришла с родителями, а он в сопровождении страшненькой, но неприлично богатой наследницы алмазных рудников в ЮАР Анджи Уэлбрук. Без колебаний оставив эту последнюю в одиночестве, едва увидел Хелен.
На дворе середина 60-х, время, когда "Битлы заполонили радиоволны, а взглянув вниз, вы обнаруживали, что туфли на вас зеленые или розовые, а вовсе не коричневые или черные, какие носили ваши предки обоего пола. Девушка утром глотала пилюлю, чтобы без трепета бросаться в сексуальные приключения, а юноша закуривал сигарету без мысли о раке и увлекал девушку в постель, не опасаясь чего-нибудь похуже. Про безуглеводную диету никто слыхом не слыхивал, и никому в голову не приходило показывать по телевизору умирающих от голода младенцев." Любовь выскочила перед ними как из-под земли выскакивает убийца, и они оказались чудесной парой, и Клиффорд в последний момент спас любимую из абортария, где жизнь крошки Нэлл должна была оборваться, не начавшись. А после они поженились, несмотря на разницу в имущественном и сословном статусе, и были счастливы. Почти год.
Пока на рождественской вечеринке, куда Хелен пришла раньше Клиффорда и успела выпить пару коктейлей, что на два больше, чем это было бы разумно, она не увидела его под руку с Анджи, которая позвонила ей в ночь свадьбы, чтобы сообщить, что спала с ее мужем и намерена продолжать, и Хелен тогда не разбудила его, не стала выяснять отношений, но это не значит. что ей не было больно. И сейчас она выпила еще, подхватила первого попавшегося мужика, ушла с ним с этой вечеринки, а когда вернулась утром домой, умирая от раскаяния и похмелья, обнаружила, что замки поменяны. Что до дома, мужа и ребенка - их у нее больше нет. И это только начало.
"Сердца и судьбы" можно, конечно, назвать любовным романом, хотя скорее он фем, но это еще и приключенческий, и роман взросления, и книга о сиротстве - потому что поговорка о детях влюбленных, которые всегда сироты, в случае Нэлл (именно она будет героиней) буквализуется. Тут найдется место судебным тяжбам за опеку, похищению, авиакатастрофе, жизни в замке, пр��юте, воровском притоне и собачьем питомнике. Но, тсс, больше я ничего не скажу. Просто потому, что эта книга лучшее, что случалось со мной в странствии по книжным мирам, и я очень, очень хочу, чтобы она была у вас. Лишь намекну, что это рождественская история, а их особенность в том, что герои, после всех испытаний обретают дом, семью и тихое счастье.
И я никогда не пойму, почему на ЛЛ у нее четыре десятка читателей, а на гудридс чуть больше пяти сотен. Но если эта рецензия добавит вас к их числу, я буду рада. А уж каким подарком это станет для вас!
January 17, 2017
I have a bias against books where the author addresses me as "Reader" or god forbid, "Dear Reader." I have always had a fondness for Fay Weldon's upper class English feminism, but this book seemed dated.
June 30, 2021
This book is hilarious. Not with a dry and bleak sarcasm like most of Fay Weldon's humour, but with a cornucopia of improbable coincidences, a heroin who is just more beautiful and talented than any other girl around her, and a villain who is just simply bad ... bad, greedy, and horny.
I have heard that Fay Weldon really wanted to end her books badly, but was told to make hopeful endings so that they would sell. I don't know if that is true, but if it was, this could be her way of writing demonstratively unrealistic and happy endings.
A bit like "Der König reitender Bote", the royal messenger in the end of Brecht and Weill's Three Penny Opera.
It is so funny, AND at the same time I just allowed myself to be happy that the good people were rewarded and the bad people had their coming-up.
I have heard that Fay Weldon really wanted to end her books badly, but was told to make hopeful endings so that they would sell. I don't know if that is true, but if it was, this could be her way of writing demonstratively unrealistic and happy endings.
A bit like "Der König reitender Bote", the royal messenger in the end of Brecht and Weill's Three Penny Opera.
It is so funny, AND at the same time I just allowed myself to be happy that the good people were rewarded and the bad people had their coming-up.
November 5, 2025
Love Fay Weldon. This fantastical, 20th century fairy tale observes the follies and flaws of mankind and the consequences of all the different forms of love. Fantastically narrated.
Very funny, poignant and blazingly brilliant writing. Weldon's observations of human nature and life are the best for me. Despite some of the ridiculous plot twists and turns around Angie and Nell, it is a fantastic book
Very funny, poignant and blazingly brilliant writing. Weldon's observations of human nature and life are the best for me. Despite some of the ridiculous plot twists and turns around Angie and Nell, it is a fantastic book
December 19, 2017
I haven't read this book in twenty five years or so, but the person I was THEN thought it was smart and funny. Fay Weldon is clever and turns a phrase nicely, with a well-woven plot. I'll read it again and see what I think...
August 11, 2023
LOVE Fay Weldon’s writing, it’s so unapologetic, not trying to please everyone. It was caricature-like in the amount random stuff that happened, it darted between years and then lay on a day or a moment for a whole chapter or five.
All the characters were fleshed out and real but also polar.
All the characters were fleshed out and real but also polar.
July 1, 2017
Not everyone's "cup of tea," but I'm a huge fan of Fay Weldon, her tongue-in-cheek style, and her wry observations about human nature. Good summer read.
January 6, 2020
I really enjoyed this story about Nell and her parents Helen and Clifford. At first I was not sure that I would enjoy it as it written a little differently but I did really enjoy it
October 8, 2020
Maybe 3.75 would be more like it. A very different, fun read.
January 4, 2021
A 60s fairy tale full of wisdom. Enjoyed it a lot.
July 18, 2021
Took me a while to get into it, but when I relaxed into her style of writing I thoroughly enjoyed the experience
February 4, 2022
Loved this book, it was written in a very own voice and was funny
March 9, 2023
Excellent.
January 26, 2024
This book is so much fun! I listened to the audiobook which just added to my immense enjoyment of it
July 11, 2025
*4.5 stars*
November 17, 2025
After reading something of a bit of a heavy tome this was a fun ramble through the 70s and 80s. Perhaps I’m wrong about those dates but you know disco days. Enjoy a bit of fun and fluff.
June 15, 2022
I simply loved it!
September 1, 2020
Ho amato molto Fay Weldon agli inizi degli anni 90, quando la Feltrinelli ha cominciato a tradurla in italiano grazie al successo del film She-Devil. Per un po’ la Feltrinelli e Tea se la sono contesa per poi abbandonarla per inseguire altri successi; ora ogni tanto qualche casa editrice più audace pubblica ancora qualcosa ma mi rimane la sensazione di essermi persa molto.
Nonostante il titolo, nonostante le recensioni, per me questa non è una storia d’amore o meglio l’amore c’è ma non è il punto focale. Grazie alle intrusioni d’autore, si sa fin dall’inizio che la storia avrà un lieto fine ma la voce dell’autrice si farà beffa dell’amore per tutto il libro, invitando il lettore a meditare su altro, oltre all’amore. Non so spiegare meglio: leggete questo libro perché è bello, punto!
PS il personaggio di Arthur Hockney mi ricorda tantissimo il Jackson Brodie di Kate Atkinson, altra meravigliosa autrice britannica.
Nonostante il titolo, nonostante le recensioni, per me questa non è una storia d’amore o meglio l’amore c’è ma non è il punto focale. Grazie alle intrusioni d’autore, si sa fin dall’inizio che la storia avrà un lieto fine ma la voce dell’autrice si farà beffa dell’amore per tutto il libro, invitando il lettore a meditare su altro, oltre all’amore. Non so spiegare meglio: leggete questo libro perché è bello, punto!
PS il personaggio di Arthur Hockney mi ricorda tantissimo il Jackson Brodie di Kate Atkinson, altra meravigliosa autrice britannica.
February 21, 2014
This is a difficult book to rate. Had I not seen it mentioned in a nonfiction book I read about reading literature, I would never have known of its existence and I would have missed a treat.
As told by an omniscient third person narrator, who even addresses the reader as ... well, "Reader," this is ostensibly the story of Nell from her conception in the 1960's to her early adulthood in the 1908's. In reality, there is a fairly large cast of characters involved and very few of them are even likeable, much less endearing (Nell herself, by no accident, being the most sympathetic, but almost the least interesting person in the tale). Still, I was compelled to continue, as the author's writing style grabbed me and refused to let me go until the very last pages, when all the individual stories came together in a way that was almost anticlimactic, yet satisfying.
Lots of symbolism for those that enjoy that type of thing, but not so essential that you "get" it to enjoy this book. This was a change of pace for me that I didn't know I needed and I enjoyed it in spite of myself.
As told by an omniscient third person narrator, who even addresses the reader as ... well, "Reader," this is ostensibly the story of Nell from her conception in the 1960's to her early adulthood in the 1908's. In reality, there is a fairly large cast of characters involved and very few of them are even likeable, much less endearing (Nell herself, by no accident, being the most sympathetic, but almost the least interesting person in the tale). Still, I was compelled to continue, as the author's writing style grabbed me and refused to let me go until the very last pages, when all the individual stories came together in a way that was almost anticlimactic, yet satisfying.
Lots of symbolism for those that enjoy that type of thing, but not so essential that you "get" it to enjoy this book. This was a change of pace for me that I didn't know I needed and I enjoyed it in spite of myself.
September 11, 2011
It took me years to get around to reading this, and then when I did it took me years to finish. After about half of it, I left it alone for months; maybe it's because the fate of a baby and (later) a tiny tot don't interest me all that much. Nell became more interesting to me as she grew up.
The ending of this book can hardly be considered a surprise; the suspense is in how and when Nell and her parents will find each other eventually.
By the last third of the book I was finally in its grasp. It took a while but it did happen.
The voice of the narrator is very direct, and usually friendly and wise; she tells us the story the way a kind aunt might. Still, she can be sharp, too.
Not a great book, in my view. But well worth reading.
The ending of this book can hardly be considered a surprise; the suspense is in how and when Nell and her parents will find each other eventually.
By the last third of the book I was finally in its grasp. It took a while but it did happen.
The voice of the narrator is very direct, and usually friendly and wise; she tells us the story the way a kind aunt might. Still, she can be sharp, too.
Not a great book, in my view. But well worth reading.
August 3, 2016
I've taught The Life and Loves of a She-Devil a few times and wanted to expand my Weldon knowledge. Although factually there are just as many wild twists and turns, this didn't feel as extravagant. The gentle acceptance promoted in the book seems to be exhibited in the way the author treats characters, making for a more plausible and perhaps positive take on life, but also less acerbic writing. This was the kind of book you could pick up for a few chapters and put down, never staying up past bedtime yet enjoying the reading nonetheless. I enjoyed the jokes at the expense of the contemporary art world, but overall, found this less captivating than She-Devil.
August 24, 2015
(That has to be the most off-by-a-mile blurb I've seen in some time, btw.) I've a feeling Fay Weldon fell out of favour with the left-wing feminist literary establishment at some point (maybe when she wrote the Bulgari Connection? I know that's about when I stopped reading her latest as a matter of course, though I'm pretty sure that was just coincidence.) But reading this rowdy feminist fairytale from 1987 made me remember how much I liked her - and how much we need this sort of thing shouted from the rooftops - because a distressing amount of things haven't changed a bit since then. The jokes don't hurt, either.
December 9, 2021
That was a great book, I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator and thought she added some witty insight that kept the story compelling.
I did think it was interesting how many wicked people meet there end in this book and how Clifford though wicked himself was absolved of blame for many of his actions. I guess in the context of the 60s, 70s and 80s that would be a fitting scenario.
However much as the narrator alluded to with Eric’s survival from the plane it appears Nell may have been a factor in Clifford’s walking away from his wicked behaviours without being held accountable. Someone was definitely watching out for her.
I did think it was interesting how many wicked people meet there end in this book and how Clifford though wicked himself was absolved of blame for many of his actions. I guess in the context of the 60s, 70s and 80s that would be a fitting scenario.
However much as the narrator alluded to with Eric’s survival from the plane it appears Nell may have been a factor in Clifford’s walking away from his wicked behaviours without being held accountable. Someone was definitely watching out for her.
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January 24, 2009LOVE Fay Weldon! This is less satirical than others I've read, but follows the same track----this time the life of little Nell, her trials and tribulations in the modern world.
August 5, 2009
"De harten en levens van mannen"
May 20, 2011
So far so good... It was on the bookshelf at Anglesea...
January 29, 2013
boring!! don't let the details get in the way of a good story as they say...
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