Ehe-Bruch

by Fay Weldon

They seem the perfect couple, and after ten years together, are expecting their first child. But on the first day of the rest of their blissful lives, Spicer fails to kiss Annette goodbye as he leaves for the office, and psychiatrists, fortune-tellers and hypnotherapists become involved.

Genres: Fiction, British Literature, Literary Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

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

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you don't like therapists, and think the whole idea of therapy is a load of potentially dangerous hokum, then this book is definitely for you. Several of my best friends are in fact therapists, and I have great respect for what they do, but I'm afraid I still found the book very entertaining. Maybe her target is not so much therapists as such, but rather the uncritical way in which some people regard any pronouncement by a therapist, irrespective of how insane the advice or the therapist may appear.

I particularly liked the ending. The wife has helplessly watched her husband get sucked into a bizarre, sadistic sexual relationship with the therapist and his warped entourage. She finally confronts the therapist, who explains, in that superior way they sometimes have, that the wife's far-fetched ideas are products of her insecurity and her childhood fixations on her parents.

"Yes, I suppose that might be true," says the wife, "but I happen to have a photograph which shows you having sex together."

[Melani · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a weirdly relatable story, at least it was for me and the toxic relationship was really frustrating and gripping. Overall, the story isn’t very eventful but I liked the book.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Affliction is the study of a marriage in meltdown, as seen through the eyes of the wife, Annette. Her husband, Spicer, has always been loyal and loving, and the couple are thrilled when Annette finally becomes pregnant after many years of trying. But when Spicer starts seeing a psychotherapist - Dr Rhea - he begins to behave differently towards Annette, accusing her of stifling him and picking fights which leave her feeling hurt and bewildered.


Fay Weldon is often described as a feminist author, and certainly the two books of hers that I've read have one thing in common - the main male characters behave appalingly towards their long-suffering wives. Spicer is an absolute bastard, twisting the knife to find the most effective ways he can to hurt Annette, and doing it all with a smile on his face and an air of innocence that makes even the reader do a double take and wonder if perhaps Annette is at fault after all.


Horrible though Annette's situation is, Affliction is still a comedy, although the humour is often very dark. There were parts of the novel that actually made me laugh aloud, and I really am in awe of Weldon's clever and witty use of language. She has such a marvellous sense of the ridiculous, and Spicer's behaviour only gets funnier as it becomes more extreme. Fay Weldon has a particular style which I'm starting to become familiar with; very tight and bitingly satiric, and she understands and can poke fun at the repressed English middle classes in a way that few authors can manage so well.

[Lianne Barnard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange book. The reading was as tedious as the topic. The husbands changes when he starts seeing a therapist and the wife just can't get it and neither can the reader understand the cruelty of the husband. It is obviously a dig at the fashion of psychotherapy, but so improbable that it does not work as satire.

"The true gap is the space between the world as it ought to be and the world as it is; between waht you think love and marriage and babies are going to be and what it turns out to be, and its proper name is Disappointment....It is horrible down there. Bloody and pulsating; mean, spiteful and full of hate; grabbing and sucking down and grasping."
p. 164

[Liz Owen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost totally dialogue, I felt this was very brittle and disappointing. I generally enjoy Fay Weldon's writing, but this missed the mark for me.

[Penny Rafferty · Rating 4 out of 5]

That’s good writing!,

[Theodora T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm afraid this little book had too much dialogue for me. However, I did finish it.

[Marisa]

Handbook of everything you don’t want your spouse to be. yeepers.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant portrayal of gaslighting of the very worst kind. Written in an unusual format, mostly dialogue, it has the quality of Greek drama. It's certainly tragic, but it's also full of scathing humour.

[Hazel Mack · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pokes fun at new age thought.