Synopses & Reviews
In her new novel,
Mantrapped, Fay Weldon shows she's still on top as the foremost chronicler of this generation's sexual and marital woes.
What would happen if a man were to wake up one morning as a woman? Or a woman as a man? Would his personality change completely? Would hers? After brushing past each other on the stairs above their local Laundromat, Trisha and Peter soon find out. Instantly, and mysteriously, they switch souls. Peter's now housed in Trisha's older and much curvier body, while Trisha's moving about in Peter's younger, trimmer form. But none of this is half as awkward as when they both come home to face Peter's wife and have to decide who will sleep where.
Exploring her heroes' predicaments inspires Fay to recall certain points in her life, which she decides to insert alongside the novel, flipping back and forth between the two. The result is an inventive continuation of her critically acclaimed memoir, Auto da Fay, which flaunts her remarkable talent for pushing the boundaries of literature farther while always keeping it fun.
Review
"Weldon is never less than readable and always amusing, and when she's commenting on herself and her own life instead of 'society,' she can be extremely acute." Sarah Churchwell, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Surprisingly enough, this odd hodgepodge of fact and fiction is tremendously fun to read, due, in part, to Weldon's high amusement at her own shortcomings and her continuing ability to confound expectations." Booklist
Review
"[Weldon] barely tries to make her absurd plot premise credible, or at least compelling, and she blows off her characters with a blood-soaked but silly finale. So lazy and off-the-cuff that one wonders if the author even bothered to reread her first draft." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"A strange little book....The novel and the autobiography are each delightful in its own way, but combined they somehow amount to less than the sum of their parts." The Washington Post
Review
"Fans of Fay Weldon will find Mantrapped gratifying. Others may find it trying....Now that orgasms are faked in public, the titillation of Weldon's prose may have lost some of its effect. But for this reader, it was still worth the journey." BookReporter.com
Review
"Untidy, often diverting and sometimes genuinely revealing....An acerbic comic portraitist and forthright feminist, Weldon's plot for the novel half of Mantrapped is pretty rickety." Seattle Times
Review
"At her finest, Weldon is matchless, a formidable virtuoso. Here, the inclusion of her personal regrets tamps down the rousing acerbity of her fiction. As works of late and crowning glory go, the book is provocative and occasionally brilliant, but finally more formless than peerless." Miami Herald
Review
"Weldon's blend of fiction and non-fiction is intriguing. But as the parallel stories cross over and their endings come rather abruptly, there's a lingering feeling that the two stories may have been better told separately. Or maybe, I'm just not ready for the reality novel." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Review
"Weldon draws an interesting web of interaction among the three characters and between herself and them. But, in the end, the fiction/autobiographical format doesn't quite hold up. In this case, the fiction is much more satisfying and thought provoking than the reality." Providence Journal
Review
"[O]nly someone as talented as Weldon provocative, witty, and refreshing even at the worst of times could carry off this hybrid....Though it may drive catalogers crazy (fiction or nonfiction?), this is highly recommended." Library Journal
Synopsis
After brushing past each other on the stairs above their local laundromat, Trice and Peter instantly and mysteriously switch souls. But none of this is half as awkward as when they both come home to face Peter's wife and have to decide who will sleep where.
Synopsis
"Trisha had been rich and Trisha had been poor, and she knew it was better to be rich. But now she was to be poor again: not just poor but stripped of her identity. She is to swap sex, and her very soul, with young, handsome, trendy Peter Watson. She passes him too close upon the stairs, and some might think what happens a first in mankind's history is an improvement and some might not. Peter's partner Doralee thinks not."
Inadvisable, writes Fay Weldon, in this book part high concept novel, part memoir, part the recent history of a culture to cross on the stairs. Mantrapped is the continuing story of Fay Weldon, writer, mother, daughter, sister, cook, campaigner, juggler of life, time, work and money. Like Trisha she has been rich, and like Trisha she has been poor: like Trisha she has been well and truly mantrapped, and unlike Trisha does not regret it one bit. From 1960s London (wild parties, no money) to 1970s Somerset (animals, wild parties, no money) Weldon has lived a life rich in adventure and courage. The things you regret, as she points out, are what you don't do, not what you do.