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.
Do You like book The Hearts And Lives Of Men (1988)?
