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Mantrapped
A Novel
by Fay Weldon
Presented as a continuation of her recent autobiography Auto da Fay, Weldon's latest work is for the most part a work of fiction (with a storyline vaguely reminiscent of Freaky Friday), although it does incorporate some autobiographical moments.
Grove Press, 320 pages
12/10/2004
$24.00
ISBN: 0802117872
Fiction
General Literature & Fiction
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
Library Journal Nancy Pearl
The fun comes when Weldon interrupts the novel with background from her own life that touches in some way on the experiences of her characters. [15 Oct 2004, p.56]
Publishers Weekly
Consider this the ultimate version of life and art imitating one another. [27 Sept 2004, p.35]
Slate Claire Dederer
It's her pointed, blaming finger that makes her books so uniquely perverse -- and peculiarly exhilarating, because she's so ideologically incorrect in her excoriations of domestic messes.
The Independent Susan Jeffreys
That's why this brilliant, innovative book, this rich mix of fact and fiction, is so compelling. Fay never tries to be fey.
The Independent Laura Thompson
She comes to no conclusions in this rich, sad, life-affirming book; but she has never considered the question so wisely.
Booklist Joanne Wilkinson
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. [1 Sept 2004, p.8]
TLS: The Times Literary Supplement Alex Clark
Mantrapped the novella is witty, outlandish and provocative and the latest in a long line of similarly puckish fictions, but it has the additional force supplied by its author's concurrent meditations on the overlap between reality and fantasy.
Kirkus Reviews
Weldon's eye for human weakness and vanity is as sharp and unforgiving as ever, and there's mean-spirited fun to be had in her blistering account of husband Ron Weldon's self-pity and self-serving contempt for his wife's popular success.
Washington Post Francesca Delbanco
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 New York Times Book Review Sarah Churchwell
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. Because of this, her previous, more conventional memoir, ''Auto da Fay,'' is a very good book, and Mantrapped is half a very good book.
The Spectator Sara Maitland
I couldn’t help but feel that Weldon was trying to be too clever by half here.
Sydney Morning Herald Ian Hicks
Weldon leaves the distinct impression that she tired of her tale and chose to wind it up with a flaccid denouement that wouldn't be out of place in an American TV sitcom. Sorry Fay, but you'll have to do better than that.
Daily Telegraph Claudia FitzHerbert
Fay Weldon's last book, "Auto da Fay," was a memoir that read as though it were fiction. Her latest is a deranged composite in which the continuing story of Fay Weldon is spliced with a novel about a soul swap between an old-fashioned man's woman and a fresh-minted new man.
Daily Telegraph Jane Shilling
This won't do. There are plenty of ways of dealing with unbearable personal sadness other than writing carelessly about it, and what is rather shocking about this unsavoury mixed salad of fact and fiction is the sense that in her heart, Weldon knows it, but has decided not to care.
 The average user rating for this book is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
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