Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 15, 1995 TAG: 9510140006
SECTION: BOOK PAGE: F5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY MARY ANN JOHNSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
By Fay Weldon. Atlantic Monthly Press. $21.
The wit and mischievousness of Fay Weldon's writing comes to the fore in "Splitting." In this short novel she plays with the concept that "women tend to be more than one person." Her protagonist, Angelica, develops several personalities when her husband, Sir Edwin, files for divorce. Angelica refuses to acknowledge the shenanigans of Sir Edwin and her friends out of fear that "everything would break and split." As a result, what ultimately does break and split is herself.
In one personality, she is Jelly, efficient secretary to Sir Edwin's attorney. As such, she manipulates correspondence regarding her divorce proceedings. In another she is the simpy Lady Rice who continues to pine for her unfaithful husband and cannot see Sir Edwin for the cad he is. The most vibrant personality is sex-hungry Angel whom the others often are unable to constrain, sometimes to their delight and often to their chagrin.
These characters embody the notion that "any number of possible personalities exist in the minds of all of us." Their interplay with other characters as well as with one another reflects Weldon's deft touch.
The author's photograph on the dust jacket shows a mature, grinning blonde with capable hands and a glint in her eye. The look suits both her story and the telling of it.
Hanging Up.
By Delia Ephron. Putnam's. $23.95.
Delia Ephron ("How to Eat Like a Child" and "Teenage Romance") has the knack of injecting humor into those stages of life when we are most vulnerable. In "Hanging Up," her narrator, Eve, is a 40-something woman forced to confront her own mortality as she fears the demise of her elderly father.
Most of the narration consists of telephone conversation. Eve's eccentric father calls her constantly, day and night, and she calls her sisters to discuss what he says and does. These characters are connected more by phone than by feeling, a fact augmented by Ephron's ability to render dialogue; she captures the color and haphazard bounce of natural conversation.
By making the not-so-funny become funny, Ephron compels her characters to face what cannot be avoided. She takes licks at many targets, teen-agers as well as crotchety old folks, flighty 20-year-olds as well as the smug and glamorous.
A friend of Eve's tells her that it is life, not death, which she really fears. The conundrum of life is Ephron's true subject, and she demonstrates that, however afraid and frustrated we may get, we can't hang up. With Delia Ephron on the other end, who would want to?
Home Fires.
By Luanne Rice. Bantam Books. $21.95.
Reading "Home Fires" is like watching a soap opera without daily interruptions. It begins fast, with a powerful scene of a house fire, and emotions burn at high heat from then on. The story is sentimental, the writing overwrought, the sex graceless.
But, as with Luanne Rice's earlier novels, the allure continues. The setting, a New England island, enhances the elements of romance; the characters are generally sympathetic; the conflict is well-established; the ending provides popular appeal.
Thus, while "Home Fires" is not a notable contribution to literature, it will probably prove to be an entertaining network film, as her "Crazy in Love" was.
Mary Ann Johnson teaches at Roanoke College.
by CNB