The Life and Loves of a She Devil

Mar 17, 2008 Roy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fay Weldon was in the zone when she penned this masterpiece, and that pen of hers cuts like a knife. The movie made from this book is the worst butchering of a story I've ever been unfortunate enough to encounter. On the other hand the BBC did an excellent adaptation as a mini-series by remaining quite faithful to the book. This novel could be quite dangerous in the hands of the wrong woman. :-)

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Dec 08, 2008 Manny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: strongly-recommended, well-i-think-its-funny, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, older-men-younger-women

My favourite extreme-feminist novel. Being male and reading this was somewhat uncomfortable at first, but after a chapter or so I decided that for the duration of the book I was really a woman - then I could settle down and enjoy it. It's very funny and insightful.

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Apr 23, 2013 Heather Hildreth rated it 2 of 5 stars

Yuck. That Ruth should get angry and rebel against the fact that only pretty women get any love, or that men are able to take love from whomever at their convenience is completely relatable. That she would use this anger to transform herself into someone prettier, and shallower, and ultimately become those she so resented, is not.

The fact that this book has been so championed as a feminist novel, when its premise seems only to be power over men, selfish sexual practices, and making yourself "bea...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Chriso rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a child, I stumbled upon a British mini-series airing on A&E in America based on this series and I was absolutely fascinated. It's been forever since I've seen it, but at the time I felt like I was getting away with something. It seemed rather racy to me at the time because it had some Adult Themes. It was also as though I were consuming some very high quality, decadent sweet that had no major nutritional value, but nourished me nonetheless. Several years later I indulged in another inter...more As a child, I stumbled upon a British mini-series airing on A&E in America based on this series and I was absolutely fascinated. It's been forever since I've seen it, but at the time I felt like I was getting away with something. It seemed rather racy to me at the time because it had some Adult Themes. It was also as though I were consuming some very high quality, decadent sweet that had no major nutritional value, but nourished me nonetheless. Several years later I indulged in another interpretation, the Roseanne Barr/Meryl Streep comedy vehicle She-Devil. Critics panned the movie in major ways but I adored it, and still do, as a slice of campy fun. True, it's quite a de-fanged version compared to the televised mini-series, but some of the themes remain intact despite the overall lightening of the content. And yet somehow I never laid eyes on the original literary version until a friend handed me a used copy she found during her travels after we bonded over our mutual love of the series and film. And it was every bit as deliciously enjoyable as both celluloid adaptations.

Weldon pulls the reader in from the go by introducing one of two narrative themes, the first being a present tense voice that is the omniscient voice of Ruth, the protagonist of the novel. She shifts between this and a standard, omniscient, past-tense author's voice and it makes for a compelling contrast. She also resists any moralizing in this second voice, although Ruth has a clear and particular set of morals and ethics that she adheres to. It would be interesting to do a close, feminist reading of the text and I'm sure there's been such things written about this book. Themes of women's value laying in their appearance, female competition, sexual power and self-determination guide the story. But again, Weldon never prescribes one point of view as the correct one, although Ruth's tends to be the dominant mindset throughout. But with that sort of reading or not, it's an immensely enjoyable book and it's making me seek out the original mini-series to compare it to because it was far truer to the book, if memory serves.(less)

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Sep 08, 2009 Larissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel is something of a cultural artifact, from a time when feminism had won most of its legal victories but the idea of equality hadn't become socially or culturally entrenched. Consequently, although the book depicts the complete triumph of a scorned woman over her cheating husband and his mistress, this victory is mostly won on anti-feminist terms. Ruth shows herself capable of building a successful business (albeit, one partially based on the exploitation of other working women), and he...more

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Jun 23, 2009 Khaya rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those who love a diabolical, if imperfect, revenge-of-the-underdog story

Recommended to Khaya by: A goodreads reviewer who also hated "The Good Wife"

Shelves: humorous-or-trying-to-be

This is the story of Ruth, a large, clumsy, ugly woman, married to unappreciative and philandering Bobbo and living as a suburban housewife. When Bobbo leaves Ruth for his mistress, Mary Fisher, a delicate-looking and wealthy writer of romance novels, Ruth begins her transformation from docile, long-suffering hausfrau to diabolical and courageous "she-devil," stopping at nothing to get her elaborately plotted revenge on her husband's mistress and to eventually take over her life.

Initially, Ruth'...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Glimmerfee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ruth, Mutter von zwei Kindern und ungeliebte Ehefrau, war nie schön. Sie war immer schon sehr beleibt und sehr groß. Nie war sie die zierliche Frau, die zu einem Mann aufblicken kann, schließlich überragt sie mit 1.88m die meisten Männer.
Als ihr Ehemann Bobo beginnt Ruth mit der Kitschroman-Autorin Mary Fisher zu betrügen, zerspringt etwas in Ruth und sie wird zur Teufelin, einem Wesen ohne Gefühle und nur darauf bedacht Mary Fisher und Bobo zu zerstören.

Dieses Hörbuch wurde sehr gut gesproche...more Ruth, Mutter von zwei Kindern und ungeliebte Ehefrau, war nie schön. Sie war immer schon sehr beleibt und sehr groß. Nie war sie die zierliche Frau, die zu einem Mann aufblicken kann, schließlich überragt sie mit 1.88m die meisten Männer.
Als ihr Ehemann Bobo beginnt Ruth mit der Kitschroman-Autorin Mary Fisher zu betrügen, zerspringt etwas in Ruth und sie wird zur Teufelin, einem Wesen ohne Gefühle und nur darauf bedacht Mary Fisher und Bobo zu zerstören.

Dieses Hörbuch wurde sehr gut gesprochen von Mechthild Großmann und Katja Riemann. Die beiden Frauen wechseln sich ab und machen dieses Hörbuch zu einem großen Genuss für die Ohren. Mechthild Großmann schlüpft mit ihrer tiefen Stimme in die Rolle der verlassenen Ruth und verleiht dem fanatischen Hass und den Rachegelüsten eine ungeheure Kraft. Katja Rieman übernahm gekonnt die Erzählerstimme. Hin und wieder werden während des Hörbuchs andere Geräusche eingespielt, wie der Donner eines Gewitter und das Rauschen des Meeres um die Atmosphäre aufzubauen. Ziemlich geschmacklos hingegen fand ich, dass als einer der Hunde eingeschläfert wurde, man Hundegebell eingespielte.

Dieser Roman ist bösartig. Nicht nur, dass Ruth mit ihren Rachegelüsten die Welt schwarz malt und selbst das Seelenleben ihrer Kinder auf dem Altar der Rache opfert, sondern auch die Beschreibungen von Personen können treffend boshaft sein. Nicht nur einmal blieb mir das Lachen im Hals stecken.
Dieses Buch handelt von fanatischen Hass, der nur noch zerstören will und von einer psychopathischen Frau, die von dem Wunsch getrieben ist zu zerstören und vorher Menschen leiden zulassen. Ruth rächt sich keinesfalls wie Frauen überall in der Romanwelt, nein, sie vernichtet ganz und gar. Ihr ist es dabei auch egal wer darunter noch leidet und wie viel Schmerzen sie selbst ertragen muss.
Das Buch hat einen wunderbaren Schreibstil und ich habe es sehr vermisst mir bei diesem Hörbuch nicht einfach Sätze markieren zu können.
Nur gegen Ende wurde dieses Buch sehr abgedreht und aus dem boshaften Witz der ersten Seiten wurde deprimierendes Geplänkel. Von Seite zu Seite verwandelte sich dieses Buch in eine unrealistische Seifenblase, daher auch einen Punkt Abzug.
Die Charaktere in diesem Buch sind sehr gut ausgearbeitet. Egal ob es Bobo, der betrügende Ehemann ist, oder Mary Fisher, die in ihrem Leuchtturm über die Liebe schreibt.

Das Buch richtet sich an alle Menschen, die einige Ironie und Boshaftigkeit vertragen können. Dieses Buch ist keinesfalls ein typischer Frauenroman und schon gar kein Wohlfühlbuch.

Mir hat das Buch anfangs sehr gut gefallen, schade, dass es gegen Ende nicht mehr so überzeugend war.
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Oct 20, 2011 Kathleen Dixon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: novel, humour

What was I doing in the 1980s??! Oh yes, mothering a couple of small children. No wonder I didn't read any of the great hits of the time - I was insular and stagnated and kept to the safe-and-already-known.

This novel is darkly funny. Ruth is a very tall, very unattractive woman (by her own description), married to Bobbo (and we can accept such a ridiculous name because the novel is set in Sydney, Australia, and they do, honestly, give each other such clownish nicknames - though I'm sure Weldon i...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Booknblues rated it 4 of 5 stars

Hah! Well, this is a wild and wonderful book if you are fond of the idea of revenge or have ever day dreamed of it.

Ruth is a ponderous creature of gargantuan proportions who is married to Bobbo, an accountant who happens to be in love with Mary Fisher, a writer of romance novels who lives in a lighthouse overlooking the California coastline.

Bobbo, being a modern man, feels free to tell Ruth of his love for Mary Fisher and his excursions into her bedroom, while reminding Ruth of how inept, unlova...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Selena rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Why should a woman need to avenge the betrayal laid upon her by a husband who had never promised to be faithful from the very beginning of their marriage? In fact, why should a woman need to marry at all, if it were not for her to find the one with which she could flourish and prosper,to equate with, to 'melt' into each other's soul, to equate in flesh and in soul? If this is not enough, could someone explain me why a woman should try to resemble physically to her ex-husband's mistress and tortu...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Lori rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit, books-that-disappointed-me

I picked up this book from my local library thinking it would be the literary equivalent of the 1989 movie with Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr. I love the movie with inexcusable glee - - it's a guilty pleasure, the revenge is wonderfully satisfying and Meryl Streep is incredible, as always. Unfortunately I was sorely mistaken.

First, the book is quite different from the movie. Or perhaps I should say that the movie is quite different from the book, since the book came first. I felt sympathy for t...more I picked up this book from my local library thinking it would be the literary equivalent of the 1989 movie with Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr. I love the movie with inexcusable glee - - it's a guilty pleasure, the revenge is wonderfully satisfying and Meryl Streep is incredible, as always. Unfortunately I was sorely mistaken.

First, the book is quite different from the movie. Or perhaps I should say that the movie is quite different from the book, since the book came first. I felt sympathy for the movie version of Ruth. She was unattractive (although not the towering giant as portrayed in the book) and put upon by her husband, who had absolutely no problem being unfaithful. Despite destroying her husband's life one calculated step at a time, you still want movie Ruth to succeed and best not only cheating Bob but also the annoyingly pink romance author Mary Fisher who embarks on an affair with Bob.

Not so with the literary Ruth, who comes across as cold, uncaring and almost sociopathic. In other words, completely unsympathetic. Her actions felt extreme, to say the least, from the destruction of the family home, leaving a pet inside, to abandoning her children to the care of their cheating father and his mistress, who was hardly maternal, to her almost casual and callous attitude toward sex post-split. I felt absolutely no bond or connection with her whatsoever, nor did I understand what drove her.

The plot could have been a fantastic one - - betrayed wife seeks revenge. It could have been a serious book or a tongue-in-cheek, campy styled one. Either would have worked but "The Life and Loves of a She Devil" doesn't seem to know which direction it should take - - serious cautionary tale or humorous tale of love gone wrong? Not knowing what direction to take left me, as the reader, in the same state of confusion.

I expected that "The Life and Loves of a She Devil" would be humorous, witty and cutting. It was certainly cutting but the wit and humor was lacking. Scenes that were funny in the movie came across flat out mean in the book (if they were included in the book). For me, I simply did not enjoy reading about Ruth, who was allegedly symbolizing the liberated and independent female of the age (late 70s/early 80s), acting more like a felon than a strong woman. By the end of the book, I simply didn't like her.

Had I not seen "She Devil" and adored the movie for its late 80s overblown silliness, I likely would not have finished the book. The first chapter drew me in but I quickly lost interest. I persevered and finished the book but only because I continued to hope that the story would improve.

I personally did not care for the book and would not recommend it. If you are looking for a wife's revenge tale, "The First Wives Club" might be a better choice. However, I would not hesitate to recommend "She Devil" for its guilty pleasure and the always impressive Meryl Streep.

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Mar 17, 2009 Shireen McQuade rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love this author's writing style! It is definitely dark humor from a woman with a billiant mind and a tortured soul. In this book, Weldon mocks the woman who undergoes numerous surgeries to get back her man, only to discover the man she thought she wanted is but a shell of his former self and she is not anyone she would like to know. A very witty writer with elegant prose delivered in lyrical style.

Beware, though, that this is not a book for everyone. It is not to be taken literally. Weldon i...more

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Jan 03, 2009 Sarah Pierce rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In the late 80’s, I loved the movie “She-Devil,” with Roseanne Barr, Ed Begler Jr. and Meryl Streep. It was ridiculous and fun, watching Ruth get “cold-blooded” revenge on her cheating husband and his new romance-writing woman. I did not know it was based on a book! A book written by a well-known feminist writer, no less. Of course, the book is better, and more serious, than the movie. The lengths that Ruth goes for revenge in the novel are quite shocking, much more so than as portrayed by Rosea...more

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Mar 29, 2011 Aubrey rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this in a women in literature class in college. I'm not really a feminist. I thought I was until I took that class. Freshman year of college, too. It was an interesting experience.

Anywho...

I think a lot of people in that class hated this, but I absolutely loved this book. It was insane. A woman who does crazy things to change herself, make herself more desirable? I was young when I read it, but I'd love to read it again and see how my perspective has changed. It's a classic - a crazy, cr...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Seawood rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 2012-200-books-challenge, kindle

Wonderful tale. It's hard to know what to call it - revenge fantasy? Feminist classic? I think it is a horror story: the lengths Ruth goes to to outlive Mary and inflict the entire load of misery on her cheating husband is terrifying. One that stays with you for a long while, I suspect. It is in part a product of the time - not all 80s women were liberated; many were still stuck in the trap of 50s expectations of the perfect housewife and mother. Ruth had no outlet for her rage and so she channe...more

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Feb 07, 2013 CRO rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2012, classics

4 Stars

This is one of those books for me - like Robin McKinley's Beauty. It has a special place on my book shelves and I come back to it again and again. Yes, believe it or not this feminist manifesto, revenge fantasy, social satire sits on the same shelf as Robin McKinley. This is a significant book for me; and that is all the connection that these two books need for me to keep them side by side on my bookshelf.

In a nutshell - and I will try not to bore too much with plot synopsis or all of the...more 4 Stars

This is one of those books for me - like Robin McKinley's Beauty. It has a special place on my book shelves and I come back to it again and again. Yes, believe it or not this feminist manifesto, revenge fantasy, social satire sits on the same shelf as Robin McKinley. This is a significant book for me; and that is all the connection that these two books need for me to keep them side by side on my bookshelf.

In a nutshell - and I will try not to bore too much with plot synopsis or all of the theories of feminist literary criticism that this book invokes - this is the story of Ruth's revenge on Mary Fischer, the woman who stole her husband. Ruth is a woman outside the bounds of what the world traditionally would call attractive - she is plain. The woman who stole her husband, the romance novelist Mary Fischer, is diminutive and precious - in affectation and appearance she is the very embodiment of the feminine ideals. Ruth, of course, is the exact opposite of this - she is tall and broad and strong - better suited to the everyday physical duties that come with the role of wife and mother than to the fainting couch. After Ruth is left by her husband, instead of succumbing to despair or doing the makeover/ find your self esteem/ "you go girl"/ win your husband back but decide that you don't want him dance, Ruth plots revenge. She financially, emotionally, and physically destroys Mary Fischer - and her husband too - sort of. Ruth turns her back on the almost sacramental belief system of romantic love that is surgically wrapped around the very strands of the female DNA in Western society to become an acolyte of revenge. Ruth sheds her sex - well not really she is still female - but she sheds all of the preconceived notions and beliefs that go along with the feminine in this society. Ruth gives up love to un-wife, un-mother, and essentially un-woman herself to become the she-devil - the making of the witch.

But It's Really a Fairytale: And in reading other peoples' review of this book, I noticed that a lot of reviewers criticized Weldon's intractable, inflexible characterizations. The characters don't really experience anything that could really be called "growth" or "change" - no levitating out of the grooves of their ruts to grasp a glimpse of the objective. Ruth's transformation from mournful, mousy housewife to she-devil being the only exception of course. The characters all seem to be riding unyielding rails that drive them to their bizarre and sometimes horrifying ends. But I think Weldon did this by design. The characters are meant to be as rigid as the archetypes in a fairytale because Weldon is telling us a deeply disturbing and twisted little fairy tale here - an unfiltered by Disney- Brother's Grimn story. And this is supported by the tone and feel of the novel - especially the haunting repetition of the phrase - "Mary Fischer lives in a castle by the sea…" that opens almost every chapter.

This book was written in the 80's. Does it still even hold up today - is it pertinent or is it dated? Well, it is a little bit dated - some of the social and feminist issues Weldon writes about and satirizes - well yes, there have been some gains. The issues have become more subtle and nuanced - women in the work force, careers vs. motherhood, the welfare state etc., etc. - the war limps on but it has changed and shifted battlefields. I still find this a significant work - still an engaging read - just for what it says about romantic love, women and their rage, and how living up to the impossible standards of the feminine ideal is dangerous for both of the sexes.

Me and the She-Devil: I first read this book in my 20's and what I appreciated most was the unflinching characterization of Ruth. She is the archetypal plain woman/ beast of burden who despite not being the societal idea of sexual attractiveness has this undeniable power that pulls people to her. Ruth claims her sexuality with a frankness and self-awareness that gives her power and makes her a magnet for other people. After her transformation to she-devil, Ruth is never without a whole cadre of willing lovers and admirers. But things change in the second half of the novel, as the reader jumps ship from fairytale to Frankenstein. In the second half of the novel, Ruth endures surgery after surgery to physically change herself - to force her physique into the narrow margins of the feminine ideal. Ruth jumps ship from revolutionary to player; from "monstrosity" to goddess. But Ruth the monster was the character that I most identified with; the character who actually gave me the most hope (and hope is a very funny thing to find in this novel - because this is not a very hopeful story). In her planning and her schemes - even as she derides and sheds her old "plain" physical form, she knows herself and accepts herself. In my teenage years I spent far too much time mourning the distance between my physical self and the physical ideals set up for my sex. Every woman out there could write their own novel about this - the hate/shame game that American women play when it comes to their bodies. Coming across this book in my 20's - strangely - allowed me to step outside of that game and to gain some self acceptance and self knowledge. The body ages and fades - but the will and the imagination… that is the true spark of the physical. So I had/ have hope, that in accepting myself I would find someone, at some time who would accept me as well.

Reading this again now - after taking on the mantle of wife and motherhood - the book means other things to me as well. Finding that anger - and boy have I had anger - slinking, hiding, deep dark below the surface anger. And boy does Ruth discover her anger and transmutes it into a power and will that could practically destroy the universe. And I see the possibilities of the un-love - of taking up your anger as your lover and your life - just like Ruth does - but it is as much of a trap as some of the silly notions of romantic love that Weldon is so busily skewering. For some reason, I have made this book my touchstone, my talisman. In my youth and even now, I use it to tap into my anger - to seduce it to the surface - to make myself a portal through which the anger can harmlessly escape - like steam - blasting its way out and through. Better to make myself a portal for this rage than to leave myself a vessel that anger will eventually corrode and corrupt.

And I have no idea if any of this is even close to what Weldon intended for her readers - and I realize I'm getting a little new-agey/ self helpey/ hippie chick here - blame it on my being in my 20's during the 90's. (In the 90's, everywhere you looked women were running with wolves and bubble gum wadding magic and psychiatry so that we could become whole, complete people.) This novel is about a woman who in her loss finds strength, self-knowledge, and power, but she doesn't use these things for self-acceptance. This is a novel about a woman who accepts and understands her anger, but she uses this power to practically destroy herself (view spoiler) and the lives of those around her. And ironically, in reading this - coming back to it again and again - I have learned more about self-acceptance and letting go for myself- learned more of hope and peace.
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May 01, 2013 Guy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, suggestions-for-emma, 20th-century-british, 2013

I expect that many people who read this will have seen the film, Lives and Loves of a She-Devil. The film is a lot of fun, but it doesn’t really do justice to the Fay Weldon novel on which it’s based. The film with Roseanne Barr and her rival in life and love played by Meryl Streep is really very funny, but the book is much, much darker, and while like the film version, this is a tale of revenge, the book is much more subversive and its humour is black. You’ll laugh at the film but chances are y...more
I expect that many people who read this will have seen the film, Lives and Loves of a She-Devil. The film is a lot of fun, but it doesn’t really do justice to the Fay Weldon novel on which it’s based. The film with Roseanne Barr and her rival in life and love played by Meryl Streep is really very funny, but the book is much, much darker, and while like the film version, this is a tale of revenge, the book is much more subversive and its humour is black. You’ll laugh at the film but chances are you won’t have the same reaction to the book. Weldon is an outspoken feminist writer who’s come in for her share of controversy, and simply because she is a figure of some controversy, she’s all too easy to misquote. Fay Weldon’s style is very typically spare, and low on descriptions. This novel is also high on mythic qualities and alternates between first and third person narrative.

While Weldon’s work obviously fits in any feminist canon, her work can also be considered Transgressive fiction for the way her marvelous characters subvert societal norms. Weldon’s frequent themes include gender inequality, female reinvention, female identity and self-image and the often vicious relationships between women. Lives and Loves of a She-Devil is a tremendously powerful story–the tale of how one woman, a wife and mother, is abandoned by her husband and replaced by a prettier, sexier woman. Rising from her despair and thrusting aside all societal norms, maternal concerns, & obligations the discarded woman eventually triumphs over her enemies. Yes, a story of female empowerment and a rather frightening tale of a woman scorned who, because she’s willing to go as far as necessary, learns to live her life according to an entirely new set of rules.

Ruth, an overweight, unattractive woman who’s 6′ 2″, is an excellent wife and mother. While she’s appreciated by her somewhat scatter-brained in-laws, she’s neglected and undervalued by her accountant husband, Bobbo, who at the best of times says that Ruth is “no beauty, but a good soul.” Ruth, who is virtually powerless in the relationship, does everything to please Bobbo, even tolerating his announcement that he wants an “open marriage.” She’s aware of his extra-marital affairs which he discusses with relish, but now Bobbo has fallen in love with one of his clients, Mary Fisher, a wealthy, prolific author of trashy romances. Ruth is trying her best to ignore the affair, but after a particularly degrading scene, Bobbo moves out of his home in the suburb of Eden Grove, abandons his wife and two children and moves to Mary Fisher’s splendid home, the High Tower.

Mary Fisher is the embodiment of everything Ruth isn’t: small, petite, feminine and highly desirable. And here’s a quote that shows just how well Fay Weldon can write:

"Now outside the world turns: tides surge up the cliffs at the foot of Mary Fisher’s tower, and fall again. In Australia the great gum trees weep their bark away; in Calcutta a myriad flickers of human energy ignite and flare and die; in California the surfers weld their souls with foam and flutter off into eternity; in the great cities of the world groups of dissidents form their gaunt nexi of discontent and send the roots of change through the black soil of our earthly existence. And I am fixed here and now, trapped in my body, pinned to one particular spot, hating Mary Fisher. It is all I can do. Hate obsesses and transforms me; it is my singular attribution."

While Bobbo and Mary Fisher have the looks, the power and the money on their side, Ruth is dumped with the two squabbling children, a gluttonous vomiting dog who humps anyone lower on the totem pole, a cat who fouls the house, and an unfortunate guinea pig. Bobbo and Mary live in sex-soaked idyllic bliss while Ruth suddenly has to worry about money–how to pay bills and buy food (there’s one great scene in which Ruth directs the children to search the house for coins). To add to the worries, Bobbo tells her to move to a smaller, cheaper home. Part of Ruth accepts what has happened to her–after all, she reasons ”to those who hath, such as Mary Fisher, shall be given, and to those who hath not, such as myself, even that which they have shall be taken away.”

Ruth has always behaved well and put Bobbo’s needs before her own. Why shouldn’t she accept divorce, destitution and displacement and be happy for the few years she had? But Ruth doesn’t see it that way, and she doesn’t react the way Bobbo expects her to. Strangely, once removed from the position of wife, something begins to happen to Ruth. Liberated from her own repressive behavior, ”Hate obsesses and transforms” her, and she has revenge in mind. As events unfold, it becomes clear that revenge is an emotion that can take you to the place you want to go. Ruth abandons the roles assigned to her: doting wife, patient mother and begins a transformative journey–both literal and figurative, and along the way she confronts other women in various miserable circumstances including a clueless welfare mother who’s impregnated by a series of transient rogue males, a group of Wimmin, and also the much-abused wife of a judge who has a secret “passion for bondage and whips.” As Ruth continually reinvents herself, she leaves an imprint on the lives of everyone she touches, and rather magnificently, she becomes all the things her husband, to assuage his guilt, accused her of. She becomes a She-Devil who “creates havoc and destruction all around,“ and by abandoning the roles she is expected to endure, and breaking all the ”rules” she plots her revenge…
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Sep 19, 2011 Audrey added it

This is an excellent breakup book, though I would recommend giving the pain a few months to mellow before jumping into this perfect tale of plotted, thorough revenge.

Fay Weldon is one of those writers who manages to write comedy without seeming to. While there are several facets of Ruth's personality that could alienate, you cannot help but identify with and root for her. What woman hasn't felt that stab of rejection at least once in her life? And what woman hasn't toyed with the idea of an ecum...more

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Dec 01, 2009 Claudia rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is as vile as it is amazing. True heroine Ruth goes on a quest to 'take arms up against God himself', after being left by her husband for a young, beautiful woman. In her journey to remake herself, she slowly but surely destroys everything around Bobbo and while doing it, becomes successful in every aspect of her life.

Loved it, hated the movie. It butchered the story and killed the most important message of the book: women are not weak, passive creatures. We can do whatever we set our...more

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Nov 06, 2009 Abbi Dion rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Mrs. Black, washing up glasses, resolved never to give another party, never, and to divorce her husband and next time marry someone without hypocrisy, possibly from the army, who understood how much more satisfactory it is to kill and die for a cause, in the shadow of some great loyalty, than to try to live forever in the framework of the personal and the trivial.

Presently Dr. Black drove Miss Hunter back to the clinic, but not before accusing Mrs. Black of unforgivable rudeness to his guest."...more

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Jun 13, 2009 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

All I could think while reading this book was, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Although on the surface the story is a detailed telling of the calculating revenge of the protagonist, this story is about a lot more. This is a book full of contradictions.

On the surface, it is the story of a woman who felt sorry for herself and depended on others for her support and also accepted their negative image of her. She becomes a "she devil", which essentially means she takes it upon herself to de...more All I could think while reading this book was, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Although on the surface the story is a detailed telling of the calculating revenge of the protagonist, this story is about a lot more. This is a book full of contradictions.

On the surface, it is the story of a woman who felt sorry for herself and depended on others for her support and also accepted their negative image of her. She becomes a "she devil", which essentially means she takes it upon herself to decide her fate. Her physical appearance is unsightly, cumbersome, and large. She lacks grace and refinement. At one point in the novel, she decides she is going to surgically alter her physical appearance, and although she becomes physically attractive, the author makes it clear she has morphed into a more "desirable" woman long before her surgeries take place. The lengths she goes to in order to achieve her revenge is often times shocking and extreme, and in my opinion, another form of submission because she submits to men's standard of beauty. And yet, along the way, she helps dozens of women become confident, self-sufficient, and leaders.

Beyond the primary story is an interesting subtle social commentary, as well. The protagonist essentially forsakes all of the things she was originally content with, a suburban home, husband, kids, and attains the "ideal"; that is, money, beauty, admiration. In the end, the victory is quite hollow, and so I again found myself thinking about the things that are valued in our society, such as the "ideal image" and the cost women will pay to endlessly try to attain it. But at the same time, I certainly could not have wanted the protagonist to continue on in the hollow life she had wanted before her husband cheated on her and left her. She was her husband's abused slave, his emotional and physical punching bag. She would have continued to work tirelessly and thanklessly to maintain the home, cooking meals and raising children, and never contributing the the welfare of the women she encounters later in the book.

I liked the story not just for the principles it touts, such as self-sufficiency, women deciding their own fate and taking charge of their own destiny, but also for the contradictions that emerge. I loved the engaging writing style and interesting portrayal of interpersonal relationships and personality types, the masochistic judge, the compromising priest, and the forever baby-bearing single mom "Vickie".

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May 16, 2008 Beth Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book years ago, and it lingers in my memory. Weldon is a chronicler of women's lives and roles. Here she explores the extremes of feminine or feminist revenge. Her character Ruth starts life as an unremarkable doormat. Unattractive, lumpy, hairy, and marked by a mole she lucks into marriage with the first man to lay his hands on her, Bobbo a beancounter. He's soon revealed to be no prize. He leaves her for one of his clients, romance novelist Mary Fisher. Ruth's anger turns into a li...more

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Jun 03, 2010 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I saw the movie first. I know the movie so well, it hurts. It hurts, because I found the movie to be more entertaining, funny, and worth my time than the book. It found a way to take this story and flesh it out in a commercial way.

The book encompasses the film, yes, but it continues and becomes sad. ***SPOILER*** Ruth undergoes a lot of plastic surgery to take on Mary Fisher's body and, basically, enslave her husband. Is it necessary? She really isn't the heroine, and I feel so sorry that she is...more

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Feb 20, 2008 Lisalit rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: all, but especially women

I first read this book when I was in seventh grade, and loved it so much that I kept a notebook full of quotes from the book (such things as "I sing a hymn to the death of love and the end of pain"). When I reread it, I found it to be a lot more inherently disturbing than I had remembered. Ruth is a large, ugly housewife whose husband, Bobbo, feels justified in having affairs with more attractive, daintier women. He feels that Ruth should be happy that he married her and gave her children and a...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Lorraine Robinson added it

I first read this book when I was in my early 20's and remember loving it. The BBC series with Dennis Waterman as Bobbo was brilliant in its likeness to the book. 2nd time around gave me doubts as to whether a woman scorned would really go to those lengths to extract revenge! I admired Ruth's tenacity and ability to adapt to whatever the occasion required. It's this that I believe us woman are definitely capable of. I still loved the book some 20 years later. A firm favourite on my shelf.

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Oct 02, 2012 Margaret rated it 3 of 5 stars

Originally published in 1983, Fay Weldon's classic novel holds up pretty well with time. It is still sharp and funny. But it's a sad, sad book when you think about it, being, as it is, about women's propensity to change themselves for the men in their lives, even after the men are long gone. And the lengths Ruth goes to change herself and exact revenge on her husband and his mistress are extreme, to say the least.

Margaret Finnegan
The Goddess Lounge

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Jan 28, 2008 Aaron Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a re-read for me, actually--I read it the first time when I was 19, and I still love it just as much.

ANYONE who's ever been jilted and ill-used by a lover/spouse/partner and fantasized about getting the ultimate revenge, this book tells the (fictional, of course) story of one woman who actually goes for it.

Some of her actions are cringe-worthy...she steps over a lot of lines, and makes unthinkable sacrifices. Many of the things she does would be impossible in today's tech-savvy world,...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Dark-Draco rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: tv-tie-in, humour

A brilliant and funny read. As has been said before, a bit of an extreme way to get back at your cheating husband, but then again, why not?

I loved trying to work out what she was going to do next when a new character was introduced. You kind of knew there was something up her sleeve, but I didn't guess what in a lot of cases. It really made me smile and reminded me of the bits of the TV series I've seen.

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Sep 02, 2011 Nina rated it 3 of 5 stars

'She understand now that unhappiness must follow happiness, misfortune good fortune'. p. 141

'only by knowing what we are can we achieve Salvation' p.210

'that way contentment lay, if not justice and the turning of the man to the woman in the peace of the marital bed and her to him, was perhaps all the compensation required for the evident injustices of married life in the modern world' p.132

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Aug 25, 2008 Bianca rated it 4 of 5 stars

I turn to this book for lessons. This is a categorical error, of course, but I can't help but form a political inquiry as I read it.

I approach this book with the question: does knowing the limits of social forms matter? Certainly it matters for how Ruth navigates them as the "she-devil" - someone who has substituted the race for the usual happinesses (beauty, love and financial security) with goals of revenge, parody, and ironic justice. But, in order to get all of those things - she must have...more

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