Mantrapped

by Fay Weldon

Mantrapped is a dazzling new work that continues Fay Weldon’s critically acclaimed memoir, Auto da Fay, and tells the story of a woman down on her luck. Trisha is forty-four and at the end of her creditors are coming and boyfriends have long left. Then, one day, on the stairs above her local dry cleaner, she bumps into the dashing Peter Watson, an editor for the local newspaper. After brushing past each other, they mysteriously and instantly swap souls. Peter looks down to see himself housed in Trisha’s much curvier form, and Trisha discovers she’s newly equipped with hairy legs and a six-pack. Mixing humor, imagination and insight, Mantrapped proves that Weldon is still the best at writing about the sexes.

Genres: Fiction, British Literature, Literary Fiction, Audiobook

272 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

About the author

Fay Weldon CBE was an English author, essayist and playwright, whose work has been associated with feminism. In her fiction, Weldon typically portrayed contemporary women who find themselves trapped in oppressive situations caused by the patriarchal structure of British society.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fay_Weldon

Reviews

[Julia M]

Not sure I ‘got’ this as such but I didn’t mind as Fay Weldon’s writing is always compelling. I’m a bit biased too as in the 90s she wrote a glowing review of my recently published short stories and invited me round to have tea with her in her home in London. She was utterly kind, funny, natural and a joy to spend a couple of hours with. Such a generous supporter of new writers. She wore her fame very lightly, as this book confirms.

[Sim White]

Unfortunately, since Fay has taken up the 'gender swap' idea to fit in with the times, one is not quite sure what message she has for us any more. She used to have a lot to say about women's lives. NOw there are description of bodies that don't belong. Mantrapped is part-autobiographical and part gender-swap fiction, on and off, it's like eating saucisson with a helping of chocolate ice cream now and again. The two narratives do not make sense, and it is not clear why they are put together in that way. It has a puzzling effect. It would have been much better just to have another autobiographical novel like 'auto da fe'. As for the gender-swap extravanganza, it is lacking in depth in cultural terms and is a total disappointment. Shame we cannot go back to the dizzy heights of the 'the live and loves..' That was beautifully crafted, coherent novel.

[Tiffany McElmeel]

Don’t waste your time! Awful

[Anna Ganey]

Was not what I was expecting all. Felt like the description on the back was very misleading. Couldn't finish it.

[Hilary]

An imaginative & highly entertaining play on socially constructed gender identity.
I liked the way autobiography & fiction was seamlessly woven together.
A clever book, but not pretentious.

[Tenghe Keita]

bratz-roxxi

[Lilly]

Fay Weldon is a great writer, let's start there. Her "The Life and Loves of a She Devil" was a fun book I read years ago, so I thought I'd give her another shot. I had read a series of depressing books about women's lives (Arlington Park, etc) and thought I'd read something more chick lit-y.

The cover is misleading. This is actually a heavier book, a splicing of a body-switch tale with parts of Weldon's memoir. I found the memoir portions very readable, but the body switching wasn't my thing. It's no All of Me (Steve Martin/Lily Tomlin movie I watched compulsively as a child).

This book didn't know what it wanted to be. Somehow it works, but the innovative format took away from the fluidity of the read. It took me a freakin month to trudge through, which I wasn't happy about.

Read She Devil instead, basically.

[Penny]

I am incredibly surprised how much I liked this book. I mean, I know I only gave it three stars because it wasn't brilliant, but it far exceeded my expectations. Written as part autobiography and part fiction, it is quite experimental. We had to read this book for the course I'm doing at Whitireia. I wasn't sure why until I'd finished. Fay writes about the conventions of writing while writing about three characters of fiction. Inbetween all of this are anecdotes about her own life and failings. In parts incredibly honest, in others, you can see Fay shying away, hiding behind her characters. I think it highlights how Fay Weldon feels about her life as a writer in general. A little bit of a disappointing ending, but not a waste of my time, so thanks :)

[abby]

Do not be fooled by the cover, which makes this book look like the kind of chick lit I was embarrassed to be seen reading on the subway. It's half fiction and half autobiography with Weldon's acerbic wit and sharp insights throughout.

[Susan]

Tedious. At least in the audio version. The two stories, one fiction and one autobiographical are juxtiposed. But both just seem to drag. I might get the hardback version to see if the fictional story has anything to offer.

[Valerie]

Didn't like the format of switching from a comedic novel interspersed with memoir flashbacks.

[Erica]

Not what I expected AT ALL. Not much of a story..just a long narrative. It was ok.

[Cindywho]

I was hoping for the story to begin, but there was a lot of personal memoir to slog through and I couldn't hack it much past the first disc. Oh well.

[Teri]

It's a good thing the author had some of her autobiography in this book. That was the best part. The story was pretty dumb.

[Lori]

A hot mess. This is a bad mash-up of fiction and autobiography. Major disappointment.

[Ruben]

I dear you

[Helen]

Thought this book would be a chick story but it's more autobiographical - it's okay - wouldn't totally recommend.

[Kari]

Disappointing. Did not care for the writing.

[Angela Smith]

I found this book had to get into as it kept switching back and forth.I would have preferred to read each story individually.