The Bulgari Connection

Rating:
Summary: A funny, relevant and entertaining read
Review: Despite its corporate underwriting, Fay Weldon's The Bulgari Connection is certainly not evidence of a sellout. After all, Bulgari's funding is undoubtedly a one time deal--c'mon Weldon fans, can you really see Fay writing about jewelry from now on? Her structure is unmatched and her vocabulary is robust; Fay Weldon's work, regardless of financial backing, is not factory-farmed like so much popular literature.

The plot is tight, typical, and right on. Stupid men fare badly in Weldon's world--but not as badly as annoying women! This book was a breeze to read and as enjoyable as a gorgeous little custom-designed bauble.

After all, isn't it kind of exciting to see if there's another underwriter in the wings? At least she's up front about where the money comes from.

Rating:
Summary: A funny, relevant and entertaining read
Review: Forget the controversy surrounding corporate sponsorship and how Fay Weldon might have surrendered her integrity when she allowed the world-renowned jeweller to grace the title of her latest fictional work. The truth is that Weldon didn't have to make any concessions, let alone pander to the demands of advertising for she had written a winner and nothing should detract from the fact that "The Bulgari Connection" stands head and shoulders above most other titles in the same genre. It is a contemporary, thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining book and one that I would recommend without hesitation to anyone.

Weldon knows how to tell a story. She understands humour and how to find that elusive funny bone in readers that shuns mediocrity and the common attempts by many inferior novelists to try and pass off vulgarity and cheap nasty jokes as humour. It is a rare craft that Weldon has mastered and one that she wields with confidence and authority, considering how the story of Grace and Barley and Doris and Walter might in lesser hands have degenerated into farce. She manages to avoid all the pitfalls by making her characters and their feelings real and recognisable. How many readers out there wouldn't identify with the spurned and outgrown older wife or the insecure businessman finding success late in life who think that a trophy wife is all he needs to enter the portals of the rich and successful? Even Doris Dubois, the modern career woman, a guttersnipe and a bitch without scruples or redeeming qualities is a misshapen product of our society. When we laugh and cry at the antics and manoeuvres of these four characters, we're not unaware or unconscious of Weldon's social commentary on life in our modern times.

Don't let anyone persuade you that "The Bulgari Connection" is frothy and lightweight. It isn't. It is funny, relevant and entertaining and frankly you can do a lot worse than that.

Rating:
Summary: One of her best books
Review: In spite of, or perhaps because of, the corporate sponsorship of this book it's one of her best. Tongue firmly in cheek, funny characters, ridiculous and hysterical plot lines; it's really great.

To people who criticize her taking money to write the book; how else do you expect her to pay the rent?! How nice it must be for the critics to be so "pure", but authors don't make a lot of money and however they scratch out a living is fine with me.

Fay is the best.

Rating:
Summary: For Weldon fans.
Review: This is typical of Weldon's less important books. It is a light, but biting comedy, with an insensitive husband, a scorned wife who ends up on top, and a little bit of magic. It is "current" with an older woman-younger man romance. I believe Weldon was too heavy handed with the husband's new wife even for this type of book. At the same time, Bulgari Connection is quite readable, and possibly cathartic for some readers. It captures the emotions and motivations of the husband very well. For a better, more complete novel, I would recommend Worst Fears by Weldon. If you are very interested in the husband's character , and have the time, you might consider Tom Wolfe's "A Man in Full".

Rating:
Summary: For Weldon fans.
Review: This is typical of Weldon's less important books. It is a light, but biting comedy, with an insensitive husband, a scorned wife who ends up on top, and a little bit of magic. It is "current" with an older woman-younger man romance. I believe Weldon was too heavy handed with the husband's new wife even for this type of book. At the same time, Bulgari Connection is quite readable, and possibly cathartic for some readers. It captures the emotions and motivations of the husband very well. For a better, more complete novel, I would recommend Worst Fears by Weldon. If you are very interested in the husband's character , and have the time, you might consider Tom Wolfe's "A Man in Full".