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    Affliction
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    Affliction
    Unavailable
    Affliction
    Audiobook (abridged)2 hours

    Affliction

    Written by Fay Weldon

    Narrated by Patricia Hodge

    4/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    A novel about the perfect pair – or are they?

    Annette and Spicer make a perfect pair: he thirty-nine, wide-shouldered, square-jawed, and often likened to Harrison Ford; she slight, fair, delicately featured, and sometimes likened to Meryl Streep. He with a son (Jason, eleven) from a previous marriage, she with a daughter (Susan, thirteen) from a ditto. He and she, after ten years, expecting their own baby. But on this, the first day of the rest of their blissful lives, Spicer fails to kiss Annette goodbye as he leaves for the office.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateJul 7, 2011
    ISBN9780007449965
    Unavailable
    Affliction
    Author

    Fay Weldon

    Fay Weldon is a novelist, screenwriter and cultural journalist. Her novels include ‘The Life and Loves of a She-Devil’, ‘Puffball’, ‘Big Women’ and ‘Rhode Island Blues’. She has also published her autobiography ‘Auto da Fay’. Her most recent novel was the critically acclaimed ‘She May Not Leave’. She lives in Dorset.

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    Reviews for Affliction

    4/5

    34 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book since I live in NH and can see how cloying and close small town life can be. I didn't give it 4 stars as it could have used some editing. The descriptions of the surroundings and the small town were overly long and parts of the book seemed repetitive. However, the story was well told and engaging.
    • 4/5
      As I wrote last month in my review of The Sweet Hereafter, “Russell Banks accomplishes a psychological study par excellence.” The same is true of Affliction. If there’s a difference in the number of stars I’ve awarded to the two works, that difference resides in this: Affliction has – at least to my way of thinking – narrative errors. Any editor worth his or her stripes could’ve spotted those errors and pointed them out to Mr. Banks. (S)he did not. The work went to press as is.


      What I will say in support of Affliction is that it moves – and paints a very vivid picture. The picture it paints is somewhat unlike the calendar photos you may’ve seen year after year of autumn in New England. I know. I’ve spent many a third weekend in October in Vermont or New Hampshire, ogling the foliage. That foliage will never be the same for me again. Not after Russell Banks’s Affliction.


      Where the work excels is in character development. Where it falls short is in plot: I was too often confused as to who did what and to whom – perhaps Mr. Banks’s intention.


      In any case, if you read only one work of Russell Banks’s, read The Sweet Hereafter. Affliction will not disappoint – not by a long shot – but it’s not up to snuff with (or of the stuff of) The Sweet Hereafter.


      RRB
      06/20/14
      Brooklyn, NY
    • 5/5
      I read this book in the middle of winter while living in Maine, which may have been a little dangerous. A dark tale of inheritance of family pain. I especially liked Wade's brother as the unreliable narrator, relating details he couldn't possibly know. The film version is an excellent adaptation.
    • 5/5
      indignity to incendiary... and all the little steps along the way... working class white guy in small town New England, a rarely portrayed character, in superb psychological detail. Another empathy producing book.
    • 5/5
      An excellent examination of the roots of family violence. The fall of intelligent man stuck in a deadend town with a deadend job and a taste for alcohol is beautifully and painfully told by his brother, the college professor. An exceptional book by a great author, this is the penultimate example of Banks' New Hampshire. The movie (which I saw prior to reading the book) is a worthy rendition of the novel.
    • 4/5
      This is my favorite Banks book that I've read. The movie was good, too. Don't read it if you're depressed, though.
    • 5/5
      The more I read of Banks, the more I wonder how I've made it this long without reading more of him. His prose is beautiful and his subject matter is always darkly compelling.

      Affliction is no exception, delving deeply into a man it would be easy to ignore. In fact, for the most part, that seems to be Wade's defining feature; he's overlooked for so long, until even after it would seem impossible to avoid him, he disappears. It would be easy to say the book describes his steady descent into madness, but his inner world is so richly described that it's impossible not to sympathize with him.

      At once a taut thriller and a densely-woven character piece, Banks has created a masterpiece.

      The movie, unfortunately, is not nearly as good.
    • 5/5
      Wade Whitehouse could be an ordinary guy. He could be that small town, hard-working, have a beer with the boys, all-around nice guy. Except bad luck not only follows Wade like a hungry dog, it bites him when he's down. No matter how caring Wade Whitehouse is on the inside, no matter how well-meaning he is, when things go wrong people know not to stand in his way. The entire tiny town of Lawford, New Hampshire knows Wade and his troubles. It's no secret he has a mean streak that runs to the center of his very core. Alcohol and a nagging toothache only widen that streak until it takes over his whole being. In theory it's not all Wade's fault. Abused by his father during his formative years, Wade loses his wife, home and daughter when he himself turns violent. All he wants is more time with his daughter, a decent paycheck and a simple way of life. When none of these things come easily Wade sets out to unveil the truth and right the wrongs, using violence as the vehicle to do so. What makes Wade's story so fascinating is that it is told from a younger brother's perspective. Being in Massachusetts he is a comfortable distance from both his brother and the memories that have scarred him, too.
    • 5/5
      Rolfe Whitehouse narrates how he believes the last few days of Wade’s (his older brother) life played out. Rolfe makes it clear from the beginning that Wade Whitehouse went missing and under some very violent circumstances. From there Rolfe dips in and out of the minds of many characters that inhabit Wade’s world. Rolfe is trying to make sense of Wade’s final days so that he could possibly move on with his own life, which may prove harder that Rolfe realizes. The major theme is that of the danger that traditional ideas about manhood (strong, warrior-like, breadwinning, emotionally cold) can cause on an individual who may not fit that mold. Abuse and alcoholism represent the vicious cycle of violence perpetuated by these masculine ideals, to which no man could ever live up. Most of the men in Affliction fall into coarse versions of those ideals by asserting their dominance and power in other, usually violent, ways. Banks expertly creates the mood of a New Hampshire winter steeped with beauty and, strangely, aggression. All the open wilderness is a claustrophobic space that these characters live in, and things get hairy in such tight quarters. The landscape, the abuse and alcoholism, the thwarted male ideology all work well to show the breakdown of man who tumbles through a series of unfortunate circumstances, never really finding the footing he needs to right himself.Great read. Still have to see the movie.
    • 5/5
      I consider this Banks' best novel. A hard and unflinching examination of deeply flawed characters, Banks is fair, respectful, compassionate, and almost loving with them. This was made into a good movie, but read the book first. The book depressed me for weeks, but maybe it was the "good kind" of depression.
    • 2/5
      What do I write for a review........reading this book was like watching a bad film, I kept asking myself why am I bothering? I had chosen Affliction as a book for my reading challenge and it had also been passed on to me by a friend, with a note included saying "...see what you think of this!" Well I can honestly say that I have never ever read anything like it! Fay Weldon has written a book that could easily be turned into a stage play, with it's few characters and all the action centred around a couple of locations. When I started, I wanted to read a chapter before putting the book down, but no chapters! I hated each and every character and can't think of one saving grace for any of them. I hated them with such a passion that had they stepped out of the pages I'd have happily slapped, whipped and tarred and feathered the lot of them. Is this then, Fay Weldon's pure genius as an author? Perhaps it is and perhaps I should be singing her praise for a brilliantly written, acutely observed piece of fiction. But I shall leave that to those out there in the book buying world who have enjoyed reading it. I will stick to my personal opinion and toss the book out for collection by the Lifeline Van, and they can recycle it onto their .50c table! I gave it Two Stars only because I reserve a one star rating for books I do not finish.
    • 3/5
      Annette and Spicer have been together for ten years and seem to be the perfect couple. Expecting their first child, one morning Spicer fails to kiss Annette goodbye which starts the chain of events leading to the meltdown of their marriage. Annette discovers that Spicer is seeing a psychotherapist - Dr Rhea - and he starts behaving psychologically abusive towards Annette, leaving her bewildered and doubting herself. The array of psychiatrists, fortune-tellers and hypnotherapists make an interesting mix. An interesting read with some twists.