The Spa Decameron Book Review
The Spa Decameron by Fay Weldon
Audio Book Copyright 2007 CD FIC WEL
During a recent road trip, I had the pleasure of listening to this somewhat quirky audio book. In it, ten women are brought together for a spa vacation over the Christmas holidays somewhere in Northern England. During this time, they all tell their life stories or at least an important bit of their life. The stories range from a transsexual judge to a woman who only wants a man if he is married to someone else.
Interwoven thought all of this is the narrator, a woman who is at the spa because her husband had to go and tend to his sick mother and there was an accident at home that makes the house inhabitable. Her worries over her husband’s absence and a recent tragedy in her circle of friends give an interesting counterpoint to the stories told by these diverse women.
Some stories are frankly better than others, and Weldon’s habit of naming women by their occupation or place in life rather than their names in many cases tends to dehumanize them. I found myself alternately amused and horrified by the stories and it did make the car ride to Burlington and back go quickly. I recommend this book for a long car ride.