Rose's love life is governed by one simple law: "Thou shalt not make another woman unhappy". And that, of course, rules out adultery. But since all the desirable men are almost by definition attached, the choice seems to be between sin and celibacy. And where does love fit into that?
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Initially a bit off-putting because of the narrator's deadpan, sardonic voice, this first novel becomes an absorbing chronicle of modern sexual mores as it illuminateswith a new twistthe age-old relationship between the sexes. Rose, the narrator, is one of a group of English academics and professionals in a university community, all of whom are intimately connected in a network of adulterous affairs. Although at first disapproving of extramarital relationships, Rose becomes vulnerable when she begins an affair with her tutor, Paul, who is married to Monica, who once had an affair with David, who is now involved with Jennifer . . . As Rose describes the liaisons and break-ups among her friends, she comes to some depressing conclusions: the only good men are already married, and they think philandering is their birthright; womenboth the wronged and the guiltydelude themselves about the men they love. New to this generation, however, is the higher proportion of women engaging in extramarital affairs, and their sense of themselves in that role: "Once we had to be weak to be loved. Now we have to be strong." Wry, witty, intelligent, occasionally hilarious and finally moving, this novel carries an emotional wallop. 50,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild featured alternate.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The moral of this cool, ironic commentary on adultery is clear: Affairs with married men cause pain for women. Narrator Rose, 38, regrets the loss of honor involved in such affairs, empathizes with the wives, and generally disapproves of adultery, at the same time that she practices it. Her three close friends are similarly involved. What is enduring here are female friendships, as the men come and go. As a last resort, spent affairs may be translated into fiction, a course taken by Rose after she succumbs to love with her married tutor. The English academic setting intensifies the detached intellectual tone used for a subject of such potentional passion and pain, and this is ultimately too clever to be engaging. Literary Guild featured alternate.
- Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Va.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Va.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A lesson in love,
By
This review is from: A Woman's Guide to Adultery (Hardcover)
A group of women in their 30's and 40's is enrolled as mature age students in an English course at University. Rose has never been married and is completely against the idea of having affairs with married men, more out of a sense of loyalty to other women than any great moral issue.
Her two closest friends are both involved with married men and are determined to break up the marriages and marry their lovers.Despite her earlier feelings about affairs with married men, Rose falls desperately in love with her tutor, Paul a pompous, predatory academic who enjoys having the devoted attention of his female students as well as the security of his wife...in fact the whole of the faculty and students seems to be sexually involved, within the cloistered atmosphere of the University. Carol Clewlow is a very fine writer and obviously knows exactly just how elating and devastating an affair can be.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book changed my life,
By A Customer
This review is from: A Woman's Guide To Adultery (Mass Market Paperback)
Every woman should read this book because it will speak to her soul. Every man should read it because it contains some of the most fundamental truths about women. It's written from the heart and it is simply the best book about the impact of adultery that has ever been published. Witty, intelligent and acessible, you will see yourself or someone you know on every page.Read it in your 20's, live it in your 30's it's a book you won't ever forget.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Woman's Guide to ... what ? Revenge ?,
By Stamatis Georgiou (Odense, Denmark) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Woman's Guide to Adultery (Hardcover)
Everybody at some point or another of their lives have an unhappy love affair, not all of us want to get even, but only Carol as far as I know, has decided to write a book for revenge. And it may be true that happy people don't have a story (I don't remember where I read this), but that doesn't necessarily mean that all unhappy people's stories are literature. Carol's book is a sad, bitter one, a woman's guide to self-pity, self-righteousness, self-whatever. All men in the book are either cold manipulators, or pathetic wimps, or both. Women in the book are either losing in love because they are sensitive, vulnerable as only a woman can be, or winning in love because they become as cold and manipulative and strong as men, only without the condemnation Carol reserves to her poor men's characters. It was an interesting book to read, and I'm not convinced that Carol is a bad writer if she puts her mind and not her bitterness to it, but it was one-sided and predictable to the point of boredom. Better luck next time Carol, both with books AND men.
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