Splitting (Weldon, Fay)

the long version

Splitting swoops with dizzying ease among the conflicting perspectives of a woman whose personality, in the face of her impending divorce, has slivered into a chorus of bickering interior voices, each with its own very distinct tastes and agendas. Ranging from former teen pop star to hapless titled wife, Angelica runs riot over London and its environs, chauffeured by the roguishly handsome Ram - who manages to sleep with all of her selves, sometimes simultaneously. A sharp and funny portrait of divorce, Splitting captures brilliantly the chaotic rhythms of a woman in crisis as it chronicles Angelica's disintegration into a handful of "perforated" personalities. No one writes with shrewder insight about women and that ambiguous and overriding presence in their lives, men, than Fay Weldon. This is a journey rich with her wit, wisdom, and very original narrative power.