Mrs Fytton Vs Mrs Fytton (Mrs Fytton's Country Life - Mavis Cheek)

Name: TigerTiger

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Product:	Mrs Fytton's Country Life - Mavis Cheek
Date:	04/01/02 (70 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: "few" humerous moments, Good book for those who have been dumped

Disadvantages: Very average, Wanted to finish it and read something else in the end

Angela Fytton is pretty much superwoman. She had a degree from Cambridge, a gorgeous husband, 2 healthy intelligent children, a large beautiful house. She is also a good businesswoman and partner in her husband’s company. Yet, with all this she still manages to be a bit of a “bedroom vamp” (her words). Everything seems perfect.

Then one day her husband trades her in for a younger woman (like so many before her) and Mrs Fytton is not going to let this go lightly. “Mrs Fytton’s Country Life” by the award winning Mavis Cheek (Pause Between Acts) tells of Angela’s post-husband life and how she sets about getting revenge for the way she has been treated.

So, Mrs Fytton trades in her city life and moves to a village in Somerset. It appears that she has been watching one too many village life programmes and it all turns out to be a great shock when it is not as peaceful and innocent as she presumed it would be.

Revenge is the central theme to this book and it provides a great deal of entertainment. One of the main reasons that I was drawn to this book is that on the front cover is says, “Cheek makes you laugh out loud repeatedly” (Daily mail). It then goes on to describe it as “Prozac on the page” which means there is a lot for this novel to live up to. I have to admit though that I cannot remember laughing out loud, but I was amused (at times).

Angela is a clever woman and everything she does from her new country residence is planned to make her ex and his new wife’s life a misery. Much of the amusement comes from the new wife and her attempts to get on with her step children. Angela has carefully manipulated the situation so that the new wife is left in the same house as 2 teenage children to drive her insane. With the arrival of a new baby the New Mrs Fytton struggles to preserve her sanity, whilst the old Mrs Fytton down in Somerset looks on with amusement.
They say that this is a great book if you have recently been dumped yourself, and maybe it is. If you liked “First wives Club” you will probably like this too.

Aside from the main plot of revenge, this novel shows how a city dweller adapts to living in the country. Angela goes with all these pre-conceived ideas of how she will live. How she will bake and make jam etc. The reality is a lot different and causes much amusement. The book gives many details and insights into the other villagers as it swaps between the different viewpoints.

I guess what I really likes about this book is that is shows men to be weak and superficial (feminist me? Never!). On the basis of this assertion I don’t think this book will appeal to men a great deal.

Another major reason for me choosing to read this novel is that I am just in the process of writing my own novel and it focuses on village life. Thus I was curious to see how other authors had portrayed it. I have to admit that on reflection there were too many quickly turned pages in this book. It got to the stage where I wanted to finish reading it and start something else. It is humorous at times and I have read many worse things. However, I feel that the storyline was a little far fetched and maybe lacking in substance at times. I felt a little unfulfilled by the whole novel.

To conclude, this book is currently on special offer for £4.99 in many bookstores and if you read as much as I do, it is probably worth a browse, it would be a good accompaniment to a train journey for example. However, to be honest I am sure you could find something much more worthwhile. Totally Average.

Summary: