SPLITTING

Is the stylish, schizoid heroine who splits from the philandering nobleman the author in disguise? Novelist Fay Weldon writes mordantly in this suspected roman à clef of estrangement and divorce among the British over-privileged. The package refers to Weldon's "wickedly funny novels, full of razor-sharp wit," but one finds little humor or wit in Jenny Sterlin's narration. Always measured, often ponderous, Sterlin reads with a world-weariness that leaves the listener wondering where the jokes are supposed to be. Without them, the book becomes a droning, grotesque caricature of the idle rich. Y.R. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: MAR/APR 98]