SOURCE: Review of Life Force, in World Literature Today, Vol. 66, No. 4, Autumn 1992, p. 723.

In the following review, Neilen states that Weldon's satire in Life Force "leaves us laughing through our tears."

Fay Weldon's latest novel, Life Force, announces its intention pictorially on the jacket; a photo of part of Michelangelo's David meets the reader's gaze. However, unlike most of the partial depictions of the work which concentrate on the torso, this one concentrates on the phallus. The publishers seem as squeamish as Victorians, since they provide a paper wrapper to hide the offending part until presumably the reader gets the book home. Weldon no doubt is laughing at this cat-and-mouse game. Her novel, after all, wants to shed light on this symbol of male power and female desire. She intends not to cover up any of the myths surrounding it, and she has a great deal of fun...