SOURCE: "So Witty or So Wise," in The Spectator, December 9, 1995, p. 41.

In the following review, Crosland praises some stories in Wicked Women, but finds fault with what she considers Weldon's reliance on static, "cartoon" characters.

Don't worry. When the seesaw swings up, Fay Weldon is on form: sparkling, sharply observing, insights delivered with a light touch that puts us in a good mood, however dark the comedy. And one of the great things about short stories is you can pick and choose. Most of these [in Wicked Women] have appeared over the past four years in publications as various as the Literary Review and Cosmopolitan, or been written for well-intended bodies from the British Council to Teenage Trust.

The selection opens with far the longest tale, a new offering, 'End of the Line'. It concerns a redundant nuclear scientist, married of course, assailed (not unwillingly) by a beautiful...