SOURCE: "Her Sisters, Herself," in New York Times Book Review, Vol. 95, March 25, 1990, p. 7.

In the following review, Houston praises Weldon's "quirky" humor in The Cloning of Joanna May.

In a recent interview about the filming of her novel The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Fay Weldon said, "My idea of morality isn't about women becoming strong and forceful, competent or whatever: it's about having a good time." And so, in fact, is the idea of The Cloning of Joanna May. In her latest novel, Ms. Weldon manages to boot the archenemy, boredom, out of her characters' lives as handily as she does from her readers', and it's a reasonable bet that she's had a good time it. Her book is part satire, part social commentary, part comedy of manners, part fantasy, but its true charm is that it ultimately refuses to be anything but itself—which is...