Bella, a young woman living alone in Brighton, is terrorized by an obscene phone-caller. The aggressor lives nearby and when he starts to harass Bella in the street, she decides she has had enough. She proceeds to murder her oppressor and then a whole series of predatory males.
Dirty Weekend (crime thriller fiction)
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From the Back Cover
"This is the story of Bella, who woke up one morning and realised she'd had enough."
So begins 'Dirty Weekend', a tale of revenge…
"From the opening lines the repetitive, hypnotic authority of the prose takes over… As a piece of stylised thuggery – mordant humour run riot – the effect is stunning. Helen Zahavi's comic timing is perfect; she knows exactly how far to go."
MARIE CLAIRE
"The possibility of revenge described by 'Dirty Weekend' exists almost nowhere outside Zahavi's pages… Bella, a reluctant angel of deliverance, narrates the revenge fantasies of the sexually abused with a deadpan, desperately funny voice, looking and mocking where the rest of us would never dare."
NAOMI WOLF, 'New Statesman & Society'
'Dirty Weekend' is excruciatingly well-written… Helen Zahavi's taut, gripping prose implicates us in Bella's bloody triumph… It's terrifying."
ZOE FAIRBAIRNS, 'Everywoman'
"Helen Zahavi's 'Dirty Weekend' is everything that Bret Easton Ellis's 'American Psycho' wants to be but isn't… Provocative, confrontational, disturbing, challenging, enlightening and moving…"
BLITZ
"Poor Martin Amis, poor D.M. Thomas. The game's over, boys – literary terrorism 'and' the fun on the streets… Read 'Dirty Weekend'. It's good – it may even be beautiful – and it's true."
ANDREA DWORKIN
About the Author
Helen Zahavi is a novelist and screenwriter and was born and educated in London. Her father came to England with the Polish Army during the Second World War, and her mother's parents came from Odessa. She worked as a Russian translator before becoming a writer, and has spent several years living in Paris.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An uncompromising novel and a sinister, wonderful fable-like story of feminist power
11 Dec 2010
By bobbygw
Format:Paperback
This is strong, provocative fiction whose style is reminiscent of the writers Gordon Lish (e.g., Peru: A Novel, Dear Mr. Capote) early Jenny Diski (e.g., Nothing Natural) and Andrea Dworkin (Mercy, Ice and Fire (Flamingo)), in terms of its honesty to consider and portray ugly realities and truths through the experiences of their female characters and the chameleon forms of violence perpetrated against women. Dirty Weekend, an account of 48 hours of violence against one woman, and her retributions, is by turns bizarre, poignant, powerful and empathetic.
From the outset, the story of Bella takes on the level of a fable or parable. By the opening pages, she has already been threatened with sexual violence by a man who lives opposite her. He promises to pour acid on her skin. But then 'Fate found Bella one night ... and whispered in her ear. And when she woke up, she knew she'd had enough'. It is from this point that she is empowered; no longer wishing to remain persecuted and victimised by the ignorance and violence so common in so many men. She decides, with the help of a mystic, that - since men seem only to view her as a victim - she is unable to at least act even as a bystander and avoid their glare, so concludes that she has no other choice than to take action.
In a series of explicitly and clinically described episodes, Bella enacts her ideas of retribution upon one violent man after another.... Read more ›
From the outset, the story of Bella takes on the level of a fable or parable. By the opening pages, she has already been threatened with sexual violence by a man who lives opposite her. He promises to pour acid on her skin. But then 'Fate found Bella one night ... and whispered in her ear. And when she woke up, she knew she'd had enough'. It is from this point that she is empowered; no longer wishing to remain persecuted and victimised by the ignorance and violence so common in so many men. She decides, with the help of a mystic, that - since men seem only to view her as a victim - she is unable to at least act even as a bystander and avoid their glare, so concludes that she has no other choice than to take action.
In a series of explicitly and clinically described episodes, Bella enacts her ideas of retribution upon one violent man after another.... Read more ›
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Although disturbing and violent in parts, this book is also very entertaining and strangely compelling. It is girl-power with a difference and makes for an uncomfortable read (especially if you're a bloke!) The author weaves a web of intrigue and black humour to leave the reader confused about how they should be feeling.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book has to be read to be believed. Zahavis hypnotic text leads the reader into Bella's warped world, yet leaves you convinced that she's doing the right thing. I couldn't put it down, and recommend it to all the girls out there who've ever wanted revenge, and all the men who've ever taken advantage of a woman!
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Not sure what to make of this book.
Enjoyed it but left more questions than answers. A few surprises.
Good holiday read.
Enjoyed it but left more questions than answers. A few surprises.
Good holiday read.
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
It's always a pleasure as I make my way through a book, realising a quality above the usual. Especially turning the last page and knowing the book now ranks as an all-time great. This is rare. In the last year American Gods and Cloud Atlas rank as such. I'd also read Helen Zahavi's Donna and the Fatman, sometimes titled Donna's Revenge, which stood shoulder to shoulder with these other two. Donna was sublime. I bought Helen's other two books immediately, but until last Sunday I hadn't read either. Mostly because I didn't want them to spoil the esteem I held for the first - if that makes any sense at all. But I couldn't sleep Sunday and reached for the Kindle. One thing led to another, and I started reading Dirty Weekend.
Bella is a fragile and quite attractive woman, a person quite happy for the world to pass by. Unfortunately it seldom does. Her need for seclusion attracts unwanted attention. It starts with intimidating calls in the middle of the night, then personal threats as she tries to enjoy a few hours in the sun. Bella has nowhere to turn or run. Tired of a life persecuted by men who think they can own her, something trips in Bella's mind and she decides to run no more.
Any worries Dirty Weekend might taint my love of Donna and the Fatman was dispelled about two lines in. Dirty Weekend is not only possessed of the same original and sublime narrative, it defines a wonderful heroine we can admire and fear a little. Imagine Dirty Harry with the badge and scowl swapped out for a red silk dress, stilettos and a disarming smile.
Undoubtably literary throughout but easily bridging the entertainment divide, Dirty Weekend is a compulsive tale of revenge against society and the many aspects of it we accept, that with closer thought, probably shouldn't.... Read more ›
Bella is a fragile and quite attractive woman, a person quite happy for the world to pass by. Unfortunately it seldom does. Her need for seclusion attracts unwanted attention. It starts with intimidating calls in the middle of the night, then personal threats as she tries to enjoy a few hours in the sun. Bella has nowhere to turn or run. Tired of a life persecuted by men who think they can own her, something trips in Bella's mind and she decides to run no more.
Any worries Dirty Weekend might taint my love of Donna and the Fatman was dispelled about two lines in. Dirty Weekend is not only possessed of the same original and sublime narrative, it defines a wonderful heroine we can admire and fear a little. Imagine Dirty Harry with the badge and scowl swapped out for a red silk dress, stilettos and a disarming smile.
Undoubtably literary throughout but easily bridging the entertainment divide, Dirty Weekend is a compulsive tale of revenge against society and the many aspects of it we accept, that with closer thought, probably shouldn't.... Read more ›
By mkc
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read a small extract and it seemed a good premise for a thriller - however as hard as I tried I could not get into the story at all - would not rush to buy another book by this author as the style does not suit my taste
By ninfilms
Format:Hardcover
Zahavi creates a dark story about one woman quest for revenge on sadistic men in Brighton. It's good how Michael Winner was faithful to the book in his film adaption of Dirty Weekend.
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Pointless. No real depth. Not really a thriller, just an empty decline from a lonesome girl into a vicious serial killer. Difficult to connect any emotion at all with the killer.
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3.9 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
heavy reading
The storyline was very fragmented and the whole theme was very explicit.You had to be very broad minded to accept the theme and the weak ending
Published 3 months ago by graham w
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful
Taut plotting, spare writing, spine-chillingly good.
Every town needs a Bella.
This book will stay with you long after you've finished reading.
Every town needs a Bella.
This book will stay with you long after you've finished reading.
Published 3 months ago by Karen
4.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting
Quite a haunting book, not exactly my cup of tea but was ok a bit too graphic for my liking
Published 4 months ago by lymdylou
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant read!
I wasn't sure of it at the start but it quickly became difficult to put down...Bella seem oddly unlucky and some of the action is a bit far-fetched but even so Helen wrote this... Read more
Published 5 months ago by John
2.0 out of 5 stars
could not get into it
i found it boring. I could not get into it and stopped reading it less than half way through. Maybe it was not for me.
Published 5 months ago by Maria de la Iglesia
2.0 out of 5 stars
Weird.
Not my type of book at all.I found it quite a strange experience,I didn't read it all as it was disturbing.
Published 5 months ago by Mrs. P. M. Roberts
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best book I've ever read!!
Thi book is both a relevation and an inspiration! If you've ever felt 'at the bottom of the pile' in terms of being dumped on by men this is the book for you. Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2007 by Ms. J. E. Rutter
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