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| Getting Rid of Matthew | 
 enlarge | Author: Jane Fallon
Publisher: Penguin
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £6.98 (100%)
New (34) from £1.18
Avg. Customer Rating:  94 reviews
Sales Rank: 2885
Media: Paperback
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0141025298
EAN: 9780141025292
ASIN: 0141025298
Publication Date: January 4, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 89 more reviews...
 Enjoyable Read November 13, 2008
This was a very enjoyable holiday read, I read another of Jane's books 'Got you back' which was equally as good. Jane's sense of humour and writing style would be loved by anyone who liked 'Teachers' on TV (Channel 4) as she was the producer. I will be reading all of Jane's books.
 Ok writing...Awful central character... October 18, 2008
No matter how hard I tried, the writing is afterall fairly passable, I just couldn't 'like' this book.
The central character, Helen, was just awful. To everyone. At all times. It was completely impossible to sympathise with her in any way. In order for this character to have worked, JF needed to have injected some humour, some wit, into her debut novel... Alas not.
I speed-read the last quarter - it was predictable and boring - but as I laid the book down, my overall feeling was disappointment that she had not made best use of 'Helen' and what should have been a great plot.
So, as I say, the writing was ok but I would expect better in her subsequent novels. I'm also a little surprised that it ended up on a bestseller list but them's the breaks I suppose...
Light-hearted but fun September 28, 2008
Whilst this book will never win any prizes for literary merit, it has to be said that it is an extremely enjoyable and at time funny read.
A tale of morals, relationships, slip-ups and farce, it centres around Helen whose lover Matthew finally decides to move in with her after a relationship that has already last four years. Having asked for this time and time again, Helen suddenly realises that she no longer wants to live with Matthew. But how to get rid of him is the problem.
There are some very sharp and amusing passages as the plot unfolds and new relationships are forged, whilst others are destroyed. A light book, it does make some serious points and underlying this is the fact that it's simply a very enjoyable book which many people will devour at one or two sittings..
 Getting Rid of This Book... as fast as I can! September 20, 2008
People told me I'd love this book, but I didn't. I found it humourless and the characters (particularly the 'heroine', Helen), completely unsympathetic and wooden. The idea is a good one: mistress finally gets what she's been pining for (ie: her man) and decides she doesn't want him after all and in the hands of a better writer (Marian Keyes?), this could have been hilarious and poignant but I just wanted to get to the end so I could read something better!
Good chick-lit book September 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was drawn to this book by the cover. I think it those red shoes in contrast with the blue tie, it definitely draws the eye, and I am glad it did.
What to do if Matthew, your secret lover of the past four years, finally decides to leave his wife Sophie and their two daughters and move into your flat, just when you're thinking that you might not want him anymore ...Plan A - Stop shaving your armpits. And your bikini line. Tell him you have a moustache that you wax every six weeks. Stop having sex with him. Pick holes in the way he dresses. Don't brush your teeth. Or your hair. Or pluck out the stray hag-whisker that grows out of your chin. Buy incontinence pads and leave them lying around.Plan B - Accidentally on purpose bump into his wife Sophie. Give yourself a fake name and identity. Befriend Sophie. Actually begin to really like Sophie. Snog Matthew's son (who's the same age as you by the way. You're not a paedophile). Buy a cat and give it a fake name and identity. Befriend Matthew's children. Unsuccessfully watch your whole plan go absolutely horribly wrong. "Getting Rid of Matthew" isn't as easy as it seems, but along the way Helen will forge an unlikely friendship, find real love and realize that nothing ever goes exactly to plan ...
This was a good book. Helen quickly realizes she does not want Matthew and her ways to get rid of him are quirky and funny. This book was irresistible, hard to put down. Every time I did stop reading I was dying to know what was going to happen next.
Helen befriends the ex-wife and forms a lovely friendship. This was the highlight of the book for me, and when her true identity was revealed I nearly cried. Their friendship moved me so much, and made me grateful for my friends.
I didn't like Matthew's character, I could see why she wanted rid of him! He was slimy, a liar and weak and needy, plus old, not attractive. However, his character was well written and I did find myself disliking him and laughing at him.
I had a few problems with this book. The first is how long Helen's secret life panned out, I didn't think that was very realistic. The second was the way the children were written. They are aged 12 and 10 but to be honest it seemed like they were in their teens. And the final thing was I did not like the over-use of bad language.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and was happy to overlook my complaints. This is a great, fun chick lit book.
8/10
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