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Amazon.co.uk Review
The heroine of this story is Holly, who runs a dating agency. She split up with Nick, her childish boyfriend of five years, because "he didn't know how to make an effort in a relationship" (he lives on "hygiene's edge" not washing or talking enough, and being a generally lacklustre dating companion). She decides to throw a party to celebrate the success of her business and chooses rich and arrogant Stuart as her date for the evening. He brings Holly home, pushes her to the floor, and rapes her, and she doesn't tell anyone. As she says: "as long as I skated along the surface of my composure, I was fine. There was more underneath, I knew, but it was dark and cold and deathly and I refused to go there."
The rest of the novel deals with the repercussions of the rape, with Holly trying to carry on as normal, but being unable to. She is forced to redefine her life and her relationships, especially with Nick. Behaving Like Adults is well observed, moving, funny and intensely readable. --Eithne Farry
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Customer Reviews
This book should be compulsory reading for those men who consider rape as acceptable. In this book the emotions of a woman wronged are examined. I cannot agree with the other reviewer who found the treatment was trivialised in some way. I saw that as a strength because it highlighted the way in which some women consider such an attack. The way in which she came to understand that it was not her fault and the reaction of other people showed what a long and difficult journey this can be,
The light heartedness of the sub-plot helped to focus my thoughts on the suffering, the attempts to live a normal life.
If I have one criticism it was that the ending lacked the strength of the body of the story. Basically it was a cop-out. But having said that I'm not sure how it could have been done better.
All in all a good book dealing sensitively with a difficult and emotive subject.
I found absolutely nothing witty in that particular scene, or the whole book even. To imply that the author took a witty approach is to imply that she somehow trivialised the subject matter - a point I would strongly disagree with.
Even before I started reading the book, I knew what to expect. I knew the basic plot line and having read 'Running In Heels' I knew that Anna Maxted's books do not follow the usual, formulaic style of most 'chick lit' books, and that she dares to broach subjects that most female writers dare to touch.
'Behaving Like Adults' tells the story of Holly Appleton, manager of dating agency 'Girl Meets Boy'. She is idealistic, a real softie at heart, can't even bring herself to throw ex fiancé Nick out of their shared house. In an attempt to convince Nick that they are undeniably 'over', she decides to go on a date with an agency applicant, Stuart Marshall. This is where things start to go wrong.
I thought it was incredibly brave of the author to approach such a sensitive subject in this way.
My only gripe against the book is that I felt it 'lost' itself in places, and could have been shorter toward the end. Those of you with a soft heart will be glad to know that the ending is ultimately happy, maybe too happy for some. I though the characters were well thought out and the contrasting storyline of Nick and his family gives the reader something else to concentrate on other than what is happening with Holly. I particularly liked Claudia's character, and found myself laughing out loud at her 'driving etiquette'.
All in all, I would say this is an excellent book. As a young female myself, I feel things like this should be explored more. There is sometimes too much of a light-hearted feel to 'chick lit' books, and I think a lot of authors would benefit from straying from the constraints of the genre every once in a while.
Touching, poignant and very moving. Will stay in my mind for sometime after putting it down - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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