Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Amazing Hit!!, 27 Mar 2003
I love Anna Maxted's work. She's such a talented and gifted storyteller. "Getting Over It" (her first work) is one of my favs and I have been eagerly anticipating her next novel. I was not disappointed. The levels and characters in this book are wonderful. She tells a story with such intelligence, care and thoughtfulness. I really enjoy her pace and character development. The story goes deeper than the usual "modern romance" and makes you work harder. You will completely enjoy this book - and feel satisfied with a job well done. I highly recommend it.
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
readable, but not un-put-down-able, 23 Sep 2001
By A Customer
I hadn't read Maxted's first novel, but I had seen some complimentary reviews of this one, so I thought I'd buy it. Sadly it didn't live up to expectations. Natalie was self obsessed, had every problem in the world, and I felt that the approach to eating disorders was not setting a good example. In the end I didn't really care what happened to Natalie, I thought her friends should just leave her to wallow in her own self pity, having brought 90% of her problems on herself. I felt that this book tried to deal with too much, and as a result, it flitted from one thing to another without the depth any of the subjects needed. I found it hard to believe that anyone could go to two Pilates classes (grudgingly, for a friend) and suddenly decide that she wanted to completely turn her life around and teach it. And the cliches...! One gay best friend, one drop dead gorgeous best friend, a slightly mad mother, the coincidence of her new friend having dated Natalie's boyfriend-to-be... More than one idea lifted from Bridget Jones, but it just seems like Maxted couldn't come up with any original character traits of her own, and with less than grabbing stories, muddled rather than cleverly intertwined, I'd have to say, Bridget Jones is the original, and the best, and sadly everything else pales in comparison. Unfortunately this is something authors are going to have to deal with. I'm not saying this book was bad, and I might read it again at some point, but on the whole I just didn't care enough at the end, and for me, that's a significant factor in rating a novel.
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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
How many problems can one person have?, 5 Jul 2001
Natalie deals with anorexia, a bit of bulimia, an overbearing mother, a distant father with a younger dimwitted wife (who live in California-surprise!), career apathy, boyfriend problems, a brother who can't express emotions properly, a best friend that has gotten married and "abandoned" her....oy! The list goes on. And that's the problem with this book: it is trying to be a Book With a Message, but it fails because one problem is never fully explored and instead, it scratches the surface on many problems, some with no real resolution. I find it amazing that Natalie battles with anorexia, self esteem and body distortion issues throughout the book but at the end, she simply decides it's best to eat. I know it's fiction but it should have some reality involved if Maxted is trying to educate girls about the dangers of eating disorders. The book isn't truly awful, just mediocre and riddled with every cliché imaginable. You start to care less and less about the characters, especially Natalie, as the book wears on and just wonder when it will all end. Very disappointing.
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