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THE STORY
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Getting Rid Of Matthew is about 39 year old Helen who, for the past four years has been having an affair with married man - yes you have guessed it - Matthew. One day Matthew decides to leave his wife Sophie and their two daughters for good and moves in with Helen, but ... Read review
What to do if Matthew, your secret lover of the past four years, finally decides to leave ... more
his wife Sophie (and their two daughters) and move into your flat, just when you're thinking that you might not want him anymore. Here, Helen forges an unlikely f...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: in stock
What to do if Matthew, your secret lover of the past four years, finally decides to leave ... more
his wife Sophie and their two daughters and move into your flat, just when you're thinking that you might not want him anymore. Stop shaving your armpits. And your bikini line. Tell him you have a moustache that you wax every six weeks.
Advantages: good plot, interesting characters, quite funny Disadvantages: ending somewhat predictable and unbelievable.
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Getting Rid Of Matthew is about 39 year old Helen who, for the past four years has been having an affair with married man - yes you have guessed it - Matthew. One day Matthew decides to leave his wife Sophie and their two daughters for good and moves in with Helen, but rather than be thrilled to have her lover for the past couple of years to herself all of a sudden, she starts to change her mind and want her old ... ...work out a way of getting rid of Matthew. This is not as easy as it seems as Helen has to try and do it without hurting his feelings (he left his wife for her and now she feels guilty.) We find Helen hatching plans that include being lax with her personal hygiene, befriending his estranged wife and kissing his eldest son. Hilarity and chaos ensues......
This book has been sat on my shelf for a while, and after reading "The Outcast" I fancied a bit of light reading, but I got a bit more enjoyment out of this than I thought I would!! Heres why....
THE STORY
================
Getting Rid Of Matthew is about 39 year old Helen who, for the past four years has been having an affair with married man - yes you have guessed it - Matthew. One day Matthew decides to leave his wife Sophie and their two daughters for good and moves in with Helen, but rather than be thrilled to have her lover for the past couple of years to herself all of a sudden, she starts to change her mind and want her old life back.
Helen now has to try and work out a way of getting rid of Matthew. This is not as easy as it seems as Helen has to try and do it without hurting his feelings (he left his wife for her and now she feels guilty.) We find Helen hatching plans that include being lax with her personal hygiene, befriending his estranged wife and kissing his eldest son. Hilarity and chaos ensues......
HELEN
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Helen is in turns is unlikeable, funny, loveable and exasperating as a character in this book. At approaching 40, she feels like her life is at a dead end, all her friends are married except one, who has just got herself engaged and cant stop talking about her wedding plans, she's been seeing a married man, she thinks she is too old and has missed her chance to get into a dream career in PR and is now stuck as a PA to a woman who has succeeded where Helen didn't.
Its not hard to see why she at first appears unlikeable. As a female reader, its hard at first to sympathise with a woman who has been sleeping with a married man with kids for four years and then decides she doesn't want him just when he finally leaves his wife. However, as the story progresses, Helen is developed into someone who admittedly made the wrong decision, but ultimately wants to make up for it. Racked with guilt, Helen goes out of her way to find Sophie, Matthews wife just to make sure she is ok, but ends up making friends with her. Soon their friendship means that Sophie is confiding in her about her husband, Helen then makes it her quest to make Matthew see that he made the wrong decision in choosing her.
SOPHIE
============Sophie on the other hand has lived a comfortable if quiet life. Happy with her husband and daughters, Sophie never really had close female friends and stopped bothering completely with making new friends when she married Matthew. (Who, incidentally, left his first wife and grown up son to be with Sophie. ) Sophie is genuine caring, intelligent and loving and it is interesting reading the chapters where Sophie and Helen meet up as friends (Helen changes her name) to discuss the other woman that Matthew has left Sophie for. The fact that Sophie as complete trust in Helen makes it even more compelling reading and I felt torn between wanting Helen to confess her real identity so that Sophie would not be misled, and wanting to preserve their very real and trusting friendship.
MATTHEW
=============Matthew is a very interesting character. Throughout the book my opinion on him fluctuated dramatically. When he moves in with Helen I felt slightly sorry for him, Helen no longer wanted him but he desperately tried to make it work as he is incapable of being on his own. His constant lies and deceit make him quite a despicable character towards the end, and ultimately Helen (as well as Sophie) are just conquests in a line of many and so it isn't difficult to side with Helens way of thinking at all!
MY THOUGHTS
================Usually, I flit between what I'd call "decent" reading and chick lit, alternating the two. I was given this by someone at work who said she had enjoyed it but I wasn't expecting much.
However, I have to say that much to my surprise I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it is definitely one of the better books in this genre that I've read for a while.
What makes this stand out from the crowd is probably the humour - I found myself not exactly laughing at loud but certainly smirking at several points in the book where the writing is just brilliant. Helens humour is sarcastic and witty and its one of the loveable parts to her character. Matthews young daughter Claudia is also very funny, having picked up on swear words, she uses them at every opportunity she gets which makes for very funny reading. Its not surprising then that the author is a TV Producer who has penned "This Life" and "Teachers" and is partner to comedy genius that is Ricky Gervais. Aside from the humour, this book stands apart from the other books in this genre because doesn't follow the pretty much worn out plot line of:
girl is lonely
girl meets boy
girl and boy have a misunderstanding
Girl and boy realise they are being silly and live happily ever after
However, I will say that the ending was somewhat predictable, if not a bit unrealistic. I'd say that was Jane Fallons only mistake with this one. I really enjoyed the plot, the humour, the characters were real and believable and I am looking forward to Fallons next creation - hoping its as good as her debut!
Getting Rid of Matthew is the first book written by Jane Fallon and for a debut it's absolutely stunning. From the very first page I was drawn into the lives of the brilliant characters and I really did not want to put it down. It's an immensely readable book with all the right ingredients.
The book tells the story of Helen who has been having an affair with Matthew (an older married man) for the last four years. The one thing that she has wanted ... ...You could just seeing it getting worse and worse and that is very compelling as it just made me want to read on to see if and how she ever managed to get out of the hole she was digging herself!
The characters were absolutely spot on too especially the characters of Helen and Sophie. You really feel as though you shouldn't like Helen that much especially as she has stolen another woman's husband but you just can't help it! She is immensely likeable ...
kingfisher111 18.10.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Getting Rid of Matthew - Jane Fallon
Advantages: Pleasant enough chick lit, good premise to the story Disadvantages: Characters weren't likeable, not as good as Fallon's subsequent novel
...pick up a copy of Getting Rid Of Matthew in a local charity shop, paying only £1.50, rather than the RRP of £6.99, so I got a bargain. Settling down to read this novel I found myself enjoying the relaxed writing style of Jane Fallon once more. There were some similarities in terms of plot between this and her subsequent novel. Both stories feature a married man having an affair with another woman. In 'Getting Rid of Matthew', the married man is a ... ...with one of his employees (Helen) behind his wife's back (Sophie.) In a clever twist, this novel sees the married man leave his wife and children and move in with his lover - only for Helen to realise that she no longer wants to be with him. The story sees Helen's increasingly desperate and funny attempts to 'get rid' of Matthew and, ultimately, engineer a return to his wife, Sophie. (No spoilers here, by the way, I haven't told you anything that ...
jo-1976 23.07.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Getting Rid of Matthew - Jane Fallon
Advantages: Funny, great characters, gets you really involved Disadvantages: None
I first saw this book when it was on offer in my local bookstore, and the plot looked like something I would be interested in so I thought I would give it a go. I am so glad I did, I think this is one of the best books I have read in a long time! The characters, storyline and everything about the book is fantastic. So here is my review of "Getting Rid Of Matthew" by Jane Fallon.
This novel is Jane Fallon's first as an author although she is a successful ... ...Teachers. Jane also has a famous partner in the way of TV STar Ricky Gervais. The pair have been together since 1984.
The Plot:
The plot focuses around one main character, Helen, and her life with her boyfriend Matthew. However, things are not going to plan for Helen, and she decides she doesnt want to be with Matthew anymore...but there is the small matter of the wife and children at home he left to be with her!
Helen has been having an affair ...
mummy2harry 11.06.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Getting Rid of Matthew - Jane Fallon
Advantages: lighthearted read with humor Disadvantages: it can be a bit coring if it's not your style of writing
I brought this book as I read a review on it from ciao and it sounded good. So, I went to my local W.H.Smiths and picked it up for £6.99
took it home and started reading immediately.
I now want to write a review based on my own feelings for the book.
THE BOOK
Ok, here is the storyline to start off with;
Helen has been Matthew's lover for the past 4 years, there's just one problem he is married to Sophie and has 2 daughters with her. Finally ... ...with quite a few bagfuls of stuff- he want's to move in with her- her dream for the last 4 years has finally come true, there's just one more problem- she doesn't want him anymore!
Now we will read how Helen ties to get rid of Matthew- Simple things like stopping shaving, stopping having sex, leaving incontinence pads lying around, she stopped brushing her teeth, combing her hair and she tells him she once caught Chlamydia from a guy she never got ...
glitter-fairy 13.07.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Getting Rid of Matthew - Jane Fallon
Advantages: Different plot to the norm Disadvantages: Far fetched, unlikeable main character, slow read
...a must read. Getting Rid of Matthew is a book about a woman, Helen, who has been a mistress to Matthew for four years. He leaves his wife, Sophie, and children, after much nagging, and she decides she doesn't actually love him anymore, least of all like him, and plots to get him back together with his wife, who she becomes friends with along the way.
The book starts off reasonably well, but I found the narrative (it's written in third person) fluctuated ... ...has the upper hand after getting engaged, and she has no reason to look down on her anymore, so their friendship will not be the same. Enough said. She's very hard to empathise with, and I felt like I couldnt connect with her at all, which for a main character is not very good! She also comes across as being much younger than 40...I'm not sure if it's because I'm only 24, but I couldnt imagine her as being 40 at all!
MATTHEW: Somewhere close to ...
silvachilla 05.02.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Getting Rid of Matthew - Jane Fallon
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Advantages: Entertaining and absorbing read Disadvantages: none
Last year I really enjoyed reading 'GettingRid of Matthew' which was JaneFallon's debut novel. I loved it so much that when I saw that she had written another book - 'Got you back' - I couldn't wait to read it and I was not in the least disappointed.
This book is a tale of revenge and hatred in the extreme. This is focused on James who has been getting away with living a double life for the past year, spending half the week with his wife Stephanie and son Finn in London, whilst spending the other half in Lincolnshire living with Katie while running his country vet practice. Everything is fine and all three are happy until Stephanie discovers a text sent from Katie to James. Rather than confronting him outright, she decides to set about finding Katie. Both women meet and, realising that they have both been extremely wronged by James ...
Advantages: Funny, great to read, good characters, very enjoyable Disadvantages: None
After loving the debut novel "GettingRid of Matthew" by JaneFallon, I was excited to see that she had another novel coming out this summer called " Got You Back". I quickly reserved it at my local library, but my lovely fiance recently gave me a lot of High Street vouchers so I decided to treat myself to a new copy and bought it in my 3 for 2 offer from Waterstones.
Stephanie and James are happily married and living with their son in London. Or at least that's what Stephanie was led to believe until she saw a text message on James' phone which leads her to believe he's having an affair. Stephanie decides to confront his mistress Katie, and they are both shocked at the lies and deceit of their lover, and decide to get revenge. But one of the women doesn't know when to stop... how far will she go to bring down the man who betrayed her ...
Advantages: A really good read Disadvantages: None
I've never written a review on a book before so hope this is ok.
I had already read Gettingrid of Matthew by JaneFallon, last year, and enjoyed it immensly. When I saw this at Gatwick airport last month on a buy one get one half price offer I decided it would be good reading for my short break.
This is the story of three people. James and Stephanie have been married for nine years and have one son called Finn. James is a vet which is how him and Stephanie met when she ran a cat over in her home town of Bristol. Stephanie is a personal shopper and dresser for would be stars. They moved to London so Steph could continue her career, and James spent half the week there with them and working for a vet, and the other half back in Lincolnshire, where he part owned a vets surgery. This is where Katie comes into the story. She ...
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