Helen Bradshaw is a 26-year-old with a lot to get over. Being a dogsbody on a woman’s magazine. The embarrassment of driving a Toyota. But her biggest problem is her addiction to the kind of man a shrink would call ‘emotionally distant’ and others would call ‘a wanker’. She lives with Luke, her friend, Marcus, her enormously vain landlord, whom she secretly lusts after, and Fatboy, her very spoiled cat. Then Helen’s life is turned on its head. Her father has a heart attack and dies. Her mother goes to pieces and she’s forced to spend far more time than she wants with her grandmother. Her boyfriend confesses his infidelity, she sleeps with Marcus, and gets to know Fatboy’s vet, the lovely Tom. But before the path of love can run smooth, Helen has to learn what really matters in life.
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From Publishers Weekly
Had Maxted published this sharp, witty tale of a British woman's love life and real life before the Bridget Jones phenomenon, Fielding's novel might have been noted as a pale comparison. Written in a hip, readable, often poignant and always funny style, protagonist Helen Bradshaw's story is set in modern-day London, where the 20-something editorial assistant comes to terms with her father's death and her own life. The plot spans one year, beginning with the day Helen learns of her father's fatal heart attack. Helen struggles with faithless boyfriend, Jasper; her self-centered but sexy landlord, Marcus; and her solipsistic "best friend," Michelle. Meanwhile, her demanding and unsupportive boss at GirlTime magazine cracks the whip. A complex part of Helen's healing process is repairing her relationship with her overbearing mother, Cecilia, who, though she mourns her husband inconsolably, eventually finds new direction in her life. Helen discovers real love in the patient and humorous veterinarian, Tom, and she learns enough about real friendship to hold onto her loyal, true buddies Lizzy, Luke and Tina, saving the latter's life in the process. As she stumbles from one crisis to another, Helen is always likable, even if the decisions she makes often make the reader want to give her a good shake. Although the narrative tackles many issues, from the loss of a parent to the horrors of domestic violence, Maxted's bouncy, upbeat tone never falters. Revealing a touch for comic timing and versatility, she paints scenes of hilarious pratfalls, biting sarcasm and heart-wrenching pathos. While comparison between this work and Fielding's is unavoidable, Maxted's laugh-out-loud debut novel will come out ahead. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Maxted, contributing editor to Cosmopolitan UK, has a quick wit and creates amusing characters in her first novel. Helen, the thirtyish heroine, is a features writer for a trendy women's magazine. She's reeling with grief at the sudden death of her father, and her stress is compounded by the neediness of her mother and grandmother. Helen has plenty more on her plate--she is being evicted from her apartment, she is trying to save a friend who is being abused by her fianc?, and her neurotic cat suffers a series of psychosomatic ailments. Behind the hilarious one-liners, there's a serious theme: it's tough for a young person to "be in charge" when a parent dies. Unfortunately, the appeal of this likable, if nonessential, novel will be limited in the United States by its many British colloquialisms. In addition, the book is far too long and loaded with slapstick scenes; its episodic content would have worked better as linked short stories. For larger collections.
-Joyce W. Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-Joyce W. Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By SK
Format:Paperback
I really enjoyed reading "Getting over It," it was fun and light, easy to read and very easy to fall in love with all the characters. The author successfully delineates each character and you immediately feel like you know them. They felt very familiar, in a good way! I hope the author continues to write about the trials and tribulations of being young and finding your way in the world. This book definitely left me wanting more!
By S. McCain
Format:Paperback
I absolutely loved this book! By fluke, I bought it in the airport to read on my vacation without really knowing anything about it. It didn't take long for Maxted to make me laugh & pull me into her story so much that I had an impossible time putting it down! Personally, I thought it was funnier than Bridget Jones (I found because there was so much hype surrounding that book, that Bridget just couldn't live up to my expectations).
Getting Over It, however, made me laugh out loud and went above and beyond what I had hoped for in a light and funny chick-lit read. If you like romantic comedy/chick-lit and are looking for a fun, fresh book, then don't hesitate: get ahold of Getting Over It as soon as you can...I would reccommend it to anybody! :)
Getting Over It, however, made me laugh out loud and went above and beyond what I had hoped for in a light and funny chick-lit read. If you like romantic comedy/chick-lit and are looking for a fun, fresh book, then don't hesitate: get ahold of Getting Over It as soon as you can...I would reccommend it to anybody! :)
By Cara Kaiser
Format:Paperback
Flailing, farting, wriggling, whining, squeaking, shrieking, sulking, squealing, and bleating. Drinking tequila till she wets herself. Reacting to a death in the family with histrionic self-pity, then failing to produce a drop of sensitivity toward either her fellow mourners or her improbably tolerant coterie of friends. Mucking up- again and again and AGAIN, for reasons as slapstick as an average "Three's Company" episode- her chances for love with a saintly, gorgeous veterinarian.
Sound lovably quirky? Exhausting is more like it. Sound funny? Well, yes, parts of it are a riot. But this book's protagonist, Londoner Helen, who is 26 going on 5, is one of the most maddening characters I have ever come across. I couldn't ever really like her, even when I sympathized with her problems. She was just too self-absorbed, too cartoonishly silly; very little else comes across, try though the author might. Then there's her mother. Is she supposed to be an object of pity? Infuriating? Funny? Probably all three, but in truth, I couldn't tell. She never cohered into a person I recognized, and making her a (talented) kindergarten teacher strains credulity. There is no way a woman who behaves like this one does- unable or unwilling to care for her own young child, for Pete's sake!- would have chosen such a profession.
Indeed, most of the book's characters are insufficiently imagined. Why make Marcus such a hissy-fitting gay stereotype, when he's supposed to be a womanizer? Exactly what would make the wise Lizzy dote so tenaciously on the feckless and often unkind Helen? There's a reliance here on grindingly obvious, "Just when you thought you were safe- here comes another catastrophe!" plotting; and an uneasy tone results from trying to graft serious "issues" and even gratuitous scenes of brutality onto the screwball infrastructure.
Yet, there were a few nice, original moments, like the poetic Chinese ritual Helen uses to help reconcile herself to her father's death. I loved some of the dialogue- who can resist the phrase "enormous great plonking plonker"? Or calling an eyepopping sum of money "650 squids"?
For those who loved Bridget Jones, this book will supply something approximating that book's rollicking humor and vivid sense of place. What it will mostly do, however, is make you appreciate anew how endearing, and convincing, a comic creation Bridget really is.
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4.1 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Couldn't Get Over Getting Over It
The book Getting Over It by Anna Maxted is about a 25 year old woman named Helen. In the story, Helen is in the world out on her own, with a job at a magazine, and a recently ended... Read more
Published on May 23 2002 by Jill
3.0 out of 5 stars
Was expecting a bit more from it
I can't help but compare this book to Bridget Jones -- same character type (young British woman, mediocre job, unlucky in love, parental problems) -- which is why I was kind of... Read more
Published on May 20 2002 by Michele K
2.0 out of 5 stars
Skip this one
As a 20-something Singleton myself, I tend to gravitate toward books like this. "Getting Over It" is marketed as another "Bridget Jones," which I (and the rest of the single female... Read more
Published on May 13 2002 by TexasTiff
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bewildered by the reviews
I expected a much better work after reading some of the reviews in here. Far from being hilarious, I think the appropriate descriptive adjective is "disturbing. Read more
Published on April 24 2002 by jumpy1
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny and interesting!
This is a great book, that I personally have recommended to my friends. It has a slow start, but by the end of it I couldn't put it down. Read more
Published on April 3 2002 by Diane
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't bother.....
Don't even bother with this one - it's really bad. There are so many other good brit chick books out there - leave this on the shelf!
Published on Feb 4 2002
1.0 out of 5 stars
Awful
I could only stomach 3 chapters of this waste of type and paper. I have read several books in this "genre" i.e, Bridget Jones, Good in Bed, Jemima Jones... Read more
Published on Jan 26 2002 by TheGhostofBelleStarr
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very real comedy-I Ioved this book!
A funny thing happened to Helen on the way to her father's funeral - and this on top of a man who isn't right for her, an unlikely prospective boyfriend, a terrible roommate, a... Read more
Published on Jan 26 2002 by Denise Eaden
4.0 out of 5 stars
be inspired
brilliantly and articulately written wonderfully expressively and witty with simple use of vacabs and adjectives to deliver beautifully. Read more
Published on Jan 17 2002
5.0 out of 5 stars
i really liked this book
I read this book in two days, and couldn't put it down. If you liked Bridget Jones Diary, this is similar to that book. Read more
Published on Jan 14 2002
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