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Book Reviews Title Running
In Heels Fiction-Net
Rating Buy It
From Amazon.co.uk - BUY
NOW! Cover
Story 'To say that Babs
is my closest friend is rather like saying that
Einstein was good at sums. And if you've ever had a
best friend, you'll know what I mean. Babs and I
had such a beautiful relationship, no man could
better it. And then she met Simon.' Now Babs, noisy,
funny Babs, is getting married. And Natalie, 27, is
panicking. What happens when your best friend
pledges everlasting love to someone
else? As the confetti
flutters, Nat feels her good girl veneer crack. She
teeters into an alluringly unsuitable affair that
spins her crazily out of control and into trouble -
with her boss, Matt, and with Babs. Caught up in the
thrill of bad behaviour, Nat blithely ignores the
truth - about her new boyfriend, her best friend's
marriage, her mother's cooking and the wisdom of
inviting Babs's brother Andy - slippers and all -
to be her lodger. But perhaps what Nat really needs
to face is the mirror - and
herself… We
Say After wolfing
down an obscene amount of chocolate, the main
character in 'Running with Heels' boldly proclaims
'Beat that Bridget Jones.' Slightly harsh when you
consider that the character probably wouldn't have
existed without good old Bridget to start the trend
that led to this kind of book being published by
the truckload. However, Natalie arguably does have
one up one Bridget - she can be frothy, sweet,
vulnerable and anorexic all at the same time. This
is an example of 'Chick Fiction' trying to get
serious and making itself appear one Bridget short
of a phenomenon in the process. Of course, these
kind of books can get away with it sometimes - for
example, 'Rachel's Holiday' by Marian Keyes. But
the fact is that Keyes writes with such warmth and
perception that it's impossible not to enjoy it.
Maxted, on the other hand, writes about anorexia as
a lifestyle choice and plonks it into a book about
the beautiful twenty-somethings in
London. The characters
are an almost entirely predictable mix - the
big-boned and big-hearted best friend, the dodgy
boyfriend, the aloof and enigmatic guy who turns
out to be wonderfully sweet and the annoying
mother. These are people you can rely on to come up
with the cliché - the world spins, their
hearts hammer and their lips tremble as they say
something like 'How can you say that?' or 'It's not
that simple.' I'm not
suggesting that because the illness is serious the
book should be a deluge of depression. In reality,
most people respond to a bleak situation with
humour as a kind of defence mechanism. The problem
I have is that much of the humour and the events
seemed banal and unconvincing. I wanted the book to
go a little deeper and be a lot more realistic.
'Running with
Heels' gets one star and that's for the pace.
Although irritating, there was plenty going on and
the story didn't slow down. I just hope that Anna
Maxted puts her plotting skills to better use next
time. Review
by: Rachel
Taylor |
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