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bethanharcourt's review against another edition
2.0
I find it very hard to enjoy a book when I dislike the main character. I understand the journey of this book is her self development, but that didn't start until far too late for me. There's a thin line between it being funny because she's so classically English and repressed and look at all the mistakes she makes, and it just being pathetic and frustrating.
angelinee's review against another edition
2.0
I thought this book would be right up my alley and hoped it would give me funny insight into what my girlfriends went through when I was the first of our group of best friends to get married. What i got was another chick lit book where the main character is an unemployed publicist/journalist and an emotional mess and yet men fight over her like idiots (but she sleeps with all of them) and ends up with her finding the right job/career and right man, who was there all along (with her parents' mid-life crisis/marriage killer thrown into the mix as well). Swap the names, make the main character a little rounder, and flip flop the parental crisis and you've got Bridget Jone all over again. I rushed through this book just to get it over with.
The only things that kept is from being a one star was that the writing itself wasn't bad, I think the topic of anorexia was treated with appropriate gravity, and I think the relationship between Natalie and her mother was interesting and not fluffy.
The only things that kept is from being a one star was that the writing itself wasn't bad, I think the topic of anorexia was treated with appropriate gravity, and I think the relationship between Natalie and her mother was interesting and not fluffy.
bookzoo's review against another edition
3.0
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12664195
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12664195
bookcrazyblogger's review against another edition
5.0
I started this book thinking the main character was vain, vapid and obnoxious. However, I’m blown away by realizing that this girl’s presence and voice is so strong, that I don’t guess her biggest secret. That her act is THAT good. Natalie Miller is an anorexic and this is her story of recovery.
smhq089030's review against another edition
4.0
What a funny read ! I love the characters ! Especially Natalie and her issues with men and her looks. First i thought it was going to be a superficial read, but boy was i wrong, it was very personal , and i connected with the character right away and Maxted did a wonderful job on the character arc structure. If you guys want something to enjoy over spring break, pick up this book ! Its a Laugh Out Loud book. Though one wish, more Andy and making fun of Saul .
wynne_ronareads's review against another edition
3.0
I found this book on the "international literature" table of a small bookstore in SOHO. Despite it being a non-challenging book, it took me at least a month to read. Not sure why.
There is no arguing that Anna Maxted is a hilarious writer. I laughed aloud nearly every time I sat down to read "Running in Heels." RIH introduces us to Natalie Miller, a twenty-something working in PR at a ballet company and desperately trying to balance...well...life. There's nothing that Natalie has under control, least of all her feelings of loss over having recently watched her best friend in the whole world, Babs, get married. Where Babs is assertive, unique and strong in her womanhood, Natalie is meek, quiet and unsure about nearly everything she does. Thank goodness she's sharply witty and intelligent in her internal dialogue, even though it's infuriating that she never sticks up for herself.
After Babs gets married, Natalie is left to navigate singledom alone. This is made more difficult by the anorexic and strange dancers in her company, her gay boss and his flatulent basset hound, her boring as hell ex-boyfriend Saul, and her new love interest Chris. Oh, and there's always her handsome, perfect, terrifying older brother Tony and her quivering, ever-dieting mother.
The fact that Maxted is an English writer and this takes place in London inevitably gives it a Bridget Jones' feel, and it's a comparison I hate (but feel obligated) to make. The big difference here is that Maxted forces her female leads to take on more intense life challenges than just finding a boyfriend. While this must be commended, I was riding along happily on my bike when BAM the real plot point hit after about 60 pages--Natalie is a terrible anorexic, who's recently begun to engage in bulimic behavior as well. This topic proved to be an interesting dilemma, since so much about Natalie's life centers around lack of control, it makes sense that she attempts to assert some control via her eating. But there was literally NO SIGN of her having this eating disorder until about 60+ pages into the book (maybe I'm an idiot and they were there earlier, in which case, please let me know). There's no transition, it's just single girl with hilarious observations and a typically difficult life to HOLY SHIT she's literally starving herself. When Natalie's hair started to fall out, a symptom of how far she's taken her eating disorder, I thought it was a joke--that she'd accidentally used the wrong product at her boyfriend's house. That's how unaware of her disorder I was.
That critique aside, when Maxted does reveal Natalie's eating disorder she tackles it head on with both humor and tragedy. It never feels fake or not genuine. Nor did I feel that Natalie's eventual insight/recovery from her condition was forced or unnatural, it happens gradually, as she is forced to deal with the pain caused by her non-communicative family and the loss of her best friend.
"Running In Heels" is worth reading if only so you can expose yourself to Maxted's CONSTANT hilarity. She literally never stops. Even when Natalie is binge eating alone in her apartment, I was laughing out loud. I'd never realized it prior to this book, but sometimes looking at life's hardest situations through humor is powerful enough. But I have to admit I thought I was reading two different books at times. And it was hard to read Natalie's weaknesses, a downside that is purely personal and not a critique of the story itself.
Call this Bridget Jones for the even deeper thinking woman.
There is no arguing that Anna Maxted is a hilarious writer. I laughed aloud nearly every time I sat down to read "Running in Heels." RIH introduces us to Natalie Miller, a twenty-something working in PR at a ballet company and desperately trying to balance...well...life. There's nothing that Natalie has under control, least of all her feelings of loss over having recently watched her best friend in the whole world, Babs, get married. Where Babs is assertive, unique and strong in her womanhood, Natalie is meek, quiet and unsure about nearly everything she does. Thank goodness she's sharply witty and intelligent in her internal dialogue, even though it's infuriating that she never sticks up for herself.
After Babs gets married, Natalie is left to navigate singledom alone. This is made more difficult by the anorexic and strange dancers in her company, her gay boss and his flatulent basset hound, her boring as hell ex-boyfriend Saul, and her new love interest Chris. Oh, and there's always her handsome, perfect, terrifying older brother Tony and her quivering, ever-dieting mother.
The fact that Maxted is an English writer and this takes place in London inevitably gives it a Bridget Jones' feel, and it's a comparison I hate (but feel obligated) to make. The big difference here is that Maxted forces her female leads to take on more intense life challenges than just finding a boyfriend. While this must be commended, I was riding along happily on my bike when BAM the real plot point hit after about 60 pages--Natalie is a terrible anorexic, who's recently begun to engage in bulimic behavior as well. This topic proved to be an interesting dilemma, since so much about Natalie's life centers around lack of control, it makes sense that she attempts to assert some control via her eating. But there was literally NO SIGN of her having this eating disorder until about 60+ pages into the book (maybe I'm an idiot and they were there earlier, in which case, please let me know). There's no transition, it's just single girl with hilarious observations and a typically difficult life to HOLY SHIT she's literally starving herself. When Natalie's hair started to fall out, a symptom of how far she's taken her eating disorder, I thought it was a joke--that she'd accidentally used the wrong product at her boyfriend's house. That's how unaware of her disorder I was.
That critique aside, when Maxted does reveal Natalie's eating disorder she tackles it head on with both humor and tragedy. It never feels fake or not genuine. Nor did I feel that Natalie's eventual insight/recovery from her condition was forced or unnatural, it happens gradually, as she is forced to deal with the pain caused by her non-communicative family and the loss of her best friend.
"Running In Heels" is worth reading if only so you can expose yourself to Maxted's CONSTANT hilarity. She literally never stops. Even when Natalie is binge eating alone in her apartment, I was laughing out loud. I'd never realized it prior to this book, but sometimes looking at life's hardest situations through humor is powerful enough. But I have to admit I thought I was reading two different books at times. And it was hard to read Natalie's weaknesses, a downside that is purely personal and not a critique of the story itself.
Call this Bridget Jones for the even deeper thinking woman.
theelliemo's review
1.0
I bought this book many years ago, when it first came out, and, as with many books in my life - to my shame - has languished on a bookshelf for years whilst other books and indeed other things in life have come and gone. In a bid to reduce the clutter, I am trying to get through some of these older books, and ended up grabbing this one at random. And I have to admit to wondering what it was about this book that ever appealed to me in the first place? I can only assume that I was going through a chick-lit phase, and thought this would be a nice feelgood story with a happy ending. After all, according to the blurb on the back, it was 'witty and clever', 'a brilliant debut' and 'warm, poignant and very funny'. I have learnt, as I've got older, never to trust the quotes on the back of a book.
Anna Maxted's Running in Heels is a 450-page book, the story in which could have been dealt with in about 250 pages. There's way too much unnecessary descriptions and random asides that bear no relation to the story whatsoever - Maxted's editor should have told her to cut the dross!
This book also tries to be too many things. It appears to want to be taken seriously as an insight in to the thought-process of someone with an eating disorder, at the same time as being a light and frothy chick-lit girl-meets-boy-girl-loses-boy-girl-wins-back-boy happy-ending novel at the same time; the two don't mix well and the book is poorer for it. It doesn't help that the big reveal that the protagonist, Natalie, is anorexic and developing bulimia comes halfway through the book, by which time I had already concluded that Natalie was an annoying simpering misery who needed a good slapping. So when the big reveal came, I had no sympathy for Natalie. In fact, none of the characters in this book are likeable. Maybe the provincial 2017 me just can't understand 2001 London life!
Not that not liking a character should have any bearing on whether I like a book - I've read books where I have hated the characters, but the quality of the writing has transcended that. Maxted is, or at least was, no such writer (I've not read anything else by her so can't comment on whether she's improved).
With two exceptions (one being the bible), I always finish a book I start, no matter how bad. It's such a relief to finish this one; I pray that the next work I read is more worthwhile.
Anna Maxted's Running in Heels is a 450-page book, the story in which could have been dealt with in about 250 pages. There's way too much unnecessary descriptions and random asides that bear no relation to the story whatsoever - Maxted's editor should have told her to cut the dross!
This book also tries to be too many things. It appears to want to be taken seriously as an insight in to the thought-process of someone with an eating disorder, at the same time as being a light and frothy chick-lit girl-meets-boy-girl-loses-boy-girl-wins-back-boy happy-ending novel at the same time; the two don't mix well and the book is poorer for it. It doesn't help that the big reveal that the protagonist, Natalie, is anorexic and developing bulimia comes halfway through the book, by which time I had already concluded that Natalie was an annoying simpering misery who needed a good slapping. So when the big reveal came, I had no sympathy for Natalie. In fact, none of the characters in this book are likeable. Maybe the provincial 2017 me just can't understand 2001 London life!
Not that not liking a character should have any bearing on whether I like a book - I've read books where I have hated the characters, but the quality of the writing has transcended that. Maxted is, or at least was, no such writer (I've not read anything else by her so can't comment on whether she's improved).
With two exceptions (one being the bible), I always finish a book I start, no matter how bad. It's such a relief to finish this one; I pray that the next work I read is more worthwhile.
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