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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Funny and a litte poignant, September 2, 2004
Being Committed is an appealing and well written novel. Hannah, the female protagonist is simultaneously funny and touching as she more or less romps her way through her romantic, professional, and family lives.
The story opens with Hannah refusing a marriage proposal from a long-term boyfriend, only to change her mind a few weeks later. As a prerequisite to reuniting, her boyfriend insists that Hannah deals with some issues from her past that are preventing her from being emotionally open. Hannah starts by meeting with her ex-husband, Jack, who she married when she was 20, and divorced five months later. Gab, Hannah's sister-in-law, agrees to help Hannah become more feminine, and in doing so, Hannah develops a closer relationship with Gab, her brother, and their baby. As Hannah does some soul searching, and has some difficult conversations with both Gab and Jack, she begins to question more of the assumptions in her life, including her distant relationship with her mother, her exceptional closeness with her father, and even her career choice of private detective.
Don't let this description of how Hannah begins to find herself lead you to believe that Being Committed is not a funny novel. It is light, entertaining, and filled with feminine antics and wiles. This book is a step up from much of the "chick lit" genre, and I think most readers will enjoy the funny bits, identify with Hannah's coming of age, and relish the love stories.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
To commit or not to commit, September 22, 2004
Traditionally, commitmentphobes were men who feared being tied down with a wife and half a dozen kiddies. But in the 21st-century age of equality, women can be just as phobic as men. And that's the core of "Being Committed," a frothy and amusing tale about women who fear getting in too deep.
Hannah Lovekin has no desire to get married -- she had a brief union with Jack when she was twenty, and it lasted less than six months. Now she's ten years older and wiser, and has a wonderful, adoring boyfriend. Then Jason asks Hannah to marry him, and she turns the poor guy down. Ba-dum -- she decides she does want him after all, when he falls into the arms of a different woman.
Jason still wants her too, but he wants her to deal with her inner demons first -- and that means dealing with Jack. So Hannah contacts her ex-husband, who is still nursing wounds of his own, and begins to struggle through her own hangups. But things get even more complex when Hannah begins to get confused over what man she actually wants....
Maxted has a disarming tendency to tackle not-so-frothy topics in a frothy way. In this case, it's how your family, friends and relationships shape how you feel and think. While the ending is obvious to anyone who has read even a few chick-lit books, it's the twisting ride to the finale that counts.
Maxted has a pleasantly breezy way of writing, and she does a good job of digging into Hannah's soul. And it's engaging to see Hannah examining her relationships with her parents, her brother and his wife, and her ex-husband. The psychoanalysis-on-top-of-froth makes the narrative a little top-heavy at times, although Maxted does balance it out well overall.
Hannah would be an easy character to mess up -- with her hangups and repressed fears, she could easily have been annoying and pathetic. Instead, she comes across as a bit messed up, but a likable, self-deprecating woman. Jack and Jason both come across as three-dimensional and pleasant, although some of the secondary characters (the parents) are lacking.
Maxted's fourth novel is a pleasant chick-lit diversion, with a dose of psychoanalysis and family angst. A nice light read with a few heavy chapters.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Anything Anna Maxted Writes I Read, November 29, 2004
. . . and Ms. Maxted's writing is seldom predictable. Yes, this is chic lit, at it's belly laugh - knee buckling best. But just because I adore this gal's humour, her finesse at character descriptions ( people you can wrap your arms around from words on a page) isn't diminished. Hannah is our heroine in this story. Jason the fiance. Jack the ex-husband: ten years gone, ex husband! Quite frankly, I couldn't take Jack seriously until Hannah's Dad (& favourite person in the world) disturbs the mix. Many personalities contribute to Hannah's dilemmas: her mindspeak always the funniest observations of people and their tendencies. In the end, she does seem to resolve her past as much as any of us have ever had any kind of control once it's our past! And I embrace her future.
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