Customer Reviews

Running in Heels: A Novel

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Running in Heels is a deliriously funny romp through Natalie Miller's life. It is thoroughly entertaining and tackles some fairly serious issues along the way. While at times frustrating, Natalie is a lovable character and has some of the funniest friends in London apparently. Although not as good as Getting Over It (one of my all time favorite books), if you liked it, you will definitely like Running in Heels.

Anna Maxted has such a grasp on human emotions and behavior, I felt at times as though she had seen my innermost thoughts and put them on paper. I applaud her honesty and sincerity. You won't be able to put this book down until you've turned the last page!

I had really high hopes for this book, especially after loving Anna Maxted's first book, Getting Over It. I am sad to say that Running in Heels did not match up to my expectations.

While not a bad book by any means, I did have a problem with it. The main character has major issues, and it was frustrating reading about her troubles without her doing anything about them. Of course, I understand that there are a lot of people like that in real life, but for some reason this book rubbed me the wrong way anyway.

Running in Heels tells the story of a woman named Natalie who spends a whole lot of time mourning her best friend, who recently got married. She also indulges in a good-for-nothing boyfriend, whines a lot, and -- out of the clear-blue -- suddenly has an eating disorder. That's pretty much what the book is about. It is definitely not a plot-driven story, but more of a slice-of-life sort of thing. And while that may be okay for some, I prefer a little more meat and substance to my books, and Running in Heels did not provide that for me.

This, of course, is just my opinion. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who would enjoy this novel. It all depends on what you like reading and what you are looking for. On the upside, I do not regret the time I spent reading this book.

When I read the Publishers Weekly review of this book, I felt disappointed. Months of waiting for a new Maxted book, and it gets panned by a critic. Apparently I'm one of the few people who liked this book. Helen Bradshaw, our (s)hero in "Getting Over It" was a much more likable character, someone we could easily be friends with. Natalie Miller (the first-person storyteller in RIH) is a continent of dysfunctional issues; anorexia (which eventually turns to a flirtation with bulimia), parental abandonment, and bordem that leads to ditching her boyfriend and dating a "bad boy". To make matters worse, Nat's best friend Babs gets married and (as a newly married couple usually does)finds she has less time to pursue her friendship with Nat. Working as PR rep for a London ballet company does nothing to help Nat see the error of her non-eating ways, either. Nat's father left them when Nat was a teenager, leaving her mother to coo and coddle her older brother Tony, but left Nat to wallow in the "I'll never be good enough" puddle. All this crazy factors help the reader to understand why Natalie is the way she is. Most people saw it as her being a whiner; I saw a girl with enormous issues that couldn't get out of her own way. I thought this novel was a very honest portrayl of a girl with body and abandonment issues, something too many girls are struggling with today (read "Reviving Ophelia"). WHy did I like it so much? Maxted's hilarious and brilliant humor is still present amidst the serious stuff- I still maintain she is one of the masters of funny similes and expressions. If you're hemming and hawing on whether or not to get this book, don't go by what the critics say. Read and decide for yourself. Defenitely not as great as "Getting Over It", but so what? I applaud Maxted on drifting into unchartered territory. Besides, she never promised to write "Getting Over It II", did she?

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun read, and I actually laughed out loud at some parts, which I rarely do from something in a book. I thought the eating disorder gave it an interesting twist. I'm an American twenty something, and I enjoy reading about British twenty somethings and their different ways of speaking, vocabulary, behavioUr, etc. It wasn't the novel of the year, but it wasn't intended to be. It's good for what it is, a funny, fun, chick-lit. book.

I disagree with the review of this book. I bought it last week and found myself racing to the end, very much involved in the world within the pages. I think that Natalie is very much a sympathetic heroine because she's not perfect, she doesn't have all the answers, and like the rest of us, she makes it all up as she goes along.

I found Maxted's approach on the character's eating disorder to be really well done. I didn't see it coming, even though there were clues, just like the character didn't see it coming until her friend pointed it out to her. I found the descriptions of how she was feeling and how confused and in denial she was to be very believable.

I really loved this book. I couldn't put it down. A lot of the issues that Natalie confronts in the book are not neccessarily pretty, but they are things that women in their 20's all seem to go through. I loved these characters and rooted for them, to the very last page.

Having never read Maxted's other novels, I still must say I'm frankly a bit surprised by the mediocre and bad reviews here. While `Running in Heels,' is by no means your next Bridget Jones, it's not written as such anyway. Despite the super-groove cover and blaring title, `Running in Heels' is not your a-typical `chick lit,' but rather a valiant effort to tell about the other side of `chick' urban life: the unwitting slow war of attrition by stress, the subconscious self destruction, the weird six-degrees of urban life, the crummy self image, the destructive man, the fear of jumping, and the necessary, if not stereotyped over-bearing family. It's a melancholy comedy with a wholly believable heroine who, like the rest of us, is just trying to get by and maintain herself. It's not a sprinting book, the 400-plus pages scream that much, rather it's a slow journey that once invested, is fully satisfying.

Natalie is charming, but slowly self-destructing under the stress of a poor self-image, a stressful career, and the inability to speak up for herself - she is the `good citizen, good girl' in all of us that reminds us to `not saying anything if you've got nothing polite to say.' Not wimpy, not morally superior, just good. The catalyst of her downward spiral is the fear of losing her best friend, and thus begins the slow torture of unhappy circumstance, stress, over-dramatizing uber-feminists, misunderstood observations and a nasty eating disorder. It can't be helped, author Anna Maxted might have been writing from her own experience, the situation feels so real, action turned in upon itself. Natalie finds herself awash and unable to cope, despite reminding herself that she can... until she does.

While there are enough laughs in this to mention, it's not a laughing book. It's witty and methodical, a bit disparaging, but a good `chick lit' read without being fluffy.

I enjoyed this book. I thought the twist in the middle with the eating disorder took the book to another level. I had envisioned Natalie one way, and then whamo, not what I thought. Despite some of the other reviews, I thought this book was delightful. It was definitely a page turner that I read much faster than some of the other "chick-lit" books out there. I have also read Getting over It which I recommend. Anna Maxted and Marion Keyes are great at the Brit Chick books. And I am a picky reader, the book has to capture me from the start or else I stop reading it.

I am currently reading "Running In Heels" and thought I would see if others liked it as much as I do.

There are many reviews trashing this hilarious book because it is trying to be "Bridgett Jones". Obviously everyone read the back before they spent money on it, how could you fail to miss the plot?

I think that this book is marvelously done. The slang is not so Londonesque that I, as an American had trouble getting the meaning, and the situations that Nat finds herself in are honestly, everyday occurrences. So maybe they don't ALL happen to the same person at the same time, but they do happen.

I have no problem with an eating disorder being introduced in to the story, in fact, until Frannie's comment about Natalie's navel coming unglued from her spine, I was unsure whether the disorder was due to too much food, or too little. The early references to Natalie's weight are so subtle that I thought she might be overweight.

As for the Pilate's plug, people need to know about low impact less strenuous fitness alternatives. Agreed it has pitched it a few times, but that's fine with me.

Great Book, can't wait to read her others.

Good summer reading/chick lit! First-person story about a woman who doesn't know how to express negative feelings to people around her because of how she's been raised as a woman (I can identify!) & how she works through that. Believable & likeable characters with pyschological depth & humor. If you like Bridget Jones, you'll like this even more; it has great humor & characters, but is more satifying & interesting because it addresses issues of body image & the impact it has on women with more depth. I *LOVED* the use of the unreliable narrator, but it's hard to me to say what I loved so much about it without giving away a spoiler. Let's just say that it was interesting being put in the head of someone who is herself clueless--and have us not figure out what's going on until she herself does (I didn't see what was coming until I got to it). At the core is a woman learning to find her own voice--but she has to go through a lot of bad choices to get there!

This book just really proved to me that you can't always go by the recommendations and ratings of others when it comes to books or movies. This book was basically trashed in the customer reviews I'd read, but I found it to be quite the opposite.

This was a book that I read solely at the gym and enjoyed it immensely. It is very funny consistently throughout, and there are unexpected twists and turns through the entire book.

If you want a good lighthearted read with a lot of laughs, and to be entranced, this is your book. If not, go read Dr. Spock's Guide to Potty Training The Strong Willed Child.