Book Review ~ Getting Rid of Matthew

Getting Rid of Matthew is the brilliantly witty and hilariously funny, unique look at “the other woman.” novel from Jane Fallon.

Helen a 39-year-old “Personal Assistant” {codeword for secretary} has spent years as Matthew’s mistress. Years without a full night spent together, years of waiting to be called “the Mrs.”.  And for years, Helen has been urging Matthew to leave his wife, Sophie, and two daughters. And then, one day, Matthew shows up on the doorstep of her one-bedroom apartment with a suitcase and announces his marriage is over ~ he has left Sophie.

So what happens when you get EXACTLY what you wish for?  

Helen suddenly realizes that maybe a full-time relationship with Matthew isn’t really what she wants after all.  So she comes with a plan; {excerpt from book}
PLAN A: Stop shaving your armpits. And your bikini line. Tell him you have a moustache that you wax every six weeks. Stop having sex with him. Pick holes in the way he dresses. Don't brush your teeth. Or your hair. Or pluck out the stray hag-whisker that grows out of your chin. Buy incontinence pads and leave them lying around.
PLAN B: Accidentally on purpose bump into his wife Sophie. Give yourself a fake name and identity Befriend Sophie Actually begin to really like Sophie Snog Matthew's son {who's the same age as you by the way} Buy a cat and give it a fake name and identity. Befriend Matthew's children. Unsuccessfully. Watch your whole plan go absolutely horribly wrong.

And as plan after plan fails to drive him away, Helen continues to find herself in more and more absurd situations. As she adjusts to life with Matthew, she finds herself becoming more and more miserable. This leads her to re-evaluate everything in her life, including her job.  The tangled web of fibs and lies get increasingly more complicated by the page and we can see that it is all about to come crashing down at any moment as she continually wrestles with the guilt of Matthew leaving his family for her.

The author does an excellent job of taking a traditional story about a wife, a cheating husband, and the “other” woman and telling it to us in a unique and enjoyable way. The real charm in the book lies in Helen’s introspection and how to resolve all these relationships and her own personal growth that develops from them.

In the end, the book is about friendship and love.  Getting Rid of Matthew isn’t as easy as it seems, but along the way Helen will forge an unlikely friendship, find real love and realize that nothing ever goes exactly as planned.

The message of the novel is clear: “Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.” 

Take Care