Getting Rid of Matthew
Chick-lit books are generally despised by the literati and I must admit I have little patience with them myself. Somehow, however, when it’s British chick-lit, it seems less grubby than the American versions. Such is the case with a very tricky new novel by Jane Fallon. Fallon is, by trade, a TV producer in England where she lives with Ricky Gervais of “Extras” and the original “The Office.” In fact, her novel contains a bit of both atmospheres, set as it is in a PR office in London that handles wacko TV stars and wannabes, most of them definitely on the “D List,” such as Sandra, who can’t keep her bra or her panties on in public and wonders she is not taken seriously. But Sandra is very much a peripheral character in this Feydaux-farcical novel.

The plot turns around Helen, nearing forty and working as a personal assistant to Matthew, one of the honchos of the firm. They have been having an illicit relationship for over four years when, out of the blue, Matthew appears on Helen’s doorstep, suitcases in hand, to move in. He’s left his wife, Sophie, and their two daughters, and is to start a new life with Helen. There’s only one problem: Helen has been thinking of breaking it off and Matthew’s arrival sets in motion a series of near-collisions and double identity confusions that Helen barely keeps straight in her head, all in an attempt to settle the situation happily for everybody.

Perversely, but naturally, Helen meets, then befriends Sophie. To Sophie Helen is “Eleanor” who has a boyfriend named Carlo and who works in PR. The first element of potential farce is introduced when Sophie asks Helen to do some PR work for her steps-son, Leo, who is opening a new restaurant. There is an instant attraction there that cools for Helen when she realizes she has kissed her lover’s son. The perceptive reader is left wondering for most of the book 1) how are Helen and Leo going to get together and 2) how is Helen going to be unmasked?

In the meantime, Matthew wallows in his own perfidy and inability to tell the truth about himself to any of the women in his life and is generally portrayed as a total dickhead, a facet of chick-lit that seems to be inviolable. Leo is terrific, but we seldom get to see him once Helen determines that she can have nothing to do with him. The office where they both work is thrown into an uproar by the whole situation and even Sandra, the exhibitionist, figures in the action as catalyst for the final confrontation that you knew all along had to take place.

Fallon is facile and the novel zips along. It is definitely not a heavy read and those of you who like your chick-lit with Pinot Grigio and a crumpet or two will love it.