Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:  
Summary: Doesn't disappoint
Comment: My first foray into Marian Keyes and I really enjoyed it. 4 quite different women and their connection to one 'charming' man and how their lives have been influenced - sometimes quite disasterously - by the connection. Not what I was expecting from chick lit ie quite hard hitting in places, plot not comletely predicatable, created a lot of empathy for the characters. I agree with others that the voice of Lola got on my nerves a bit - not really sure what she was trying to achieve here but this didn't really detract from the enjoyment as the story was gripping enough to keep me reading for longs stretches and so I got into the swing of 'Lola speak'. Would recommend for a beach read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Poor
Comment: I agree with everyone who has given a low review of this book.
I too expected much better from such a good author.
Lola and her text speak English is awful, very tedious. I began to skim her sections, it was hard work trying to rewrite the text in my head and put it into a decent normal sentence.
A shame, as some of her observations were very funny.
The other two main characters were not particularly likeable, simply rather stupid, so I ended up really not caring what happened to them.
And as someone else has already said, many sub plots re families were introduced then simply dropped, as though the author had to rush on to the ending with no time to develop these side stories.
As for the charming man, who of course was anything but, he was transparent from the beginning, it was clear who was doing what and the identity of the fourth character was also obvious from the start.
All in all a huge disappointment.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Really good read
Comment: I really enjoyed this book! The fact that it is so long meant that you got real depth to the characters and the story developed over time. Apart from the trannie sideline, i found the characters believeable and parts of the book made me laugh out loud. It was also dealing with a very real problem and it showed that Marian had done a lot of research. I would recommend it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Comment: This book is excellent. Have read all Marian Keyes and this did not disappoint. However, did take a while to get into but once I was in the flow it was great. I loved, loved Lola. At first she was a bit silly and the narrative was annoying but then it was sooo funny. As Lola would say "Was LOL on the train. Must learn to stop. People are looking. Am worried I look a bit strange". The 4 narratives are different and you just get into one character and the story of the next begins. Brilliant! Keeps you interested. Ignored my kids for 2 days to finish this book. Will take them to the park now. Marian really needs to write Helen's story to make me happy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hard work, but gets there in the end
Comment: I have read all of Marian Keyes books and loved them, but i was completely drained by the time i finished this one. The themes of addiction and domestic violence are dealt with very well and depict the horrific consequences of both. The story is told by four women who are all connected in some way to a politician the 'Charming Man. The four women's stories are interwoven to some extent and each relate their 'story' in their own way. I found the way the book was written(through the different characters and different writing styles) quite demanding, although interesting and clever it is not a relaxing book to read and not one to read if you want cheering up. There is some light heartedness which is told through Lola's unusual diary entries and i won't spoil it but i did laugh out loud at some of the images the words created. It is a bit of a departure from the 'normal' Marian Keyes but brave of her to try something a little different.
|
|
