Jul 03 2008
REVIEW: This Charming Man
By Marian Keyes
June 2008
William Morrow
ISBN-10: 0061124028
ISBN-13: 978-0061124020
I have been reading Marian Keyes novels since I started reading Chick Lit. The first one I read by her was Watermelon and since then I have been hooked. Her observational style, along with her wit and deep understanding of emotions helps create stories that are not only readable, but worthy of reading despite the Harry Potter like length.
Paddy De Courcy is quite the ladies man, having probably had more girlfriends then most people have had cavities. Paddy also has a long string of women in his wake that have never been able to be the same after being in a relationship with him. Recently, Paddy has become engaged to a woman by the name of Alicia, from his checkered past, which causes some of the women who came before to wonder; why her?
Grace Gildee & Marnie Hunter are sisters who couldn’t be less alike, but despite their differences have always been each others best friend. Grace works at a local newspaper doing news and feature pieces and when she comes upon this new information and she knows now is the time to find the answers she has been looking for. Marnie, is a wife and a mother of two who unlike her sister lives with her family in London rather then Dublin. At first, it seems that she has quite a normal life, but despite all this she suffers from crippling fear most of the time and has developed a drinking problem over the years she just can’t shake.
Lola Daly is the most recent ex of Paddy’s and has gone as a result of the engagement announcement completely out of sorts. So much so in fact that she leaves her job as a stylist and Dublin behind in search of some mental and physical peace and quiet. I found this characters story to be the best as she is sweet, yet naive and well I will leave you to it with two words; cross dressers.
This book is a great read which takes turns telling the story that is the life of Paddy and his women in a sad, sometimes funny, relatable way. Though the story as is Marian’s trademark is long it at no point drags along and continuously keeps your interest the whole way through. A definite buy!
5 out of 5
One Response to “REVIEW: This Charming Man”
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I am so glad I found you (on Twitter) I love chick lit as well and read it obsessively.
I have also been reading Marian Keyes and especially loved Rachel’s Holiday and Anbody Out There? I find that you can really relate to her writing and she writes about deep issues, with humour and compassion but also with sharp no nonsense wit. I’d love to write like her.
Great site, I’ll be commenting loads!
~ e