Books : This Charming Man

Rating: - Flashes of the old Keyes, otherwise boring (sorry Marian)
This book was not to my liking at all. I have read all Marian Keyes' books and enjoyed them immensely, as the serious parts were always peppered with good laugh-out-loud humour. I hated the staccato style in which Lola's story is written and lost interest when it went on and on. I skipped through a lot of it. The separation of the characters doesn't work for me at all, as it is difficult to knit them together eventually.

However, I decided to persevere (as I said before I am a faithful follower) so I read the book half way through and decided at that point that I wasn't bothered continuing with it any more. I can't remember putting a book down at that stage before. Had I not been looking forward to another tried and trusted Keyes book I probably would have taken a different approach, but it just didn't appeal.

Miss the old style Keyes :(

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Rating: - boring!
After having enjoyed previous books by this author, I was quite confident that I had bought another "enjoyable, light reading" book. I really tried to get into the book, but found it slow, boring, depressing, dull. I gave up at page 220..., frustrated, and irritated by the dismal and negative tone of the book, by the fact that after 220 pages of the book, nothing has happened, the reader is still "discovering" the rather boring characters of the book (haven't even got to Alicia yet); it's terribly static. Too bad...

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Rating: - Where was the editor?
This is so disappointing. The bar is always high for Marian Keyes and this isn't a bad book, but...... It could have been so much better. Good central plot and some interesting characters but sloppily edited. Is the problem that Marian is so famous and such a good seller that her publishers don't dare tell her the truth?

The book needs cutting and some careful editing. It also needs to lose the diary style which is inconsistent, irritating and unneccessary. If you want to know how to do diary, then read Alison Pearson.

Please don't do this again Marian. You are one of the best around and this was rambling and undisciplined.

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Rating: - Very Good
My favourites of Marian's are Lucy Sullivan... Rachel's holiday...Is anybody out there? and The other side of the story. This is written like The other side..., with four characters (3 main, one minor). Each one is written in a different style with Lola's being sort of diary-like and in almost an abbreviated style, rather unusual. I still loved it, it made me laugh and cry, and I like the ending. I got it from the library but will have to buy it in paperback as would read it again! 4 stars as it wouldn't be my absolute favourite.

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Rating: - anybody out there?
I know, that's the name of Ms. Keyes last (and brillant) novel. But really, this season has been something of a dud for this genre, hasn't it? Two of my favorite authors are Keyes and Jennifer Weiner. Both have always been successful with their unique, intelligent perspectives on women's stories. They have proven their talent for writing with depth and a balance of humor and serious subject matter. This time around, though, fans of Weiner's "Good In Bed" were offered "Certain Girls," which turned likeable, independent, heroine Cannie Shapiro into a fretting frau that grown women hope to never grow into- less of a mother than a "smother." I was really holding out for Keyes latest, and excited at losing myself in its nearly 700 pages- but it is really a mess. As other reviewers mentioned, the acknowledgement in the beginning spoils the secret of this "charming man" the novel revolves around, making the layers of plot and narration that cover the "big reveal" a waste of time, especially given how tedious the initial narrator, Lola, is. Reading over one hundred pages of a diary, "written" in memo-like broken sentences, when it seems unlikely that the character keeps a diary and we've all been Bridgit Jonesed to death? Tedious. I usually admire Keyes for her character development. With that said, it is unless Lola was a fool who couldn't determine difference in importance between distinct life events, she would constantly bring up the exact name of her hair color while going through what turns out to a be a real crises? For so very many pages, there is little character development that makes you care about the story, despite the sad fact of the subject matter. The absence of a great Weiner or Keyes read lead me to the fairly predicable Kinsella, who was unpredictably disappointing with "Remember Me?" (too simple, too silly, boring) and the abysmally cliche I-feel-bad-about-myself-for-reading-something-this-corny Jane Green. My advice? Check out the thank-you in the front of "This Charming," save yourself the book price and donate it to help the people she is trying to assist through her story. That, or volunteering the time it takes to wade through 700 pages, could really change the world. Let's keep our fingers crossed that Emily Giffin and Allison Pearson will come through now.....