True
blue Keyes fans will probably enjoy the book – however, I do not think this is
the ideal novel to convert first-time Keyes readers into overnight fans. (Review
by Fiona de Goede)
They’re a glamorous family, the
Caseys. Under the surface though,
conditions are murkier. While some people clash, other people like each other
far too much…”
After having that tantalising morsel
dangled in front of my nose, I was looking forward to tackling Grown-Ups, the latest offering by one of
my favourite chick-lit authors, Marian Keyes. This rather hefty tome,
consisting of 630 pages, is rather daunting at the beginning – oodles of
characters pop up left, right and centre in a seemingly never-ending stream of
Caseys. Fortunately, a diagram of the Casey family tree helps with coming to
grips of who is who.
The main characters are the three Casey
brothers and their wives – a gaggle of offspring, grandparents and stepchildren
add to the overall makeup of the clan.
One gets the impression that Johnny, Ed and
Liam, despite being brothers, are not very fond of each other. Their parents
are not exactly enamoured with their three boys – in fact, they are downright
dismissive of the boys and one can only assume that this is the reason why
Johnny, Ed and Liam became the men they turned out to be.
Then, of course, there are the three wives,
Jessie, Cara and Nell. I felt that I got to see more of their characters and
felt some empathy towards the predicaments they found themselves in. Jessie, in
particular, tried very hard to be liked by everyone and threw money at every
situation to “buy” approval and to be accepted by everyone. Cara battles with
her own demons and it is very clear that her ambition to excel at her career is
more important than her relationship with her husband. Nell is a free spirit,
driven by her passion for her job as a set builder and she does not have a
material bone in her body.
The author touched on various relevant
issues that are current in society – the lot of asylum seekers, the
unavailability of sanitary protection for women and eating disorders and the stigma
attached to this illness. These are hefty topics but, in my opinion, are not
given the deep consideration it deserves.
The slang language that crops up from time
to time was a bit off putting – expensive translates to “spencie”, random to “rando”,
non-judgmental becomes “non-judgey” and so on. Perhaps it is current Irish jargon
with which I am not au fait.
I have read most of the 13 novels that
Marian Keyes has written – in all of them I chuckled or laughed out loud at her
humour and wit of which she has bucketloads. Her characters are always
beautifully portrayed and fleshed out, their antics often hilarious and the
situations in which they find themselves disastrous. This, unfortunately, was
not the case with Grown Ups. It left
me feeling quite cheated out of a good, typical Irish family saga which I have
come to expect from the author.
Despite all of the above, true blue Keyes
fans will probably enjoy the book – however, I do not think this is the ideal
novel to convert first-time Keyes readers into overnight fans.
Grown-Ups is published by Penguin. ISBN 9780718179755. - Fiona de Goede