Weekend brief and a book review
Jul. 27th, 2009 09:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljAfter two nice days on the weekend, we've come back to the usual overcast, fog, showers. Might clear up later in the week. I didn't actually go out in the sun yesterday. I started a painting as a present for a wedding i'm going to in September. I did some housework, read, made a nice seafood chowder. It would have been nicer if i'd had tinned milk, but i didn't and i didn't bother going to the corner shop to see if they had any. I just made it with normal milk. Still tastes ok but just a little flat.
2009 books:
18: This Charming Man by Marian Keyes.
I mentioned when I started reading this how annoying some of the writing style was. It didn't get any better for the POV of that character, Lola. Might have been better if consistent. But not. Even wrote dialogue in annoying style and not consistent either. Also, noticed each character different typeface. Anyway, that aside, this is a bit different from her usual books. Not as light hearted. It deals with domestic abuse and alcoholism so it could be a bit triggery if you've got easily-pushed buttons on those subjects. However, i found her storytelling from the points of view of those particular characters very realistic and sometimes harrowing which means she did a good job. Makes you wonder if she's either been there or known someone close that has. If not, then she's done extensive research and done it well.
The three main characters, Lola, Marnie and Grace are all well drawn out. The man they each have in common, Paddy, is not so well explained. He's more than "charming but flawed", he turns out to be a real bastard but we don't really find out what made him that way. He lost his mother at age 15 and seemed to have a cold, unfeeling father but there really is no detail and he was a bastard even as a very young man. Lola's adventures were quite funny once you got your head around the awful style and even then i tended to read those bits a bit fast because i found it tedious and overdone. I wish she'd have had the dialogue bits in "normal" speak at least. That's where it seemed the most inconsistent and hard to read. The story, though, was compelling enough that i did want to get through even though at times, it was hard to read emotionally too. Marnie's story dealing with her alcoholism was particularly realistic. She was isolated, both emotionally from her surroundings and family and physically as she lived in London and the rest either in Dublin (Grace) or, temporarily, in a village in Co. Clare, (Lola, who interacted with many of the villagers, some in surprising and quite funny ways).
There are additional parts to each character's story that pop up as the book progresses, too. It's not all told at the start and that actually works. Overall, aside from the style of writing for Lola's character, it was a very good book though a bit different from her usual fare. Another of her recent books, Anybody Out There? was a bit different as well, dealing with grief. I wonder if she's moving towards this sort of thing, a serious issue or two underlying the main storyline which still has some funny and light hearted bits and good characters. If so, that's not a bad thing.
2009 books:
18: This Charming Man by Marian Keyes.
I mentioned when I started reading this how annoying some of the writing style was. It didn't get any better for the POV of that character, Lola. Might have been better if consistent. But not. Even wrote dialogue in annoying style and not consistent either. Also, noticed each character different typeface. Anyway, that aside, this is a bit different from her usual books. Not as light hearted. It deals with domestic abuse and alcoholism so it could be a bit triggery if you've got easily-pushed buttons on those subjects. However, i found her storytelling from the points of view of those particular characters very realistic and sometimes harrowing which means she did a good job. Makes you wonder if she's either been there or known someone close that has. If not, then she's done extensive research and done it well.
The three main characters, Lola, Marnie and Grace are all well drawn out. The man they each have in common, Paddy, is not so well explained. He's more than "charming but flawed", he turns out to be a real bastard but we don't really find out what made him that way. He lost his mother at age 15 and seemed to have a cold, unfeeling father but there really is no detail and he was a bastard even as a very young man. Lola's adventures were quite funny once you got your head around the awful style and even then i tended to read those bits a bit fast because i found it tedious and overdone. I wish she'd have had the dialogue bits in "normal" speak at least. That's where it seemed the most inconsistent and hard to read. The story, though, was compelling enough that i did want to get through even though at times, it was hard to read emotionally too. Marnie's story dealing with her alcoholism was particularly realistic. She was isolated, both emotionally from her surroundings and family and physically as she lived in London and the rest either in Dublin (Grace) or, temporarily, in a village in Co. Clare, (Lola, who interacted with many of the villagers, some in surprising and quite funny ways).
There are additional parts to each character's story that pop up as the book progresses, too. It's not all told at the start and that actually works. Overall, aside from the style of writing for Lola's character, it was a very good book though a bit different from her usual fare. Another of her recent books, Anybody Out There? was a bit different as well, dealing with grief. I wonder if she's moving towards this sort of thing, a serious issue or two underlying the main storyline which still has some funny and light hearted bits and good characters. If so, that's not a bad thing.
