"Again Rachel" - WITH SPOILERS

I liked the second half better than the first half, took me ages to get into it.

I suppose when I first read MK's books all those years ago we had no personal reference of the author, our imagination could run wild on the characters.

It's a bit different now with social media and following Marian on Twitter, you sort of have preconceived ideas of who everyone should be. It's hard to explain but there's less mystery and imagination.

I've just finished it and loved it! Felt like meeting up with an old friend again! I've not read the A-Z so no idea about Moses (& I'm glad about that as it would have really annoyed me!).

Im glad she ended up with Luke.

I’m glad they ended up together.

I saw the Yara storyline coming, and the unreliable narrator is a bit of a signature MK style.

I didn’t like Quin. He reminded me of my sister’s ex who used to like measuring his body fat and showing people how trim he was with a calipers.

Claire/Adam storyline annoyed me. I think it’s opening their story up for a sequel.

Helen would never want a baby. Ditto on another Helen book.

I thought there were too many Cloisters people and kept getting them mixed-up.

I though the Kalllie/doctor appointment plot was ridiculous. How would that ever happen in real life?

Mammy Walsh insisting on Luke going to her party was absurd. I have an Irish Mammy, they hold grudges. There’s no way they’d invite the cheating (as far as she knew) ex-husband of her bereaved daughter to a party.

Just finished it.
It was okay. I assumed the bonk after the mothers birthday would lead to a happy ending but they avoided that.

All in all fairly predictable and wouldn't be one I'd bother re reading in future.

@ChessieFL - Ah, thank you. I have read it, but only once and I can't remember much about it. Will revisit.

@LondonReturner it’s Grown Ups - Cara has an eating disorder.

Liked most things about Again, Rachel, but it was just wrong and inconsistent that the deliciously sociopathic Helen would suddenly want to have a baby. It was so obviously a plot device whereby Rachel's trauma would ramp right up when Helen started spotting, bringing Luke home to her for their grand reunion. It annoys me when authors get their characters wrong for lazy plot reasons and MK doesn't often do it.

Loved Last Chance Saloon. Remember laughing out loud! Really enjoyed Again, Rachel and would have been incredibly disappointed if she hadn't ended up with Luke.

I have just read both Rachel books consecutively and loved them. Was really pleased with the ending of Again, Rachel and was glad that she ended up with Luke. Was not so keen on the Quin character. Wasn't too keen on Claire either - my least favourite of the Walsh family.
Going to revisit Last Chance Saloon next

I loved it. It wasn't perfect, just like Rachel and all the Walsh family but it gave me such a warm, fuzzy feeling and I was desperate for her to get back with Luke.

I feel sad I've finished it.

I liked the shifting perspective during her relapse and what other people as well as her and Luke had to say about it. I'm not mad on Luke though and wouldn't have minded her ending up on her own. I think I preferred Quin.

I'm a bit dubious about the references to the clothes and labels as well. For really down to earth characters they do live in quite a rarified world when it comes to brands.

Thank you, Aprillady. I was unsure whether my own ‘stuff’ was affecting how I reacted to the storyline. Think it did, to some extent, but also that the ‘recovery’ part and especially its advocacy of a ‘zero tolerance’ approach from the husband wasn’t well handled/realistic.

I also enjoyed it very much, and was glad she ended up with Luke again. Didn’t like the Claire/Adam swinger story and felt the resolution to the storyline was a bit unsatisfactory.

@Loopytiles, I actually stopped reading the book about the eating disorder person half way through as it annoyed me so much. (The over-eater in Rachel’s Holiday is the one thing I don’t like about that book either). I think she does assume eating disorders are like other addictions and for me she doesn’t get it right at all. You can’t just quit eating. Those around you are also not affected in the same way as with alcohol and drug addiction. You can be fat and and still have good relationships and a good family life.

I enjoyed it. But it was a bit flat. All of the references to fancy clothes grate but I know Marian Keyes loves her clothes and make up!

I liked the different Cloisters stories.

I've just finished it tonight and now I can't get to sleep, all the emotions swirling round! I loved it. I feel relieved because as much as I thought Rachel might go down the 'you can be happy on your own' road I ALWAYS wanted her to get back with Luke. It's made my heart happy. I loved the book.

Oh thank god re the baby! Not just me

I think Rachel’s meant to be about 47 (although published 25 years after Rachel’s Holiday, I think it’s set 20 years later - I saw an interview where Marian said she deliberately set it pre-covid so she didn’t have to worry about factoring lockdown into the story) so although theoretically possible for her to have another baby it would be unlikely and agree that it was written as if they had implicitly decided not to.

I also loved it. It was like getting together again with an old friend.

The acknowledgements state that Marian Keyes didn’t do formal research on the addiction storylines because of her personal experience. Not sure I agree with that approach, it seems rather presumptuous . Or perhaps treatments such as those in the service the character now works in are similar for all addictions and haven’t changed much in 20+ years.

I have binge eating problems and think the author wrote powerfully about a character with binge eating disorder in another recent book, but IMO she got some things wrong about recovery. Eg the character’s DH left her when she binged on food a couple of times and this was presented in the narrative as him being sensible. The author seemed to have a black and white view of eating disorder recovery, perhaps likening it to her experience with respect to alcohol. Don’t think relapse with eating disorders is the same.

So cheeky of Marian! Author’s prerogative I guess!

I think Rachel would now be too old to have another biological DC. And both she and Luke separately seemed to have decided not to.

They may well have another baby, but the A-Z book said that Moses was 2, and also said that Francesca (Claire’s daughter) was 11. In Again, Rachel Francesca is 17 which would make Moses 8 (although as I said above Marian also got Luka and Francesca the wrong way round compared to the A-Z). Its therefore clearly either an oversight or as a pp said a decision by Marian to ignore the A-Z as non-canon!

This was driving me crazy as well. As soon as I opened the book and saw the family tree and it was missing both Luke and a baby boy I remembered called Moses I thought I was going mad. I went through all of my MK timeline relevant Walsh sister titles that i had on my kindle. The only one I didn't have saved in my Kindle even though I read was the A-Z. Thanks so much for confirming!!! Maybe they actually do have another baby? She said she was perimenopausal not menopausal. MK may write anoth Walsh sister or niece book and we find out more. Or....just an oversight!

Enjoyed it a lot!

Glad Luke was still hot! And in love with Rachel.

Quite liked Quin too. Have a friend whose relationship ended over a ‘proposal’ mishap similar to the Quin/Rachel one. When it was v clear that she didn’t want to marry her boyfriend.

I loved it - I can’t criticise it. Even the bits that I didn’t love, a bit like Rachel.

Ahh this was driving me mad, thought I’d made it up. I even re-download Mammy Walsh book and it wasn’t in there any more! So glad other people remember her having a little boy named Moses, can even remember him being described as having curly hair.