New Marian Keyes....anyone excited?

[Spidey66]

So, this Thursday is the release of Again, Rachel, the 25 year sequel to Rachel's Holiday, which is possibly one of my all time favourite books. I do love her books but Rachel's Holiday is my stand out. I must have read it and re read it god knows how many times.

I've preordered it on my Kindle and am biting my nails with excitement!

Anyone else looking forward to it?

[Ulysses]

That's interesting @douglascrood. I always felt there was a bit of a disconnection between the way the Walsh family spoke and how middle class they are but I suppose I put it down to being the Irish way (as if it's one homogeneous mass).

[HeyGirlHeyBoy]

Well I suppose many of her generation, and still now, would have grown up in Dublin to non Dub parents so the fact it's Blackrock doesn't really come into play as much, iyswim. My cousins were Templeogue but with parents from rural Ireland. Must look at the spoilers thread now.

[DouglasCrood]

Possibly @HeyGirlHeyBoy, however, I think it's reaching a bit... for example, Mrs Walsh's comments about what the priest will think, having been in modern day Blackrock for circa 25 years at least, doesn't ring true for me...it seems like a lazy stereotype overegged for the English/American reader, but maybe I'm being too cynical

[planetme]

Oh god i am halfway through this and I'm absolutely loving it

[HeyGirlHeyBoy]

Ah yeah, I get that, that's a bit of a caricature for sure.

[planetme]

@mrsnec

I used to be a big fan but I'm reading Grown ups at the moment and it's absolutely terrible I just can't get into it and I'm really close to abandoning it without finishing so I'm not sure if I'm on board just yet. Shame.

Grown ups is fucking awful 😣

For me the worst part is how that smug twat of a woman keeps referring to her kids as "the bunnies" 🤮🤮🤮🤮

[lazylittlelucy]

Partially agree with @DouglasCrood about the language. My family live in Blackrock (although we are not from there) and my generation don't speak like that for the most part.
However I definitely recognise many of the colloquialisms that my grandmother used, and to a lesser extent my own parents. Some people in Ireland really do talk like that. So the discrepancy is probably a combination the family's (Mrs Walsh) origins and the generations.
I love the language MK uses, for the same reason I love Derry Girls, it is so much more flowery than British English and reminds me of my childhood and family

[DouglasCrood]

@lazylittlelucy, I'm probably getting way too deep here 😂, BUT, while I also recognise the colloquialisms and am partial to a "in the name of all that's holy" and "sweet mother mary" myself at points of crisis, it is as if MK takes all those colloquialisms and shoves in as many as she can. It's that which I (being a jaded cynic) find is ott. It isn't that the individual colloquialisms don't happen, it's just that she really packs them in. It's like someone setting a novel in modern day Peckham where someone sweeps chimneys for a living and speaks in nothing but rhyming slang. Yes, those things do happen, but when you cram them in as I think MK does, that's when it becomes a cliche, and I do think it's done for the British/American readership, which I understand but it annoys me.

Derry girls is a little different and I love that and have no issue with the language or religious side of that. There are so many reasons religion in a Catholic school in Derry, one Good Friday Agreement, is a main focus of that show

[DouglasCrood]

PRE good Friday agreement

[PhoboPhobia]

I was about to start a thread about MK. I’ve never read anything by her before but am about half way through The Break and finding it a bit dull. Is it worth persevering? It doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere.

[HeyGirlHeyBoy]

Tbf I think but can't be sure, that Marian herself talks like this, especially when with her family. Partly for effect.

[Silvetmoon]

@HeyGirlHeyBoy

I don't think books should have a trigger warning tbh... Especially when we know MK writes about the tough stuff. But I won't even read the blurb so a TW would put me right off. Just finished it. Loved it.

Agreed. And it would hardly be a spoiler, you find out pretty soon what's going on...

[planetme]

Just finished it

Absolutely loved it 😍

[sparkle17]

Do you think you need to re-read Rachel's holiday before reading again Rachel?

[AllTheYoungGoodyTwoShoes]

I finished The Break recently, it was okay but felt it was about 200 pages too long. I think it has over 500 pages!

[ChagSameachDoreen]

What Marian needs is a very strict editor, and an agent who doesn't make her blurb every single new release.

[TheYearOfSmallThings]

What Marian needs is a very strict editor, and an agent who doesn't make her blurb every single new release.

YES! An editor who would slash out the 33% of what she writes that basically describes whatever she is watching on TV or reading about in the Style section. I suspect the blurb problem is hers rather than an agent though.

I often think she would be a much better writer if she hadn't been so successful. Her earlier books were set in recognisable workplaces, but she's been out of that environment so long that she lacks relatable material.