Robyn's Reviews > The Other Side of the Story

What a welcome respite from the heaviness I’ve seemed to be reading lately. This is a not-quite-chic-lit book, and the characters, what characters they are! This is my first experience with Marian Keyes, and I have to read more. This particular novel takes place in Ireland and London (as I suppose most of her work does), and I loved reading all the English and Irish slang. She created some wonderful characters, male and female, all ages. My favorite character in this book was the 2-year old Ema, who reminds me so much of my own 3-year old, always coming through with something hilarious to bring joy back into joyless situations. Here’s an example: (To set the scene, Ema’s mother Lily is speaking - she is in the throes of writing a charming new book about the joys of life, and she tries it out on her own mother and Ema.)


That first night I read what I had written to Mum and Ema.
“Darling, it’s adorable,” Mum said.
“Dirty,” Ema agreed. “Filthy.”
Another passage:

Daily, I continued to write, the words pouring from me, and every night, when we put Ema to bed, I read that day’s work and Mum raved about it. Ema, too, offered comments. (“Jiggy.” “Seedy.” “Farty.”)

Funny stuff! I also loved the Russian neighbor Irina who works at the make-up counter. I felt like I could go on reading about these characters for much longer than the 500+ pages Keyes delivered.

I’m not offering much in the way of plot lines here, but the book really gets into the publishing industry, which I found fascinating. It illustrates the relationships between authors (hopeful and already signed), their agents, the publishers, and the readers who love or hate them.