Book of the Week: This Charming Man

So, Monday morning again.  A good day if you're from New Orleans.  This week I read This Charming Man by Marian Keyes, the first time I've read anything by this author.  I have no idea how I've gone this long without discovering Keyes considering she's sold about a kajillion books and has apparently been translated in over 20 languages.

The charming man of the title is rougish and handsome politician Paddy de Courcy and the book explores the impact of one event (bachelor Paddy suddenly getting engaged) on four very different women.  There is stylist Lola who goes into a tailspin, retreating to the requisite quirky small town to lick her wounds and recover her sanity, understandable as she is Paddy's girlfriend but not his fiance.  Then there is Marnie, a troubled wife and mother, who has never really recovered from her first love (Paddy) and her twin sister, Grace, a journalist who wants the inside story on the engagement.  And finally, Alicia, the actual fiance who happens to be a blast from the sisters' past and just may be getting in over her head. 

I liked this book a lot, but it wasn't at all what I expected.  Keyes' crafts a story that is both poignant and literally laugh-out-loud funny, with the right mix of mystery, suspense and romance.  Keyes deals with issues that range from alcholism to abuse to adultery and manages to produce female characters that are more than just stereotypes.

The book begins with the following...

What!  You too?  I thought I was the only one. - C.S. Lewis

Everyone remembers where they were the day they head that Paddy de Courcy was getting married...I was extra surprised and that was even before I knew who the lucky woman was...Anyway, Jacinta Kinsella (boss) needed a quick piece on the engagement so I had to put my personal feelings to one side and be a professional. -Grace Gildee

It would have been nice if you asked me first. - Alicia Thornton

I was on the net, checking e-bid for owl handbag (by Stella McCartney, not just any 'oul' handbag) for a client to wear to a wildlife charity thing when I saw the headline...I went into shock.  Actually thought I was having heart attack.  Would have called an ambulance but couldn't remember 999.  Kept thinking 666.  Number of the beast. - Finnola "Lola" Day

Don't you dare be happy, you bastard.  That's what I thought when I heard.  Don't you dare be happy.  - Marnie Hunter

The structure of the book, with past and present events rolled out from the point of views of all four of the women, is interesting and its a testament to Keyes that all four voices are unique and even the side stories are engrossing. Personally, I enjoyed Lola the most.  Even unbalanced and sadly stuck on a man who never deserved her in the first place I found her sweet, funny and relatable.

4/5

I saw When In Rome this weekend (worth it just for Josh Duhamel who I have crushed on since he was Leo on All My Children) and I couldn't get over how cute Kristen Bell looked.  I also loved the Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery she wore, like the Alhambra sautoir necklace below.

Alla Prossima