Grown Ups: The Sunday Times No 1 Bestseller

Very interesting and fascinating book but there was no mistery or secret, and the end (8 years later) only describes one of the character.

I had not had the pleasure of reading Marian Keyes until I discovered Grown Ups. I live in the US but heard her on a BBC Radio 4 podcast talking about the book, and it sounded delightful. I ended up binge reading it during a week when I had a sinus infection and it was such a comforting companion. Marian Keyes does what I love best in a story, which is to offer something relatable with warmth and good humor, while diving into the achey depths of adult life, right now. Almost every one of her characters is loveable and infuriating in equal measure, much like the people we would chose for our friends and family. It’s also a hearty book. I loved that it wasn’t over in the standard 265 pages, and yet I never felt like it dragged. I was grateful to find a book that presented “grown ups” that ranged from early 20s and well past late 40s. Jessie and Cara, two women related by marriage in their mid to late 40s get most of the plot’s attention, as do their husbands and children. Keyes deftly avoids rubber stamping these women in cliche and I was grateful to find myself relating to both of them instead of merely empathizing with their situation. Keyes is also nuanced in her approach to men and what it means to show up as a partner, spouse, and father when they are walking their own thin lines. An absolute pleasure to find this book, which I was able to get in hard copy through Amazon before its US release. Will definitely be going back to discover more of Keyes works.

Grown Ups tells the story of the Casey family. Johnny Casey is married to Jessie, they have 5 kids between them and successfully run their own company. They spend a lot of time with Johnny’s brothers Ed and Liam, their wives and kids celebrating birthday parties together and holidaying together. On the surface, they are one big happy family.Ed and wife Cara are happily married with two boys. Cara is a hot shot receptionist at an upmarket hotel, is well liked by the whole family but has always struggled with her weight.Liam and his wife Nell are recently married after a whirlwind romance and are still getting to know each other. Nell is Liam’s second wife, is quite a bit younger than him and is a theatre set designer.But at the beginning of the book at Johnny’s birthday party, Ed’s wife Cara, who has just had a knock on the head can’t keep her thoughts to herself and starts spilling all the families secrets, to everyone’s horror!I’ll start with a small disclaimer. I adore Marian Keyes and have read and loved everything she has ever written, starting with Watermelon way back in 1996! I got a serious case on envy when I saw bloggers receiving proof copies of Grown Ups. I ordered a copy and it arrived on publication day and then it sat on my shelf. I’m sure I’m not the only blogger who packs their schedules so tight they rarely have time to read books from their shelves! Especially books that are over 600 pages long. But then Covid-19 hit and a combination of me trying to be good a couple of months ago and some blog tours being postponed meant I was suddenly able to choose what I read!I have to admit when I picked it up and read the first chapter I was a little worried I would keep track of who all the characters were. There is even a family tree that I had to refer to, to try and figure out everyone’s relationship to each other! But within just a couple of chapters I knew who everyone was. Keyes is such a great creator of characters, she has managed to all the characters their own clear personality.Johnny and Jessie are the lynchpins of the family. They are overwhelmingly generous and treat everyone to amazing holidays and nights away. Growing up as an only child, Jessie just loves family and genuinely adores surrounding herself with the other adults and kids. As with all families, everyone has their own problems too. Jessie’s previous husband died in his thirties and Johnny’s step son Ferdia especially gives him a hard time. Jessie also still desperately misses her first husbands family who cut her out of their lives when she married Johnny.As with all of Marian Keyes’s books, Grown Ups is humorous (even laugh out loud funny in places). But also tackles serious issues, most notably bulimia which I think is handled really well. I actually loved all the characters (apart from Liam perhaps) and the 656 pages just flew by. I actually didn’t want it to end, and I’m really hoping there is a sequel at some point because I feel they have so many more stories to tell. Full marks from me…I couldn’t fault it.

Hab dieses wirklich dicke Buch innerhalb einer Woche durch gelesen, weil ich es irgendwann nicht mehr aus den Händen legen konnte. Der Beginn ist etwas verwirrend und langsam und es gibt sehr viele Charaktere aber innerhalb von kürzester Zeit hatte man einen guten Überblick über die Konflikte und Beziehungen der unterschiedlichen Familienmitglieder zueinander. Ich kann das Buch jeden empfehlen der gerne komplexe Familien Geschichten liest, das English sollte keinen abhalten es im Original zu lesen und auch die Länge ist im Nachhinein berechtigt. Ich hätte sogar am Ende sogar gerne mehr gelesen, da mir das Ende etwas zu offen war. SPOILER Das einzige was ich nicht mochte war das Liam so eindimensional böse und unsympathisch war. Alle Hauptfiguren waren sehr vielschichtig außer er, schade.

I really like it