Marian Keyes: Watermelon

<b>From the Publisher</b>

<i>February the fifteenth is a very special day for me. It is the day I gave birth to my first child. It is also the day my husband left me...I can only assume the two events weren't entirely unrelated.</i>

Claire has everything she ever wanted: a husband she adores, a great apartment, a good job. Then, on the day she gives birth to their first baby, James informs her that he's leaving her. Claire is left with a newborn daughter, a broken heart, and a postpartum body that she can hardly bear to look at.

She decides to go home to Dublin. And there, sheltered by the love of a quirky family, she gets better. So much so, in fact, that when James slithers back into her life, he's in for a bit of a surprise.

Well...I read it. I know I've read worse books recently, but this one just sticks in my mind as being a snoozer. I had thought it would be a tad bit better, having read two other books by Marian Keyes a few summers ago. I don't remember those ones being a drag to get through, nor do I remember skimming the last hundred pages (skipping everything that didn't have dialog), as I did with this clunker.

I think the book started out with an interesting (well mildly, anyway) premise. The main character (whose name I have already forgotten) gives birth to a daughter and is summarily dumped by her husband after he informs her that he has been sleeping with one of their neighbors throughout her pregnancy. Said main character flees to Ireland to live with her parents and two of her younger sisters. She meets another man (younger if I remember correctly) whilst lumbering through the various stages of grief. Husband pops back into her life and hijinks (and many boring pages) ensue.

Long story short, I'm glad I didn't pay for this one and I now realize why it had been sitting in my house for years before I bothered to read it. It didn't even make good poolside reading on the few hot days we've had this summer. I think the thing I really hated was the constant whining tone and the blatant stupidity of the main character. I don't think it was so much unrealistic as a statement about This part of the book was where I just stopped reading. I couldn't take it anymore. Everything is of course, tidied up in the end, but it just didn't make up for the last third of the book being so stupid and boring.

I read it too. It's my first time reading a chick-lit novel actually but it's a bad experience. Couldn't finish it, made it through halfway though. I had problems with the whiny tone as well. I'm really grateful you spoiled the story for me, so I can now let it rest in peace and continue with other novels.

How are other books by Marian Keyes? Are they equally bad?

ETA: Oh I have to add that I do love the descriptions of the baby. I can just imagine her to be sooo adorable!

Maizara said:

How are other books by Marian Keyes? Are they equally bad?

ETA: Oh I have to add that I do love the descriptions of the baby. I can just imagine her to be sooo adorable!

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The couple that I've read are OK. Certainly not as bad as this one, but nothing to write home about either. I've read junky romance novels that I enjoyed more than this book.

I also thought the baby sounded cute. I really liked the name Kate and couldn't help but think "if I have another daughter, Kate would be a nice name".