This Charming Man by Marian Keyes Review

This Charming Man by Marian Keyes 

My Rating: 4

Goodreads Rating: 3.73

Published by: Michael Joseph

Pages: 676

Genre: Chick Lit, Romance, Contemporary

This book is told from the perspective of 4 different women and how one man has affected their lives. Lola is a stylist who lives in Dublin but when the news comes out that her boyfriend is engaged to another women she can’t cope with her job so she goes to her friends uncle’s cottage to so she doesn’t have to see her ex-boyfriend. Marnie is battling an alcohol addiction and Grace her twin sister is trying to help her. Alicia is engaged to Paddy de Courcy one of Ireland’s top political figures but is their relationship really as happy as it appears.

I have read a few Marian Keyes novels and I really enjoy them. This did not feel like a Marian Keyes novel as there were some very heavy topics explored within the book such as domestic abuse and alcoholism. However, I quite enjoyed reading a little something different and I thought that it was well written into the story. I enjoyed how she managed to successfully combine the four women’s stories as they were all connected.

I enjoyed seeing the different women’s point of view however I did not enjoy the writing style. To make it clear that parts of the book were told from the point of view of other characters Keyes changed the writing style for each one. This wasn’t too bad however I really disliked the style of writing chosen for Lola as it was like diary entries and I am not really a fan of those.

I felt that this book really portrayed domestic abuse quite successfully and didn’t try to glamorise it in any way. You could clearly see how it affected the women involved and how it doesn’t affect everyone in the same way. I found that you could really understand why these girls stayed with Paddy for so long as he was written so well that he almost convinced me that he didn’t mean to hurt them. I have learnt a lot about domestic abuse from this book and I can see how women can end up staying in those relationships for such a long time.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. If you are looking for a light-hearted chick lit book then this one isn’t for you. There are moments of humour but there is a lot of heavy going topics, but I thought that it was very good.

Prettylittlefashionista xxx

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