Something bad has happened to Anna Walsh. Horrifically injured and living at home with her parents in Ireland, she pines for her old life in Manhattan. Most of all, she craves contact with Aidan, whose name becomes the central refrain of the book. But who is he? What part does he play in her physical devastation? Marian Keyes sustains the mystery throughout the first half of Anybody Out There until we discover the reason for Anna's profound shock.The novel is littered with vivid scenes. The neighbourhood kids nickname Anna 'Frankenstein'. The PR executive at Anna's Manhattan firm is another striking cameo: malnourished, roaming the corridors tightly wrapped in long sweaters, her nervy energy leaps off the page. Like most of Keyes's books, a dark undercurrent propels the main character's actions. The extent of Anna's trauma is offset by the pathos that accompanies her reimmersion into the real world. Despite grim subject matter, Keyes is funny with a fine line in unsentimental humour. Her deconstruction of the sensitive New Man, or Feathery Stroker, is a laugh-out-loud comedic masterpiece.
The trauma Anna endures is not solved by any pat formula - her place within the constellation of crazy family members, mad friends and Machiavellian colleagues rouses her from despair. Although Keyes's universe is harsh and idiosyncratic, she addresses human agony with the lightest and most compassionate of touches and reminds you that, no matter how bad it gets, the world turns and wounds heal.
p/s: My personal favorite.
ANGELS - STATUS : AVAILABLE (RM13.00)
Maggie has always been the white sheep of the Walsh family.Unlike her comically dysfunctional sisters,Rachel(heroine of Rachel's Holiday) and Claire (heroine of Watermelon), she married a decent man who adored her and found herself a solid career. Where Rachel was reckless and Claire dramatic, Maggie settled early for safety. Or so she believed until she discovers that her husband is having an affair and her boss is going to fire her. Suddenly, her perfectly organized life has become a perfect mess.
Devastated, she decides the only thing to do is to run for the shelter of her best friend, Emily, who lives in Los Angeles. There, with the help of sunshine and long days at the beach, she will lick her wounds and decide where life will take her next.But from the moment she lands in the City of Angels, things are not quite what she expected. Overnight, she's mixing with movie stars,even pitching film scripts to studios.Most unexpectedly of all,she finds that just because her marriage is over,it doesn't mean her life is. In the end neither the City of Angels nor Maggie Walsh will ever be the same again.
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