This Charming Man

I was a little reluctant to start this book as I had seen some very mixed reviews, but, after reading it, my faith in Marian Keyes is still strong. Tackling some difficult issues such as abusive relationships and alcoholism, mixing in some dirty politics and adding a group of cross-dressing men, she knows how to serve up an interesting read.

Told from the point of view of four women whose lives have been impacted by popular politician Paddy de Courcy, the story does jump around quite a bit. Just when you settled into one woman’s story, you were whisked away into another woman’s life. Luckily, the stories grabbed me immediately and I found most of the women sympathetic and grew to care about them. Lola’s story in particular, after I show more adjusted to the choppy writing style that was used to define her, was a real attention grabber. Broken-hearted, leaving Dublin to live in a tiny seaside town, this stylist and her adventures had me in stitches. Her trannie-club meetings were hilarious. Off-setting this, Marnie’s story was sad, but like a three-car collusion, hard to look at, but impossible to turn away from. Grace, the voice of reason, was a woman to root for, and Alicia, the least mentioned, and the least known, was intriguing, as much for what we visualized for her future as for her current story.

As ever in a Marian Keyes book, I was entertained and enthralled, and I for one, really enjoyed This Charming Man. show less

Set in Dublin, the novel is written from the vantage point of four 30-something year old women - Lola, Grace, her sister Marnie and Alicia - bound together by (yes, you guessed it) a man. But not just any man. We’re talking about Paddy de Courcy, a young up-and-coming, hot to trot Irish politician and the novel’s ‘charming man’.But our Paddy is anything but charming.
Lola’s first up in the novel - she’s just been dumped by her lover, Paddy - and in the worst way possible way. Out of the blue she reads about his engagement to another woman, and just like that, their 16-month relationship is over. Anyway, as Lola watches her life fall apart as a result of the break-up, her friends convince her to take some time out at a holiday show more home in Knockavoy - a quaint little Irish town far away from Dublin and, more importantly, Paddy.
Next we meet Grace, a journalist working for the local newspaper. She is introduced initially as the reporter who is trying to get info on Paddy from Lola, but as we get to know her better she grows on the readers as a confident, sensible woman with a great partner (Damien) and a twin sister, Marnie. Unlike her sister, Marnie lives in England and is married with two kids. She seems to have the perfect life but as the story unfolds, it appears all that glitters in not gold.
Lastly, there is Alicia - Paddy’s wife-to-be. Of the four women, her character is the one we know the least about. But what we do know isn’t particularly riveting. She comes across as insipid and insecure.
The story was really interesting and kept me wanting to read on. Keyes has really written Paddy's character as the most hateable, and you really do hate him! All three main female characters were different but very strong despite what they'd been through, none of which was made clear until right at the end of the book. Lola's story added a real element of humour to the book which was welcome relief from the tragedy and sorrow of Marnie's story which was a very powerful and humbling read. Grace's story plodded along in the middle but managed to draw together the other two narratives in a simple yet effective way. show less

I adore Marian Keyes. I work with an Irish lady, and between Marian Keyes, Roddy Doyle and my co-worker, I am convinced that I need to read more from Irish writers. I've loved all of the books about the Walsh family, and would be hard pressed to choose a favourite. This book is not about the Walshes, but has grabbed me harder than any of her other books. Its got hard topics in it, but it has humour that kept me reading well after midnight, unable to put the book down. Her characters are real, strong, fragile, human, and yes, so very very funny. I still hope for another book about the Walshes, but this was an utterly fabulous read.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. There were places the writing was superb, especially when Keyes was describing Marnie's alcoholism. That was extremely well done. A lot of readers have commented on the domestic violence in this book, and Keyes herself highlights that as the main "issue" she wants to tackle, but her rendering of alcoholism was a lot more powerful in my opinion. In typical Keyes fashion, there were many funny passages, a few even hysterically funny. So, this novel could have earned a 4 or 5 star rating from me.

However, the style used for Lola's chapters drove me nuts. I'm pretty sure that if she were the only narrator, I would have put the book down after 5 pages. I've been trying to come up with a good way to show more describe these chapters. The characters all sound like fake Asians. That doesn't sound right. This is what I mean -- When sitcoms are trying to be funny, and have Asian characters speak English without using any pronouns or prepositions? That's what these characters sound like. And I have no idea why. It's crazy. I do have a theory. I'm thinking this book wasn't "chick lit" enough for Keyes' editors and the Lola style was supposed to remedy that. It could also be to distinguish her from Grace. I feel like it has to be the editors' fault. I refuse to imagine that an author could actually want to write in a way sure to alienate her readers.

Also, the Alicia character was not handled well. Either develop her or cut her. None of this half-assed nonesense.

I enjoyed the trannies. And now I want to visit Knockavoy, Ireland. I hope it actually exists.

In the end, this book is close to 900 pages. I feel like any book that long should be spectacular and this isn't. I'm not sure if I'll read Keyes again. I'm scared she'll use more Lola-speak! show less

Good story, good characters, but Marnie's actions in the confrontation just don't ring true to me. She was such a mess and magically pulled herself together - hard to buy. Keys stories always seem to be separate incidents written at different times then rearranged. I like her writing, but the overall organization of the book isn't smooth. Still, it's a good story and I really enjoyed the characters.

En förtjusande man är inte lika bra som de tidigare Marian Keyes böcker, jag har läst alla hennes böcker och tyvärr tycker jag att varje ny bok är svagare än den förra. En förtjusande man är en typisk Keyes anda, en bok som egentligen har ett allvarligt teman men är fylld med humor och roliga dialoger.
Denna bok hade jag lite svårt att komma in i annars brukar man snabbt flyta med i Marian Keyes historier men denna gången tog det ca 100 sidor innan jag var säker på att jag inte skulle ge upp och lägga ifrån mig denna tegelsten på över 700 sidor.
Men den är lättläst och trots tjockleken så går det relativt fort att läsa och när jag väl kom in i den så var boken riktigt bra.

I was telling my daughter-in-law recently how I give all the books I review either three, four, or five stars, because I don't finish the ones I would rate as one or two. This Charming Man nearly fell in that latter category. A great deal of time was spent developing the stories of Lola, Grace, and Marnie. Grace wasn't in bad shape, but the other two women were hard to take. Lola and Marnie were both struggling in their work because they were in such bad psychological states they couldn't do basic tasks. There were also other reasons why I wasn't enjoying the book. Paddy de Courcy, who was the title character, wasn't in it very much and all the other male characters seemed horrible. I thought Marian Keyes must hate men.

Then the book show more took a few turns and I found it well worth reading. One of the men whom I had seen as abusive turned out not to be violent but instead was supportive to his wife until he was forced to make a hard choice. I sympathized with him rather than hating him. Other male characters began to appear who were decent people. Circumstances allowed Lola to change her life long enough to get to a better place emotionally. Meanwhile Marnie's situation was explained further, so although her life continued to spiral down, I could appreciate why.

This novel has one of the best descriptions of alcoholism I've ever read. It shows the disease in detail from the point of view of the alcoholic and also from the points of view of the people who love her. It also covers the victims of domestic abuse in a way that helped me understand why some of the women stay in their situations. After reading the way Keyes covered these two issues, I was able to understand the weaknesses of the victims and appreciate their strengths.

Lola's chapters were written in a strange, journal voice I found annoying. Most of the pronouns were dropped, along with words such as the and a. After I got used to it, I could ignore the style. But I still believe it was a bad choice, one that detracted from the novel.

This Charming Man isn't an easy read, but in the end it's well worth reading.

Steve Lindahl – author of White Horse Regressions and Motherless Soul show less