Anybody Out There?

I absolutely loved this book. I laughed and sobbed and stayed up late to keep reading. There are incredible lows in the life of the narrator, Anna, and, while they come close to crushing her, there is optimism in play as well.
The marketing business is a self-contained, cutthroat world, but Anna Walsh emerges from it as a young, successful executive for Candy Grrrl Cosmetics in New York. She's smart, she's beautiful, and she's got a wonderful husband who adores her. In short, she has it all.

But that's not how it seems when this story first opens in Anna's native Dublin, where her parents are nursing her back to health and tending to some of her very serious physical injuries. The nature of those injuries remains a mystery, as does the show more unexplained absence of Anna's husband, Aidan, during Anna's convalescence. Her phone calls to him go un-returned, as do her e-mails, and Anna becomes increasingly anxious over his continued silence. So anxious in fact that she decides it's time to go back to New York to try and make sense of everything. show less

More serious than I'd come to expect of Marian Keyes, but wonderfully written and once again difficult to put down, proving that Keyes can dabble in serious issues whilst still appealing to the masses.

Yesterday I took my three-year-old son to the library. We had just selected a stack of books and had sat down to read them together, when over the loud-speaker a librarian’s voice announced that I was to come to the circulation desk. I assumed I had left some paper with my name on it in one of the books I had just returned, so I calmly put my son’s books down, scooped him up, and made my way to the desk.
When I got there, there were two policemen waiting with the librarian, and all three of them had dour looks on their faces. I looked from one to the next, but they all seemed hesitant to tell me whatever news they had for me. It was only a moment of silence, but for an irrational space of time, I was sure that something terrible had show more happened to someone I love, and somehow these people knew and it was now their job to tell me. I remember thinking, “This is it. This is what it’s like to find out something horrible.”
It turned out to be nothing at all. I had parked my car too closely to another car that was owned by a very pregnant lady. She couldn’t get in, so I needed to re-park my car. I was happy to do it, mostly because I felt grateful that I had somehow averted disaster.
And the whole experience reminded me of a book I’m reading. The moment of certainty where you’re sure that your world is coming crashing down around you is beautifully expressed throughout the entire story of Anybody Out There? by Marion Keyes. For Keyes fans, this book is a natural progression in her series about the Walsh family daughters. Three previous books have focused on different siblings; this one takes up with Anna, the second-to-youngest “flakey” daughter. (Other books about the Walsh family include Watermelon, Rachel’s Holiday, and Angels). Anna was labeled as flakey in those other books, a branding from her sisters, and it seemed well-deserved at the time. Now, hearing from Anna’s perspective, I’m struck with two truths: 1. Anna is only a little flakey. 2. Marion Keyes is a master at both loving her characters and at writing about them objectively. Few authors are good at both.
Each book has improved upon the last, and each offers a whole new view of the loveable and eccentric Walsh family. Anybody Out There? begins in Ireland, where Anna is staying with her parents and her youngest sister Helen, while recovering from a horrible accident. Soon Anna returns to her home in NYC, a city she shares with her sister Rachel. I won’t give anymore details about the story, other than this: It is a brilliant tale of love and loss, because Keyes writes it in a way that forces the reader to experience the same emotions as Anna, as she is having them. It’s at once funny and heart-breaking, and it will leave you with the hope that it’s possible to survive the worst of catastrophes and still have your personality in check.
Whether or not you’ve read other books by Marion Keyes, you’ll be able to enjoy Anybody Out There? because it’s instantly relatable. Whether you’ve suffered a tragedy, or you’re like me (lucky enough to only have had a scare from time to time), this book is one to enjoy, learn from, cry over, and laugh at. How many books offer such promise? Read it – you won’t be sorry. show less

Maran Keyes är riktigt bra på att skriva underhållande och roliga historier men till skillnad på andra författare som skriver samma sorts böcker så har hennes en riktig bra historia bakom och inte bara en banal relations story. Är det någon där? är ingen undantag och handlar om ett ämne som egentligen borde vara mycket svårt att göra en rolig historia om utan att tappa trovärdighet, men Keyes klarar av att både skriva om sorg så det känns äkta och skoja om allt det roliga runt om som finns i Anna Walsh liv. Att boken bara får betyg 3 av mig är för att jag tycker att allt det andra som Marian Keyes har skrivit är lite bättre eller bara tilltalar mig mer, men `är det någon där?´är en jätte bra bok som jag show more varmt rekomenderar. : show less

I've already noted in another review for Marian Keyes how much I like her work. Yes, it's Chick Lit and while a little part of me wants to downplay how much I like her books (the literary snob part of me) another part wants to encourage other people to pick them up. Anybody Out There is a good book to illustrate why I continue to pick up Keyes. (Although she has had some misses; see Other Side of the Story).

I didn't know the plot details of Anybody Out There before I started reading it and I'm glad I didn't because I likely wouldn't have read it. The subject matter is depressing, and when I realized what was going on I started bawling my eyes out, right there in the bath tub which, incidentally, is my favorite place to read. Having show more gotten over my initial shock I kept going and was glad I did. I recovered from the randomness of life right along with Anna and while my eyes continued to get moist through most of the book (and right through to the end, actually) in the end I was glad I kept on the journey. show less

Have the book but listened to the audio read by Caroline Lennon and followed along. Loved her delivery. This is my favourite of the series so far and Anna is my favourite Walsh girl. Mind you Mammy Walsh has some excellent lines but I loved the way this story was developed and unfolded.

This is the second book I have read in this series, and this time the book is about Anna Walsh. Initially it flips back and forth between the current time and meeting (and her subsequent relationship) with Aidan. The vast majority of the book is her trying to deal with losing Aidan. Whilst some heavy subject matter, there is also a lot of humour present within the book. I did enjoy this book, like with the first one I read in this series, Rachel's Holiday, and I will be continuing to read books in this series and will try other books by Marian Keyes.