I feared I’d be looking at it approximately 633 times. Thankfully – and crucially for the book’s readability – there’s a family tree diagram provided at the start. There are a lot of them, and it can be frustrating to keep up with what child is with what parent, and who dislikes who. It would be easy to initially be turned away by the amount of main characters at the start. Mamamia interviews Australian author Trent Dalton on his best-selling book, Boy Swallows Universe.

In Grown Ups, Marian Keyes delicately and empathetically presents her readers with circumstances that are traditionally frowned upon, and makes us see the shades of grey in what we might typically think are black-and-white wrong. The length of the book might turn some readers away, but as I see it, it actually lends itself to gaining a multifaceted understanding of each of the complex characters, for all their flaws and false facades. Among the 633 pages, Marian Keyes manages to not just tour the brewing tensions of a modern-day family, but also discusses issues from period poverty to the experience of an asylum seeker in Ireland.

The book explores themes in refreshingly nuanced and often unexpected ways. Image: Getty.Īnd then there are the newlyweds, Nell and Liam, who are still getting to know each other after exchanging vows within mere months of first meeting.īetween them, there are nine children and one cat – quite an affectionate cat at that. Marian Keyes is the best-selling author of 14 novels. don’t) a frankly impractical amount of family holidays and dinners. They live in today’s Ireland and enjoy (or. The premise of Grown Ups is this: there are three brothers with three wives, plus kids from past and present marriages.

Grown Ups is the latest book by best-selling author Marian Keyes, the brains behind 14 novels, including The Break and Rachel’s Holiday. Like a block of Jenga, all it would take is for one secret to spill for the rest to be unravelled and the stability of their relationships to tumble in every direction. But among the hum of polite chit-chat exists eye rolls, sly comments, and ultimately complex relationships that are as muddled as they are captivating. Seated at the table are an ostensibly close-knit extended family. And it’s all topped and tailed by a relatively mundane event, familiar to most of us – the family birthday dinner. Once you've read our review, we would love you to share your thoughts on the book below via our comments section. So we've settled for the second best thing – discussion! This week, we review Marian Keyes' Grown Ups. As we all know, the best part about book clubs is the cheese unfortunately, we can't offer that virtually. Mamamia's Book Club is a series involving a monthly review of a recent read.

Grown ups marian keyes summary