Grown Ups: The Sunday Times No 1 Bestseller 2020

Marian Keyes is one of my most favourite authors and I've literally been counting down the weeks to this book but its dreadful, a chore to read tbh. Too many characters too quickly that I cant get on board with tbh. Sorry Marian but this is BORING!

This review is for the 14 CD unabridged version by Whole Story Audiobooks read by the author herself, she sounds nice and she has good interpretation skills but her accent was not easy for me to follow and it was not always possible to process which parts of the dialogue were said by male characters.This is the first, and I think the last, book I read from this author.Apologies in advance if I do not bother checking the spelling of names.I am sometimes fan of spoilers, and if I were able to find a spoiler on this book, I would have read it, I would have been spared effort and energy, for I believe I wasted money, time, effort and health on reading / listening to this book, although it has its funny moments, which by the way are completely overshadowed by the use of the language and swearing.So I decided to write a spoiler here ….. in case there is another person like me, who does not like the book and would like to be spared the waste of time and tolerance …… there are some descriptions of a sexual nature, which to me are not necessary for the telling of the story …. Frankly I do not care about the first time Jessie and Johnny had sex or the first time Liam and Nell had sex or the first time Ed and Cara had sex ….. or the first, second and third time Nell hooks with her step nephew …. And whatever else ….Camino Island by John Grisham, if he is the real author of that book, is not a family story, but if one is interested in this type of read, at least it has a sort of ‘light’ atmosphere to it, but this is in my opinion, simply awful.Also it is not easy to follow, it jumps a lot, for example while following the situation between Cara and Ed, the reader is passed on to the situation between Nell and Liam without notice, and then again without notice the narration moves to the situation between Jessie and Johnny …. And so on.2 out of 3 stories end well, but there are two situations in the book which are absolutely terrible to my taste ….. Jessie is the character whom I can relate more to, although only within a certain extent, I could not relate at all to the other characters, except the children, who at least are children. Jessie and Johnny got back together, Ed and Cara got back together, and Liam and Nell split up …..The first situation is …. I did not appreciate all these detailed descriptions of Cara’s eating disorder …. This is too close for comfort for me and I did not enjoy it. I know this is a mental health issue and so it is unconditional of external factors, but I could not help being irritated by the fact that the person affected with this eating disorder in the book, was the luckiest of them all, had everything! Family, work, house, independence, a loving and faithful husband who loved her the way she was ….. I thought these problems only affected people with anxiety due to trauma or other issues, for example, when they feel they do not belong to this world and find themselves isolated and without family or friends. The fact that someone like Cara has this problem is depressing and not at all constructive.The other heart breaking story is ….. Nell? At the beginning I liked her, I thought she was the most sound and sane, though a bit eccentric maybe at times, but …. I do not really get it ….. it is possible for a 30 year old woman to fall for her step – nephew 9 years her junior, but I do not understand her …. First she thinks he is a spoiled kid, then she burns for him, then when she split with Liam, he returns to be a kid again, but after she has this apparently irresistible urge to hook up with him, she burns for him again, and after they had sex, she leaves him saying that it was not right? I do not get it ….. what kind of behaviour is this, when he is possibly truly in love with her, and in consideration that, not being biologically related, they could be together …..Liam is better, at least he is a more consistent character, although not likeable ….. and by the way I do not understand the fuss about his flirting with Robyn, ok she is younger, but she is 18 and she likes to flirt with him …. The problem for me is not of age, but the fact that he was married with Nell at that time.I did not even understand the fuss when Liam was drunk and blew some bubbles in Sammy’s face, Sammy was his nephew’s ex girlfriend. Maybe it was disrespectful towards Nell, when Liam was married to her, but really ….. there are worse things than blowing bubbles in someone’s face.Maybe I did not read carefully, or I got confused by how much swearing there was, and could not distinguish the swear words from the words that actually meant something …. The words that meant to describe what was happening …..Honestly, if the author eliminated the swearing and bad language , the book would be shorter and more meaningful.I wish I never read this book.My advice is DON’T BUY IT.

Like all the other reviewers, I love Marian Keyes and pre-ordered the book in high expectation. A real let-down. Far too many characters, none of whom is rounded. Why some of them behave as they do remains a mystery (Liam, for example). I would have given it one star but a couple of passages resonated with me - I suspect they really came from her heart.

I didn't like anything about this book. I swore I'd never buy another book written by this writer. She had about 3-4 really good 'light' books in her and now she's just writing for money. There are so many characters in this book. And it's not even worth remembering who/what they are. You just don't care about them. |The story does not grip. At the beginning there was a 'shocking revelation' But I'm damned if I care what/why it was now. I'm more than half way through and I can take no more. I actually dread opening it. It goes on and on about 'worthy' causes such as eating disorders and asylum seekers and saving the planet. (While the author still can't resist the urge to go on about designer shoes and bags and net a porter - she's obviosly got some sort of a deal going on with them. But why was the book not edited down? Because then there would be nothing left. I feel like I've wasted the hours I've spent reading it so far and I will never buy anything by her again. Years and years ago she was on the down turn - I had a book by her for Christmas in hardback and it was all about a young couple who felt the need to repent and do good deeds for others every day. And I just thought then, this is sad, it's trying to make up a story just for the publishers and it is absolute rubbish. Since then every book has been bad and I very rarely go near her books, if it wasn't for the lockdowns and Amazon's £4 deal.. I say to the author, Please just stop now.

From the synopsis given, mentioning three brothers and their wives, this looked to be a promising book then suddenly umpteen children were brought in to add to the confusion of who was who, thank goodness for the family tree within the first few pages. The prologue was enough to put anyone off as it was so jumbled. Unfortunately the book continued that way, jumping from one person and their lives to another even from one paragraph to another. I persevered but only managed half of the book as I couldn't stand any more so skipped to the end.How on earth so much praise was given by fellow authors and the press I do not know unless it was for the ability to write 600+ pages of muddle and boredom. These praises rather remind me of the story of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' by Hans Christian Anderson where everyone is cheering the Emperor as he passes by marvelling at his new clothing when in fact he is wearing absolutely nothing but no one dares to say so apart from a little boy who shouted out what everyone was afraid to say.As she is generally highly regarded, I thought I'd be one of very few who would even think about criticising one of Marian Keyes books in a negative way, but apparently not!