Last Chance Saloon

Resenha de releitura - 17/09/2023

Creio que esse livro preenche todas as cotas de personagens clichês dos anos 90/2000. As mulheres na faixa dos 30 desesperadas para casar e não ficar solteiras, a gorda que passa a história inteira lutando com a dieta, o melhor amigo gay loooouco por moda, enfim, preenche a maioria das caixinhas de itens.

Entretanto, a história foi interessante, Fintan deveria ter ganho mais destaque na história, já que era o único com um relacionamento saudável e estável e dos três personagens principais era quem passava pelo maior drama.

Alguns personagens, como Liv e Milo ficaram meio esquecidos no churrasco e no final, poderiam nem ter existido na história que não iam causar diferença. O Lorcan, como começa a história longe do núcleo principal, na maior parte da história só me irritou, mas eu fiquei feliz com o final dele.

Das meninas, eu gostei mais da Katherine, torci bastante por ela e pelo Joe, se bem que acho sim que ele deu uma forçada de barra no início do livro, mas o bom é que ele também admitiu. Tara teve uma jornada que me deixou frustrada na maior parte do livro, mas gostei do final dela.

Enfim, o típico romance daquela época, envelheceu um pouco mal em algumas questões, mas ainda serve para tirar de uma ressaca literária.

Marian Keyes no decepciona. El libro me ha gustado mucho aunque había veces que se me ha hecho un pelín largo porque no veía aún la relación del conjunto.
Tara, Fintan y Katherine son 3 amigos de un pequeño pueblo irlandés que llevan 12 años en Londres. Se fueron escapando de su pueblo, buscando algo más. Allí, tienen un trabajo y siguen con su amistad. Salen, conocen a sus parejas y hacen una vida común.
Un día, a Fintan le detectan un cáncer y ahí estarán juntos, unidos con él y junto con su novio. Vamos conociendo la vida de cada uno de ellos, algo de su pasado y su presente. Sus miedos, sus tristezas y sus alegrías.
En este libro se habla de la amistad, pero también de las relaciones de pareja tóxicas. En los libros de Marian keyes, siempre hay temas delicados que mezcla con las risas o el desenfado, pero que son mucho más profundos.
Recomendable.

Honestly Keyes really is something special. This book presented itself to me in a liliput library in a small town just before Christmas and busted me out of a years long slump.
The way that keyes writes flawed, shallow, mean, stupid, funny, normal people who make the wrong choices and can't see what's in front of them is so charming. I've been a reader of hers since I first found my mums copy of Watermelon at about 10 years old, and I read "chick lit" and romance broadly. She is rarely rivalled in her particular genre. Often to find a writer who captures the flawed modern human life in all its shallow, bitchy, complicated, messy glory you stray out of the "chick lit" zone and into something different. Normal People comes to mind. How does she make it so the reader can both see where the characters are going wrong but also understand how and why they're headed in the wrong direction as it happens? How does she take these superficial themes and jobs and interests and still have this thriving, gritty life to them while still maintaining the light summer romance, eat it in one sitting quality.
I don't personally have a lifestyle comparable to the people in her books, and I don't really know people who party and back stab and eat at restaurants all the time, who are openly mean to their friends and have dramas and confrontations all the time, who refuse to be political. I find that as I get older and leave office work I'm quite disdainful of this modern life removed from "politics". But somehow I still love her characters and am engrossed in their jobs, their friends, their struggles.
I also find that this naked charm and willingness to show her characters getting down in the muck makes it easier to digest what we would now consider problematic. I think it's an example of how sometimes having to say the perfect thing doesn't give enough grace for loving stupidity and playfulness. And when it does stray into outright meanness and ignorance, I find myself thinking well people of this class in this environment at this time were just talking like that. Because the characters are realistic and three dimensional their shitty behaviour doesn't feel like an endorsement it feels like just ... how they are. It's kind of like the always sunny effect except her books don't have the vibe of "punishing" her characters.
Keyes gives me the sense that despite our flaws, despite what tragedy may arise, we can get through and will likely learn a lesson. Even if things don't turn out how we imagined or don't go well, we change and keep moving. Keyes has the classic Irish talent for taking the struggles and making them rich and playful.

Maybe it's nostalgia that makes me want to give her a pass on some of the nastier stuff in her books when it would ruin my enjoyment under other authors, but I really think it's her skill in writing a good old fashioned lovable dickhead.

Anyway I read 3 of her books in one week and this was the best of the three, particularly outstripping Lucy Sullivan Gets Married in which the bigotry does get really really tiresome. Hence the general review not really addressing the book with much specificity. Would still rate sushi, charming man, and any of the Rachel's holiday series/group over her other works.

I cannot believe that my reading in 2018 began with this book. Well, it can only get better from here, right? Because *nothing* could be worse.

This has to be the worst non-self-published book I have ever read. I might be over-reacting, but just a little bit. Having read and enjoyed two of Keyes' works before (Anybody out there? and Further under the duvet), I thought this would be a fun, light read to start off the year with. Boy, was I wrong.

Characters that you will dislike from the word go. Particularly pointless rants of self-pity. Unconvincing back stories. And unnecessarily long descriptions of the great good looks of the prime antagonist. Everything about this book feels off.

I honestly do not know how so many people have been able to connect with this book. For me, it was even a struggle to finish.

The wonderful characters, hard and heart-wrenching struggles, and so so human.

n  because the past had shaped the present, it was more important than the presentn

There was, again, the humour that made me smile and laugh, although often quite (in today's notion) politically incorrect. But I didn't mind, such were 90ties.

And Joe - we need more such men! No violent, no vicious, that can be charming and persisting in a courting but when a woman says "no", he goes away.

On the other hand, I had some difficulties with understanding Tara's being with Thomas. Then, to almost the end, I couldn't comprehend what was Lorcan for. He was an interesting character but I don't see why there was so much of him, just to be part of the last plot twist (at the very end). Yes, I could more understand why he behaved how he did, but still, he just didn't fit the narration. And, I really liked Katherine, until the moment when she went "crazy" for a bit at the end. Again, her behavior didn't fit, it was exaggerated, at least in my opinion.

Nonetheless, Fintan, Liv, Ravi, Joe, Sandro, Milo, the whole background and the past of the main trio - it all made a novel worth my time and gave me a few thoughts to consider.

PS This one was written in the third person. I so accustomed to the first person in Marion Keyes's books (after only three novels ;-) ) that at the beginning it felt weird.

Tantas trilogías hacen que valore más estos libros donde hay bastantes personajes y todos terminan “colocados”
Los protagonistas son indiscutiblemente Fintan, Katherine y Tara. Pero el resto que aparece a su alrededor tienen sus propias historias. Incluso aquellos que parecen ir por libre terminan uniéndose a la historia principal.
Los tres amigos están en Londres, vienen de un pequeño pueblo y parece que está todo bien.
Les conocemos en el cumpleaños de Tara, en los siguientes capítulos vamos viendo las inseguridades, el miedo, vamos conociéndolos.
Katherine es muy controlada y obsesiva. Tara vive con un abusón, aunque ella le defiende continuamente y Fintan… cree que tiene SIDA y por eso ha obviado los síntomas y no ha ido al médico por no recibir ese horrible diagnóstico.
Un poco de spoiler: no tiene SIDA sino cancer.
Es una enfermedad horrible, pero hay esperanza.
El caso es que Fintan les pide a sus amigas que hagan algo por el. A Katherine le pide que salga con un hombre que la pretende en el trabajo. Mientras que a Tara le pide que rompa con su horrible novio.
Todo aderezado por una amiga sueca, la familia de Fintan, un actor guapísimo y muy creído… y muchos más personajes estupendos.

No lo he podido terminar. No he podido con él. No puedo con los personajes ni lo que se cuenta de ellos y me ha parecido super aburrido.

This is my personal favourite from Keyes. One that I return to often when I'm lacking any new material to wet my appetite. Its got a few little twists and turns as all Keyes books do. I found the characters so likeable, though I do wish that Fintan was developed a little more, his story line was probably the weakest for me of the three. Still its a good laugh, a little teary if you are having a particularly weak day and a little saucy. All in all a pleasant read over and over again.