Full review of the audible book is available on my blog.

https://pjsandbooks.wordpress.com/202...

This audiobook version of Watermelon read by Gerri Halligan is immersive and this medium makes the inner monologues of our protagonist Claire often critiqued negatively seem natural like you are listening to a friend. Which should not be a surprise with this as the opening line of chapter 1: ”I’m sorry, you must think I’m very rude. We’ve hardly even been introduced and here I am telling you all about the terrible things that have happened to me.”

I hate this book. I hate it. I have been so generous in giving it two stars.
It’s dreadful and please know that it absolutely pains me to say this because I adore Marian Keyes. I think she’s a brilliant writer (please everyone: read ‘Grown Ups’. Please) but every copy of this book needs to be burned.
The metaphors, the fact that the protagonist is supposedly 29 but speaks as though she’s 14, the deranged ex coming back into the picture, the endless description in between dialogue!!
The description between dialogue was actually the biggest crime because the description/her inner thoughts would go on for so long that I would FORGET WHAT THE PERSON SHE WAS TALKING TO HAD SAID and would have to flick back to understand what the actual conversation was.
Criminal. Hated it.
Okay, this book is actually one star. I’ll change that now.

I feel compelled to leave a review after seeing so many one star reviews. Everyone on here seems to be an expert on women’s psychology and post natal depression. So quick to criticise a woman whose world crashed and who had to change her life a 180 degrees. This is year 1995 and Ireland. She is catholic. She is also not you. Trying to reconcile with the husband really does not seem that crazy an idea. It was witty and well written and actually great to see a character with her own flaws who is doing her best.

It's not a perfect novel but it was the right amount of sillyness and fluff I was craving at the moment and wasn't really looking for something to be taking seriously in this book. I tought this was fun and enjoyable for what it was and I'm tempted to read more by Marian Keyes now, even though I havnt liked the others I've read or tried to read. But I want to give her another chance.

I don't know exactly how I feel about this book. On one hand, I enjoyed the story. I am strangely drawn to stories of wives being unexpectedly dumped by their husbands. I suppose it's because I imagine it as one of the worst things that could happen to a woman (aside from the death of loved ones or contracting a fatal disease, etc). Anyway, I liked the story and I find the Walsh family utterly charming.

I think Marian Keyes has a particular style that is amusing and absorbing. She goes beyond the standard illogical and incomprehensible character reactions in her approach to chick lit, and I find that I am enjoying it.

However, there was much here that was highly irritating. First of all, Keyes went into an unrelated story tangent SO OFTEN that I found myself saying "get on with it!!!" more often than not. I also skimmed quite a few passages. If I skim passages too often, I get irritated, because that means I paid for pages I'm not reading. I know that this type of amusing tangent is one of the hallmarks of chicklit, and it CAN be quite chuckle-worthy, but, in this case, it was too too much.

Also, there was a bit too much introspection by the heroine. Now I KNOW that introspection is also a main component of chicklit. I expect quite a lot of it if I'm reading chicklit. But there was more than the standard allotted amount of introspection in the introspection/dialogue/descriptive passages/action ratio in this novel. Once again, I began to skim more than I would've liked.

Lastly, I found the ending a bit too pat. I would've liked for the husband not to be SUCH a pathetic character. I would've liked Claire to come to some conclusion about her own culpability in the break up of her marriage. I was unsatisfied that the husband became an utter villian instead of a realisticly dissatisfied ex. And the love interest was a little TOO fantastic. :-P~~~

I read a couple of Marian Keyes's books back when I was in my late teens, I remember liking her style so I thought I would give this one a go. Although, to be honest, I hadn't realised that this was first published all the way back in 1996. If I say one thing it's that this had held up well, and apart from a few elements this doesn't feel aged at all.

I loved reading the journey that Marian Keyes takes us on with her heroine. She was in a right ol' mess and we are with her for every high and every low. There is not 'perfect' heroine here, far from it, and there is no lack of honesty from the author about her character's sometimes terrible behaviour.

The low moments in the journey are difficult to read but also funny, as well as endearing. I found I was sad for and frustrated at the heroine in equal measures.

The narrative and 'breaking the fourth wall' style isn't my favourite, so for me this occasionally felt a little forced, however the writing is flawless - hard to believe this was Marian Keyes's debut.

This is a magical story of a life in tatters and finding the will to get through it.

Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....

This was a lovely light hearted and funny chick lit when it was needed most. I love easy listening, and this was, with added accents and lots of light hearted moments. Claire, almost 30, is left by her boring and awful husband James on the day she gives birth to their first child, for another woman. Of course.

She copes with this quite well, and retreats back home to Dublin, from London, taking baby Kate with her (left unamed for a while in the manner of Claire's bereftness). Claire's family is funny, flawed, a little cooky. But they look after her, welcome both girls and Claire has a room for her and Kate.

Marian Keyes has a way of writing about life's hard stuff well; she has her own addiction issues and the issues of her fictionalised characters are real in this way. Claire tries to find solace in the bottle, not while taking over the entire story, but we see her trying to deal with life in ways that aren't helping her.

Claire meets Adam, a man who treats her well and in the way she deserves, but she is so unsure of herself, her confidence has been shattered and she is constantly thinking she still loves James. No self esteem but a lot of funny jokes about herself, as the novel progresses one feels like she's making progress.

There are scenes where I wanted to strangle her, she allowed James to doubt herself completely, he was delusional and twisted the way their marriage played out and being simply terrible. So annihilated with self grandeur, this chipped away at her self belief quite alarmingly.

An easy read, lessons to be learned and a funny family supporting one of their own. This is old, but I'm looking forward to continuing this series. I almost rated it 5 stars, and have faith the newer ones may hit this mark.

Sigue maravillándome la habilidad que tiene Marian Keyes para construir personajes complejos e interesantes. No son ni buenos ni malos, simplemente son humanos con sus defectos y sus virtudes. Está tan lograda su caracterización que en más de una ocasión tengo la sensación de estar hablando con una amiga que me cuenta sus desventuras.
Igual de interesante me resulta que en sus libros trate problemas reales, problemas que a cualquiera de nosotras nos pueden ocurrir. En este libro habla de desamor, infidelidad, embarazos y partos, de la maternidad y de volver a confiar en el amor cuando te han roto el corazón en mil pedazos.
Marian Keyes sabe muy bien hacer pasar a sus personajes por mil dificultades, pero igual de bien sabe mostrarles el camino para salir de ellas. Y, de paso, nos enseña a los demás que al final siempre se da con una solución y que las cosas, tarde o temprano, terminan por salir bien.
Ya es hora que deje de subestimarse tanto a esta autora. Para mí, es una de las grandes.

No sé muy bien cómo calificar este libro, porque es un SI pero NO. Dos meses me ha durado y con eso ya lo digo casi todo. A ratos me he sentido sobresaturada de tanto pensamiento de Claire, incluso tengo que reconocer que algunos párrafos me los he saltado, porque creo que son excesivos, y eso que sólo me lo he leído en los días de playa. Pero por otro lado, las ideas y pensamientos de Claire son ingeniosas y divertidas y me he reído mucho. A partir del momento conozco a Adam, creo que mejora todo el libro. No sé si será suficiente para que me lea otro libro de esta autora ;)

Watermelon was actually the first Marian Keyes book I read. In this book, Claire is a woman who has everything she ever wanted: a husband she adores, a life with interesting friends in London, a great job, and a fabulous apartment. However, on the day she gives birth to her first baby, a daughter, her husband James informs her that he is leaving her. Shocked and depressed, Claire slinks back home to Ireland to a family who cannot figure out what Claire "has done wrong to make her husband leave her." She slides into her bed and into depression. But eventually, she has to regroup and start living again and create a home for her daughter. Along the way, she meets a man who can heal her broken heart. A lovely story about second chances.

About 300 pages too long

I have seen and heard Marian Keyes interviewed, and have recently started stalking...err...following her on Twitter. She comes across as mad as a box of frogs, in a deliciously wonderful sort of way.

This is actually my 1st time reading one of her novels (*insert shocked gasps here*)

And I'm delighted to find she writes as she speaks.
It's very chatty, and liable to rambling, but I love it.

I love how even Claire's internal thoughts and emotions are given life; they talk to each other and jockey for position in her head.

The story is brutally real (no Mills & Boon-ness here!), and tragically funny. The story should be really sad, given poor Claire's fall from grace. But it's dotted with humour which had me giggling like a fool.

Is it perfectly written without mistakes? No.
Is it going to appeal to everyone? What person does?
Do I care? Not a jot.

I'm going to be reading a lot more books by this lady.