I've recently read n  n by the same author, which I really liked, and I was eager to read more books from her. Watermelon had an appealing plot and an engaging beginning but as I turned the pages, I became restless and irritated with the main character. I can very much cope with what she went through, given my own experience of betrayal at the time of pregnancy, but I simply lost patience with her. I understand that she's dealing hard with depression and that is not easily shaken off but I still found the whole thing tiresome.

I might yet get back to this book one of these days, because I like Marian Keyes' writing but for now, let's just say that I'm not in the mood for it.

Claire is a very happy woman. She left Dublin to move to London, found a job of which her mother thinks nothing and met the man of he life. It couldn't go better when she gets married to him and is now getting their child. Besides that the day their daughter is born he tells her in the hospital room that he is leaving her. She goes home to her family in Dublin and from there on it eally gets great! Marian Keyes manages to write in a way that makes you fly through the story without realizing. SHe wrote stories fromt he view of each daughter of this very realistic Irish famiy and again this one is as great as the other one, Angel, I rea. Maybe it is even better. I loved it and read it in less than a day, even if it was over 400 or 500 pages.

Marijanu i njenog muža Tonija upoznala sam 2002. godine na sajmu u Njujorku... I zaprepastila se... Pa, oni znaju ponešto da kažu na srpskom! Misterija je brzo rešena, Marijanin brat oženjen je Beograđankom Ljiljanom i otud poznavanje i srpskog jezika i kulture, a bogme i hrane... :) Po povratku u Beograd, odmah sam krenula da čitam Lubenicu, totalno se zaljubila u Marijanino pisanje i nagovorila svog izdavača da odmah kupimo prava za pet Marijanin knjiga... i poslušao me je... A onda su Marijana i Toni došli u Beograd da se Marijana druži sa svojim čitaocima... Porodica Volš iz Marijaninih knjiga veoma podseća na na njenu... I ona ima braću i sestre... Ukupno ih je petoro dece u porodici i veoma su vezani i rasejani svud po svetu... Kasnije sam je "ponela" sa sobom kod drugog izdavača ali su uspeli da je izgube zbog nemara i loših korica... Toni me je glede jednih korica bojažljivo priupitao: "A što su ove nove korice tako crne i mračne, jel' ova knjiga izdavača asocira na 11. septembar?"... I tako se Laguna dočepala autorke... :) Marijane duhovite tekstove možete čitati i na njenoj veb-stranici... :)

1.5 Stars

A hotchpotch story of Claire, 29 who recently gave birth to a girl. Her husband James was having an affair and wanted divorce. Met James in London at a restaurant where she worked as a waitress.

Moved back to Dublin where her parents lived. Kept throwing tantrums at her sisters and parents which kept on for a while. Eventually got her senses and started mending things.

Started liking Adam who owned a bar, Adam was Helen's friend who once came to their house. James came to Dublin to meet her and blamed her for his affair. She went back to him because of her daughter. Eventually realised that James was always manipulating her for everything. Left him and stayed in London.

A typical story with cliched characters and narrative.

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This is the first book in an unofficial series about the Walsh sisters and was Keyes first book ever published. In all fairness, I've never read any of her other books, but this felt like a first book. There was so much about it I liked, but her writing style was so annoying to me that I really had a hard time getting into the story. The story is about the oldest daughter in a semi-dysfunctional family (aren't they all?). Her husband decided to tell her he's been having an affair and is leaving her for the other woman the day she's given birth. Since she has the time off, she decides to go home to Dublin for a while to recuperate from this shocking news.

I really liked the plot line for this story and I think I liked the main character. I say I think I liked her because I found her very relatable and real. She hit some pretty low points, but overall I found myself rooting for her and thinking that, aside from the excessive drinking, I had done a similar thing when my life fell apart and I found myself alone with a child too. She's a strong person who has hit a rough patch and it's shaken her a bit. However, Keyes writing style made this character quite annoying as well. She would be trying to explain something, and she would go way overboard on the metaphors used to make a single point (which many people do in real life too and you just want to say to them "enough already, I get it"). This character also has a tendency to play out a whole scenario in her head and can talk herself into being float away happy and right on through it into pissed before she's ever even started the opening line of a conversation with the person. Now I do this too, so in itself, it's not so bad, but she does it so many times that again it just ends up making her annoying and really distracting when you're reading.

All of this is relatively forgivable, but what made this feel so amateur to me was how Keyes would tell you exactly what you were supposed to think and feel when you were reading. She would take you through a scenario and then tell you exactly what you were supposed to get out of it. She leaves no room for the readers to imagine or interpret anything for themselves. It felt like she had no confidence in you as the reader to get what you were supposed to out of a dialogue or scenario, so she had to explain everything to you.

That said, there were quite a few laugh out loud parts that redeemed the book for me and made me want to give Keyes another chance. I'm hoping since this was her first book they won't all be written so annoyingly, and her story and characters are likeable so there is that. I particularly loved when Claire was reminiscing about the alcohol in the house and why there isn't any anymore. I loved it. I read it out loud to my husband because I know that, along with me, he would relate to it all too well and we both found it very amusing.

I don't know if I'd recommend this book to anyone who hasn't already read Keyes and decided they like her. I would say the only reason to recommend this book would be if someone had already read another Walsh sister story and wanted to read about Claire's so they can get to know the whole family. Even though it's technically the first story, I don't think it's a good introduction to Keyes (unless they're all like this).

ೃ⁀➷ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

✎… this book was entirely different from what i was expecting - it was lighthearted and enjoyable, but i also think i was expecting a little more from it!

marian keyes is a very popular writer, and this was my first experience of reading something written by her. though it was very slow to pick up at first, i did find myself enjoying it more and more.

my favourite part about it was the humour - the jokes didn’t feel forced or intentionally inserted to fit the genre. it was genuinely funny and i found myself laughing out loud so often. i don’t read many comedy books, so this was unexpected and enjoyable for me!

in saying that, though, one of my least favourite things about this book was that sometimes it was a little too mundane. the reason why i love books is because they allow you to escape and explore a different world, and for me, this book was too simple at times. there were periods of the book which were more slow-paced and it was hard to sit through them. the times that it did pick up, though, were really interesting.

i don’t want this to be my last experience of marian keyes, and it definitely won’t be. i’d love to try her other books and hopefully find one that i enjoy even more!

I am not a big fan of romance novels. But I wanted to read the Walsh Family series as I had read No 5 and loved it. Claire’s husband left her for another woman on the day Claire gave birth to their baby girl. I could completely understand Claire’s hurt, frustration and depression. She was a lovely character, albeit a bit wet (she only seemed to think about men for the whole book). She was so funny though. I was laughing out loud at her inner thoughts. The author is such a clever writer. The Walsh family are all Irish and remind me of my aunts, cousins and daughters. Bickering but also being there for each other. I am looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

Yes I know, you have come to expect crime, mystery and thrillers to be the order of the day on the blog. Only to visit and find that this is the second post in a row that is very far from that. My apologies if I have left my regular readers a little disappointed. I have been having a lot of fun venturing into some slightly different book choices.
I was given copies of two books by Marian Keyes and discovered that they are part of the Walsh family series – for once I decided to start at the beginning of the series and that lead me to Watermelon – which I downloaded on Audible.
Watermelon proved to be a hugely entertaining book with loads of humour and the issues a new mother faces when her husband decides to leave her just as her baby is born.
As an introduction to Marian Keyes’ work, I loved this book. Her writing is honest and the characters left me smiling. I enjoyed the family dynamics and the voice in her character’s head. This book left me eager to start the next book in the series.
Claire has everything she wants, a loving husband, an apartment she loves, a satisfying job and now a new baby girl. Just after giving birth, James walks into the hospital room and announces that he is leaving her – he has met someone else. James walks away without even looking at their daughter. Heartbroken, alone with a newborn baby, Claire returns home to Dublin. Her family might be a little quirky but that soon has her feeling better. Until James comes crawling back – what he finds is not what he might have expected.
I loved the voice in Claire’s head. This woman is a brilliant character. Her insecurities are beautifully expressed and you must love the way her mind tends to wander off-topic. The story had a realistic feel which made it very enjoyable.
The women in this book are brilliant. I loved Claire’s sisters and her mother was fantastic. Claire is just brilliant. I loved how the author takes you through all her emotions. Her lack of understanding, her self-pity and her anger were pouring off the pages and you are left sharing these emotions with her.
This book was a wonderfully refreshing change from my normal book of choice and I found myself completely caught up in Claire’s world. There are six more books to go and I cannot wait to make the time to read them. Next is Rachel’s Holiday and with a long weekend ahead of me I am looking forward to digging into that one.
If you are looking for a book that looks at a horrible situation in a light-hearted manner then I cannot recommend this one highly enough.
https://featzreviews.com/watermelon-b...

Thought this would be cute and it seemed well rated. Instead I got a truly insufferable and three times longer than it needed to be book. Awards it won:

Most foolish and juvenile 30 year old protagonist ever!
Least compelling love interest ever!
Most obnoxious levels of fat phobia and male gaze ever!
Least mentions of the baby even though the whole book occurs within the first two months postpartum! Least believable dialogue, motivations, and mix-ups yet!

Not worth the time; I only finished it because I was looking forward to writing this scathing review when I was done.

I literally fell in love with this novel! What happened to Claire is not far from reality. I liked it because of the truthfulness of the story, the honesty of emotions and the connection of the characters to each other.
I can honestly say that I somehow understand what Claire is going through. And I can assume that most can relate to Claire's situation. The story does happen in real life and is something that can happen to anybody. Whether you like it or not, life's unexpectancies can hit you hard in the face and leave you badly bitten. But at the same time, life goes on and there's no turning you back on it. You have to live through it, do your best to get your life back on track and hope for that best.
I liked that Claire had doubts all throughout the story. I liked that Claire had a loving family to support her. And I liked that Claire was brave enough to make the right but painful decision of leaving James. (I mean who needs a man like that - sorry, being a feminist here..) I also liked that Adam came to her life and helped her moved on. Adam made Claire realized that James was not worth it. I liked the fact Adam had a child, so he's on the same page as Claire and he somehow can understand what she's going through.
Anyway, all in all, me liking everything about this book equaled to me loving the book entirely! I will definitely, definitely read this book again! ♥ ♥ ♥ :)

What is Marian Keyes' background--does she have psychological training? Because in her Walsh family books she brings us inside the hearts and minds of sisters in a loving but pretty dysfunctional family, letting us see their journey. Here it's Claire, who seems to have it all until her husband walks out on her the day their daughter is born, forced to look at her marriage, her life, and to decide what really matters.

Claire Webster is ecstatically happy after giving birth to her first child, a daughter with husband James. However, her dream is shattered when he announced hours after the birth that he's leaving her for another woman. Claire's in shock and flees London to her family home in Dublin, where her mother, father and sister are waiting to take in a distraught Claire and new baby. Claire's determined to win back her man but at what cost? Or will Claire outgrow James as she grows as a mother to their daughter?

The story dove straight into its main theme, with Claire narrating in the first person from the birth of her baby. The narrative is honest and funny, despite the terrible circumstances that Claire finds herself in. This seems to be a talent of Keyes, writing a miserable storyline in a funny and happy way, so that the characters aren't dull or funny, but actually endearing and quite friendly despite everything. I really liked Claire straight away, and just from the first few pages I knew I was going to like her and consequently like the book because of this.

As its written from Claire's perspective, the story is obviously biased towards Claire and her side of the story, but this obviously works well as James is supposed to be a right sod anyway. Keyes writes this relationship in a clever way, making James out to be an awful man, although still having Claire love her husband, as people indeed do despite what their partners do to them. And the other enjoyable part of the book for me was reading Clare developing as a mother, starting off clueless and scared, but becoming confident although nervous at leaving her daughter alone for her first night out...it reminded me so much of myself! This was a joy to read, and Keyes has really reached the inner emotions of a new mum here, making it fantastic reading.

The Walsh family themselves, who are Claire's family, are a great laugh. She has traditional parents who are hilarious but clearly want the best for their daughter and grand-daughter, but it is her sisters that are the best characters in the book. Claire has 3 sisters, Rachel and Margaret (who we don't meet in this book), hippy Anna who lives in a drug-induced dreamworld and bitchy Helen, a typically stroppy 18 year old who thinks the world revolves are her and her lovelife. In fact, the family were such a hit with readers that Keyes has gone on to base a further 3 books about the sisters which I am excited about reading!

This book is a really heart-warming tale despite what sounds like a bit of a depressing storyline. Being written in the first person, you can instantly warm to Claire and her plight, and although her circumstances are pretty dire, she still writes in a humourous way, making you laugh along the way with her words. The book really kicks in when it arrives in Dublin and the family is introduced to us. The way her family rallies around her is lovely and heart-warming, and is a true testament to the strength of families when you're in need. The characters are all brilliantly written, from Claire to her sisters, to the horrid James (who gets worse as the book goes on believe it or not!) to Laura and Adam, characters who appear gradually throughout the book.

At 520 pages long, the book is quite long but I didn't find that it dragged too much which was good. I'm always worried with rather long books that they are going to drag a bit and lose their way in the middle, but Keyes has kept up the pace nicely with one and it doesn't deviate from its plot at all. It develops in a plausible way, with Claire's character growing throughout the book fantastically, allowing you to feel for her struggles and applauding her strength. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and would recommend it to anyone who likes a good chick-lit book with an uplifting and enjoyable storyline. A great read. And in case you're wondering about the title, a watermelon is what Claire likens her post-pregnancy body to!

ISBN: 978-0099489986 (please note this ISBN is for the newest edition of the book printed in 2005), the book was originally released in 1995. The newest paperback version contains 520 pages. Published by Arrow Books Ltd. Available on Amazon for £5.54 although I got my copy in a charity shop for just 50 pennies! For more information on Marian Keyes, see her website at www.mariankeyes.com.

Oh, and the other books involving the Walsh family are:
Rachel's Holiday (1998)
Angels (2001)
Anybody Out There? (2006)