Marian Keyes writing is so popular...but it's not for me.

This book was not at all what I was expecting... I thought it would be light, fluffy and trivial and what I got in reality was a horrible glimpse into the mirror of addiction and saw myself staring back.

Rachel's Holiday follows 27 year old Rachel who lives in New York and parties like there's no tomorrow... until there almost isn't one. She's shipped off back to Ireland by her loopy family, where she finds herself in a drug treatment centre.

I found this to be an unexpectedly good read on many levels. For one, the subject matter was much darker than I thought it would be. Two, the way Keyes allows the reader to glimpse more and more of Rachel, slowly twisting the way you see her from Rachel's own perspective to that of an outsider looking in on a drug addicts descent and subsequent rise from addiction.

The novel touched a lot of nerves for me, and some of the descriptions of what it is like to be an addict made me cry with recognition. A painful read, but one I am so glad I finished.

One of my favourite Marian Keyes novels so far. I read a few of her novels when I was younger, and although I liked them, I am connecting to them in a much deeper way this time around. However, this is one I skipped all those years ago. I didn't care at all about this Rachel's time lolling about on the beach or whatever. I clearly never read the back of the book before I dismissed it, because I now know this "holiday" was actually a trip to rehab.

This is quite a funny book, enough so that it can take a while to notice how serious Rachel's situation is. She is certain she is not meant to be in rehab, and observes those around her with amusement, often righteously angry on their behalf at some of the accusations calmly levelled by their family members. The shock she feels when she realises that one the charming, funny men she sided with is actually abusing his wife. His drinking is wrapped up in this, although may not be the sole cause. Then she comforts herself with the idea that at least she doesn't treat those in her life like he does. Which turns out to not be entirely true. She might not be physically beating her partner, but she treats those around her terribly, and then rationalises everything, turns all her focus back to herself and how she is wronged.
At times Rachel is a deeply frustrating character. When a fellow patient makes a deeply personal revelation, Rachel is briefly contrite, but almost immediately her sympathy returns to herself, her own situation, the many ways she feels she has been wronged. I rather hated her in this moment, but it was also a great insight into how warped her perception of her life, and her relationship with alcohol, was. She was able to justify almost anything, and always highlight herself as the victim.

Despite these points the book, and often Rachel herself, is very funny. There were parts that had me laughing out loud, especially a deeply earnest discussion held about the strengths of the various chocolate bars available locally. The parts of Rachel's life before she was in the clinic were interesting too, especially because what initially seemed fun soon soured, although she really only became aware of this when reexamining it later. More importantly to me, some of Rachel's earlier behaviour that she seemed to view as fun or quirky was eventually accepted to have been bitchy and manipulative.

There is a romance here that I became invested in, but really the focus is on alcoholism, the slow realisation that those around you aren't fabricating your issues, and eventually trying to recover from it. I know Marian Keyes has been through this personally, and while I don't think you have to have experience something to write effectively about it, she really pulls off something impressive with this novel. It's insightful, compassionate, silly at times and deeply emotional.

There is more than one audio version of this one, and I chose the copy read by the author, which I enjoyed very much. I have the sequel too, which I look forward to. This first book has been beloved for years now, and I can see why.

I found this a bit slow and obvious. It was an easy read though.

I always enjoy Keyes' characters. They always seem so "human". Rachel is no exception. The reader could empathize with many of the situations that she found herself involved in. While I didn't chuckle as much while reading this novel as I have with her other books, I think that it is my favorite one.

Could have done with being about 200 pages shorter. Second book I've read about the Walsh sisters. The other one was better. Did feel like I'd read this before but if I had then it didn't make much of an impression on me. I was cheering Marian for not ending the book in the way you expected but it was short lived as this was before I'd read Epilogue. It does end like you expect it to. Not the worst chick lit book in the world but there are much better ones out there.

I would not necessarily have picked out this book for myself, as reading about addicts is hardly my idea of fun, except I'm trying to read the books that have been selected for the BBC World Book Club and this was one of them. Well, a good thing I did because it's really good.

I'm amazed at how funny and empathetic Marian Keyes' writing is. This is a book that deals with such a bleak, difficult subject, but does it with such humanity and good humour. I was riveted by Rachel's journey, though I found her quite despicable for most of it. And on top of it, Keyes even wrote in a really nice, genuine romance!

I would recommend this book, and I'm definitely going to read more by the author.

Marian Keyes is definitely one of the best chick lit writers out there, and this book is my favorite of hers.

This was not the light chick lit read that I was expecting, and as I started reading it, and getting more and more IRRITATED by this character's addiction and denial and self-destructive behaviour....I thought that I HATED this book.

However, I actually quite loved it. First of all, I have no sympathy for addicts and I am not even shameful about that. I was raised surrounded by addicts. I find the behaviour selfish and irresponsible and just altogether frustrating. I spent my childhood by myself, raising myself and my brother, and dealing with violence, neglect, a lack of fundamental necessities....all things that have led me to be an adult that is decidedly NOT SYMPATHETIC to addiction.

As an adult, I now find that I am expected to take care of those people that were supposed to have taken care of me as a child. I'm supposed to be sympathetic to liver failure, emphysemia, financial ruin, and constant RELAPSES and it's just too much.

I say all of this to put into context my reasons for really hating Rachel. Her predicament was just too familiar for my tastes.

But I found myself inexorably drawn into her story. I couldn't put the book down. I was seriously absorbed. I HAD to find out how she was going to resolve her life. I HAD to know if she was going to come out of denial, if she was going to realize what a stupid beeyatch she was....I really needed there to be resolution for this story.

What's interesting is that this writer didn't make the process light and fluffy. Rachel had a painful and slow road to recovery. Her process of denial was EXCRUCIATING for me, but I came to understand her. I came to see why she had been such an idiotic idiot head!

This book is what the genre of chick lit is supposed to be about: painful productive growth. I loved it.

This has been my favorite of all the Marian Keyes books I have read thus far! It is truly amazing to see how all her characters go through the toughest times or sometimes find themselves in the funniest situations. The best being when both emotions happen in the same scene!
The story line is once again done brilliantly, from start to finish. Her books have become synonymous 'glued to the hands with butt on the seat' gut wrenching, tear jerking (because of the funny bits) and riveting brilliance.
The story of Rachel is a tale that one can identify with, even if you don't use drugs or drink excessively; this based on the ignorance and stupidity that most of us experience at some point in our lives, and silly as it might sound this book was also in a sense motivational. I don't personally have the same exact issues as Rachel, but we all have our little addictions that most of us don't even know about or choose not to admit. The book really gets the veil lifted even if for just short intervals and because on some level one identifies with the characters, you feel the emotion so much more. For anyone that says this book did nothing for them, my response to them would be that, in my opinion, you are just more in denial than the rest of us!
This is a MUST read!

*sight* I positively, absolutely love this book as much as I did when I first read it eons ago. On to Again, Rachel we go…

For such a chunky boi, Keyes’ writing makes this extremely accessible and consistently entertaining. The jokes don’t let up, but this is a heavy hitter; worthy themes are handled with candour and compassion and the shifting timelines charting Rachel’s recovery and preceding downward spiral work very well in tandem.