Although this is a very quick read, Keyes keeps to her signature writing style and this makes it familiar and enjoyable.

Un relato corto pero demasiado corto y demasiado rápido, contando todo como con prisas. Esperaba algo más, el toque divertido a la vez que dramático de la escritora. No me ha gustado.

VERY short and not fully developed. Total waste of money

Cute easy read

Wee bit strange like a Wes Anderson movie but in an eerie “this is supposed to teach you something” way that I don’t like in books

Too short

Lovely little story!

Super short read. Definitely food for thought. Emma doesn't realize she's dead and then wishes she had lived better.

Marian Keyes' perfect blend of good humor and poignancy takes a tragic event and turns it on it's head. Shaking you out of your perspective and making you look, with fresh eyes, at the shortness and uncertainty of your very own life.

We hear the adage "life's too short" so much it has more or less lost all meaning. This little story injects new life into this perspective, in a way that makes you truly stop and take stock.

I was reviewing my "to read" list and decided to perhaps purge some of the lesser rated books that I added back in 2013 when I first joined Goodreads. I saw this one by Marian Keyes, who is one of my absolute favorite authors, but it had a fairly low rating for her. I read a review that this was a very small book, like a pamphlet, and I discovered I could download it from the library so I gave it a chance.

I literally read it here and there over the course of an hour while sitting at my desk. My thoughts while reading this were "what it the heck, this is awful. It's like a high school writing class or something". I was all set to give it two stars. I had to skim some parts because it was just too simple.

Then I saw it was part of an "Open Door" series and I looked that up. From Wikipedia: The Open Door series, an adult literacy series of novellas by well-known Irish authors, was launched in the mid-1990s by Irish publisher New Island and author Patricia Scanlan. Scanlan had worked in public libraries in Dublin before becoming a full-time writer and was acutely aware of the literacy problems facing a large segment of the adult population and the dearth of appropriate reading material available to them. The Open Door texts are subject to specific editorial guidelines, which help participating authors create novels for the purpose intended. These include: a discernible plot; a few, well-developed characters; simple language with the occasional challenging word; and short chapters, to create the feel and structure of "regular" novels. All the texts are 10,000 words or less and sentences are kept short.

Ah ha! Boy did that make me feel better because she is usually such a smart, witty writer. So I added an extra star for the good deed. Still only 3 stars because, regardless of the good deed, the story was not that great. (Sorry Marian...I think you could have done better) :)

This was a very different sort of idea for a short story and I enjoyed the concept. The fact that Lizzie is dead but does not, at first realise it and then does not want to accept it is a good start to a story. She is provided with some help in the form of two spirits who are sent to explain things to her but she has many regrets at first about what she should have done and what she has missed out on. I think you could take this as a little 'life lesson' on not taking things for granted.

An enjoyable little story. Certainly a quick little read