This is YOUR last chance Ms Keyes! (Last Chance Saloon - Marian Keyes)

Name: kathem

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Product:	Last Chance Saloon - Marian Keyes
Date:	30/09/02 (187 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Decent, likeable characters, Good twist, Witty and humorous

Disadvantages: Again, a little bit predictable, A few too many stereotypes

Having read 'Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married', and 'Sushi For Beginners', I was beginning to wonder just what the fuss about Marian Keyes was. I kept plodding through though as my mother keeps buying them for me because she heard that a second cousin of a friend of a friend liked them or something, and so she bought four of them. I actually finished this novel about a week ago, it took me about three days to read and that's only because I was so busy! I assure you that I would have read it cover to cover without stopping (well, maybe), and thus you have my first pro-point of this novel - you can't put it down, it would be a sin to.

I loved this book, unfortunately for some bad reasons. Tara, 31, is in the 'Last Chance Saloon', where fear of being single is far worse than fear of being with a man who keeps his change (when he has his own money) in a brown string purse, loves his cat more than sex, and who's favourite phrase is 'I speak as I bludeh find' (yes, Thomas is Yorkshire born and bred). I think that many women would identify with this; dead-end relationships are all the rage aren't they? But the urge for Tara to get herself a bloke she deserves is so great, I felt that the book could probably run on this strand of the story alone. Keyes' builds up such a hatred for Thomas that you would just love to kick him in the knackers. The mere fact that Tara would do anything to please her man - including knitting a (brown) jumper - stirs up such an angry, if not familiar, yet humorous feeling that you spend the entire book waiting for her to come to her senses. I found Tara doing and saying things that I had done and said to justify a relationship - it was so compelling it was unreal.

Katherine, best friends with Tara well before days of Wham! and fluorescent leg warmers is exactly the opposite. She can destroy even the most cocky of male egos at light speed and would never be seen dead even near
a man. She is far from popular at work, has earned the nickname of 'Ice Queen', yet when the ever persistent Joe Roth takes an interest, will an accusation of sexual abuse ruin Katherine's chances? Not to mention a pompous luvvy who reappears to ruin Joe's chances when Joe ruined his career.

Fintan, probably the most fashionable homosexual, lives with his 'Italian pony' (he's too small to be a stallion), Sandro, and has the good life. He's been friends with Tara and Katherine since their teens, when they lived in Knockavoy, Ireland. They now live the high life in London - decent enough jobs, life going reasonably smoothly. Yes, you've guessed it - its about to change. And it's a horrible circumstance that changes them.

Ok, if you've read the above and are convinced that these people sound like a load of stereotypes, you'd be right. But there is something about this book that differs from the other's I have read. The characters aren't stereotypical to the point of predictable and annoying. I quite liked these characters, unlike Lisa in 'Sushi For Beginners', and Lucy in 'Lucy Sullivan?'. They seemed far more realistic and human. I probably felt this way because of my similarities with Tara (although I never said I was in a Last Chance Saloon!), but whatever, I liked it.

I also found this book far more humorous than the rest. I loved Tara's attempts at dieting - going on a fitness machine while gobbling down a post drinking binge burger and chips was hilarious. Or getting up with a hangover and eating a whole loaf of bread. Or the typical 'Irishness' of Fintan's family will no doubt have you giggling, if not guffawing. I also felt that it was far less predictable than the others, as it had a pretty good twist in the story, albeit a bit too close to the end. Maybe a bit more could have been made out of it.

I wouldn't go so far as to write d
own all the clichés of 'this book made me re-evaluate my life', or 'I was crying tears of joy mixed with sadness into my empty box of kleenex', because if anything that will make you run as far from a Marian Keyes novel as possible. But I'll just tell you that I am now converted. All is forgiven Ms Keyes, I'm just off to curl up in front of the fire and read 'Rachel's Holiday'. Ok, it's a nice day and the fire won't go on, but it's probably the perfect setting for a Keyes' novel.

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