THREE Sides to Every Story? (The Other Side Of The Story - Marian Keyes)

Member Name: llamalove

Product:	The Other Side Of The Story - Marian Keyes
Date:	21/09/04 (371 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: She's done it again!

Disadvantages: none at all

Having my birthday in July is always good. It means that lots of my favourite authors bring out their new books ready for the holiday period where people can pop them in their suitcases and go off down to the beach for a long, relaxing read. Marian Keyes is one of these ‘favourite authors’ and around July time, a new book seems to come out. Coming out on hard back first means; spending lots of money, waiting an age for the paperback version to come out, or keeping my fingers crossed and dropping lots of hints with the words ‘birthday present’ in. This birthday, I didn’t even have to hint…my beloved younger sister knew what I’d be after (maybe because she was hoping to read it too) and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the book shaped pressie on the day.

This year it was ‘The Other Side of The Story’. A novel linked by the stories of a trio of unforgettable women.

Ambitious and sexy, literary agent Jojo Harvey combines voluptuous good looks with a mind of steel. As if she doesn’t have a hard enough job trying to work her way up the corporate ladder, Jojo is also having an affair with her married boss.

Slim, blonde, best-selling author Lily Wright is one of Jojo's clients. She worries constantly about her relationship with Anton (the love of her life), believes strongly in fate and karma, and is having trouble writing her second novel that she has already spent the advance of on her dream house.

And third, is Events Organiser Gemma Hogan. She was once best friends with Lily but their friendship came to an end when Lily stole Anton from her. Gemma’s story revolves around struggling with the demands of her job, social life and her desperately needy, newly separated mother. Gemma confesses all to one of her dearest friends in a series of emails. The tales eventually come to the attention of Jojo and Gemma also becomes her client.

Well, she's done it again! Marian never fails to please and the only thing that disappointed me about this book was that it had to end. Through an exciting, hilarious, heart-warming and sometimes heartbreaking story, Keyes proves there is always another side to the story…in this case, there are 3 sides.

The book is split into sections. The first half of the book tells the story so far of each main character. The second half of the story is more about what is happening now and how their lives are linked.

The story starts with Gemma. Gemma is 32, left home and set up in a flat of her own many years ago, has a great social life and is doing well in her job. That is until she gets a call from her mother to say that her father is having an affair with his secretary and has left her. Gemma drops everything and rushes off to see her. Unfortunately, mum goes from bad to worse and Gemma is forced to stay and look after her. Trapped in her childhood home with her unwashed, depressed mother who clings to her husbands manky porridge bowl for months whilst waiting for him to return, Gemma spends any spare time emailing her friend on the other side of the world, depicting the various scenarios of her upside down life. The highlight of her time back home seem to be taking quick trips to the chemist to pick up her mothers prescription from the friendly pharmacist in the white coat.

As the story unfolds, Gemma finds that without her authorisation, her so-called friend has passed these emails onto a literary agent (Jojo) who wants to produce them into a novel format. Gemma can not bear the thought of her embarrassing stories being shared with the world but knows that this could be the only way to get back at Lily (who is also a client of Jojo’s), her ex-best friend, who many years ago stole her boyfriend and now lives with him and their baby girl in London.

Set in the world of publishing, The Other Side of the Story is about love, loyalty and survival… and what to do when you get your chance for revenge. It may be 'chick fic', ‘chick lit’ and a 'Women's Weekly Great Read' but it's also very well written, is full of believable characters, hysterical situations, great comedy sex and has the key to the escape route we all want now and again from everyday life. Marian Keyes writes about real 3 dimensional people you can relate to and settling down with her newest novel is like meeting up with your oldest school friend who you haven’t seen for years but just know things between you will be exactly the same as they were back then. Keyes writes about things that are close to women’s hearts – fear. Fear of success…fear of failure…fear of not finding your true love…fear of finding your true love…fears of major life changing incidents, right down to little everyday niggles.

So, if you want to read a hilariously funny book, that will draw you in, making you giggle and cry and cry at the same time, then try this one. It’s a fantastic book…even better than getting banjoed on free Pina Coladas! *





*You’ll have to read it to understand that one.

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