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This Charming Man: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Marian Keyes
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $13.07
You Save: $11.88 (48%)
New (47) Used (18) from $10.49
Rating:  58 reviews
Sales Rank: 12662
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 576
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9 x 5.9 x 1.6
ISBN: 0061124028
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780061124020
ASIN: 0061124028
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
blockquote p With iThis Charming Man/i, Marian Keyes hits her stride as a novelist with her best novel yet, telling the stories of four women who are shaped by one man /p /blockquote p Paddy de Courcy is Ireland's debonair politician, the "John F. Kennedy Jr. of Dublin." His charm and charisma have taken hold of the country and the tabloids, not to mention our four heroines: Lola, Grace, Marnie, and Alicia. But though Paddy's winning smile is fooling Irish minds, the broken hearts he's left in his past offer a far more truthful look into his character. /p p Narrated in turn by each woman, iThis Charming Man/i explores how their love for this one man has shaped their lives. But in true Marian Keyes fashion, this is more than a story of four love affairs. It's a testament to the strength women find in themselves through work, friendship, and family, no matter what demons may be haunting their lives. Depression, self-doubt, domestic abuse#8212;each of these women has seen tough times in life, and it's through Keyes's wonderful storytelling ability that these subjects are approached with the appropriate tone and candor. Her deft touch provides a gripping story and, ultimately, a redemptive ending. /p
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| Customer Reviews: Read 53 more reviews...
 WHY?? November 15, 2008
Valerie A. Hearon
I love Marion Keyes, but I cannot get past the first chapter! How in the world is anyone expected to like some girl that talks or even thinks in this way?? It's like reading someone that is speaking in baby talk. I cannot like the character, so how can I like the book? I'm going to keep reading, simply because my sister said it is worth it, but it's hard to keep reading with all it's doing is annoying the life out of you. PLEASE never write in this style again. It's painful to read this chopped and screwed verbage. I am so disappointed in this book. I just cannot say how much Lola annoys me. I promise, it's like listening to a 3 year old. I'm truly hoping it gets better, but the book is horrible so far.
 Another success for Marian Keyes... Kudos for this fantastic novel. I loved it! November 15, 2008
Guillermo Amaro (Lima, PERU)
This is an extraordinary novel which tackles rough and serious subjects such as domestic violence, alcoholism, rape, and sexual perversions. Marian Keyes is not only a great writer, she is also an artist who paints her characters in a warm hearted light and with very humane and lovingly realistic characteristics, but above all she can paint them with a touch of self deprecation and lightheartedness that let her readers read on without feeling absolutely taken aback or shocked beyond reason which makes her novels palatable and 200% unique. br /I have read absolutely every single one of Marian's books and I wish to God I could someday meet her in person because she must be incredible adorable and fun even in the darkest hours. What an exemplary writer for us all. br / br /"This Charming man" is a book which brings us four voices; four women who have loved the same man at one point or another in their lives and who have been permanently marked and damaged because of loving him utterly and beyond reason. Who is this man you might ask yourself, well you will meet heartthrob Paddy de Courcy, aka the JFK Jr. of Ireland who is hailed to be the political savior of the country and who is and always will be a savagely sexy and persuasive man who always gets what he wants until our four women gather forces against him. br /We meet Lola Daly first and foremost, she is a stylist with purple highlights (Molichino is the color she always claims she has) who's voice is presented to us in the style of a diary or journal and which is written in a type of short hand which makes it extremely funny, and I mean laugh out loud funny, to hear her out. Lola was checking eBid for a handbag when she learns that her relationship with Paddy is over... De Courcy to Wed is the headline and her shock is just heartbreaking. I loved Lola the most for her openness and flat out vulnerability. br /Then we meet Grace Gildee, the strong willed and sensible reporter who is one of the first to know, what with working in a newspaper when word came in from a political correspondent. She kept her cool and acted as the true professional she has always been. br /Next comes Marnie Hunter, Grace's twin sister who is always depressed, feeling down and under, and who harbors suicidal thoughts and tendencies using alcohol to numb her pain and her sorrows. br /Finally interspersed in bits and pieces in this story is Alicia Thornton, Paddy's horse faced new fiancee. br / br /"This Charming Man" is really extraordinary and unlike anything Keyes has written before. She's tackled tough subjects in the past, it's true, but the devastating and heinous nature of the depraved acts of violence and degradation described in this book take her storytelling to a new level. br /The storyline is exciting and fast paced and it has a wonderfully cohesive plot that comes together through the four very real and flawed characters. br / br /A must read for everyone out there. You will simply love it as much as I did; it's impossible to put down... I even feel like reading it all over again this is how much I found it delectable. br / br / br /
 Couldn't put it down! November 10, 2008
Stacy Harris (Agoura Hills, CA)
This book certainly covers some heavy topics, but I was eager to steal opportunities to keep reading this engaging book. I had a hard time putting it down and I found myself thinking about it when I wasn't reading it. I recommend this one!
Witty and real November 6, 2008
Maria A. Solovieva
Unlike some of the readers that seem confused and frustrated by the first chapter of the book, I actually really enjoyed it. It is supposed to be the inner monologue of a depressed tired angry and sad woman that just got booted out of a bad relationship. The fact that sentences are fragmented and erratic actually brings you into the character's mindframe that much faster and adds humor and color to what would otherwise be whining and boring. I actually like her last two books better than any of the rest (with the exception of the other side of the story which was great too). The characters finally have more than one dimention and the multiple narrative makes a book about love and relationships stand out amongst a sea of similar books.
Marian Keyes is superb but this is by far not her best November 4, 2008
E. Wallace
Heroine brokenhearted. So despondent lost pronouns. Articles, too. br / br /This is not a preview for those who haven't read this--or other--Marian Keyes books. For those people, yes, she's great, go get all her stuff and enjoy it. (That's why I'm rating this 4. Because she's basically excellent.) But don't start with this one. She's trying some new stuff here, and a lot of it really doesn't work. br / br /Our first heroine, Lola, is the one who has lost her pronouns and articles. Her chapters in this book make one think that Ms. Keyes has taken to composing her stories on her Blackberry with arthritic fingers. As a literary device, I personally think it sucks. (Or as Lola would say, "As literary device, sucks.") And Lola is not a character to whom I can realate. A stylist? I'm a west-coast American, which means I'm necessarily in the know, right, so why am I cringing about this woman's career? (Is she like whatever underpaid minion chose all of those "styles" for Sarah Palin, I wonder?) That said, at least Lola's situation has some of the characteristic Keyes whimsical comedy. She and her cross-dressing friends and her lively romances are about the only light points of the book. br / br /The other female characters--I can hardly call them heroines--are sadly lacking. Marnie the precious, self-centered alcoholic, has no redeeming qualities. Am I the only one who was kind of hoping for suicide here? Grace, probably our "main" heroine, lacks depth, and although the "mystery" of her relationship with the villian isn't much of a mystery, she is the focal point for the action in the book. But that action isn't well-developed or well-paced. She sets out to expose the villian in order to support Dee, the "good" politican, who is also underdeveloped. Why? The relationship between the two is not developed enough to understand the motivation. Alicia, the villian's current amour, is so underdeveloped that one wonders why there are even passages devoted to her. She has no personality and sees no action in the book. Is it just that a dullard was required as background material? There are occasional glimpses of the quirky, charming Irish family life we are accustomed to from Keyes through Grace and Marnie's parents and aunt, and some of the villagers in Knockavoy, but really not enough to redeem this novel. br / br /This is a harsh novel about domestic violence--battered women's syndrome really--alcoholism, severe personality disorders, and bleak survival. To the extent that Marian Keyes is striving to shed the light "euro-chick-lit" Sophie-Kinsella-like label, this should certainly do it. But it is self-consciously "different" from Keyes' usual presentation of lively, quirky Irish, and makes me long for Mammy Walch to come back to Los Angeles (Angels) and hit us with some more blarney.
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