I had not read a book by Marian Keyes for quite a few years, so thought I’d try Grown Ups as I had seen a lot of good publicity about it. This is the story of three brothers, Johnny, Ed and Liam, and their families and friends. We are thrown right in at the deep end with a huge argument at Johnny’s fiftieth birthday party. Cara (Ed’s wife) has concussion which has loosened her tongue, and her revelations tear everyone apart.
At this point we have no idea who all these people are, and it is very confusing. The story now jumps back in time, and we are gradually able to make sense of it all. As a plot device it is unsubtle, and it distracted me from the story. I eventually decided to just read the first chapters again.
It’s not so easy to judge when reading on a kindle, but this book seemed much longer than average; I think it would have benefitted from a good edit. There were an awful lot of characters introduced in a short space of time. This made it quite difficult to tell who was who, and meant that they were not as well developed as they could have been.
Grown Ups is well written, but there is not much in the way of plot. The action mostly takes place at a series of extravagant family gatherings hosted by Johnny and Jessie. Marian Keyes explores some fairly serious subjects – bulimia, refugees, money, online retail, age difference in relationships – but none is gone into in enough depth. I did enjoy Grown Ups, but it could have been so much better.
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of Marian Keyes's non-fiction but have to admit I'd never read one of her novels before, and this feels like a great place to start.

I fully expected to love Grown Ups as I had yet to find a book by Marian Keyes that I didn’t enjoy, I have now. I was so disappointed in this book, I found it boring and although I tried to persevere because it was a Marian Keyes book I gave up after a few chapters. Sorry not for me.

For those of you who are familiar with Keyes’ work this book will come as a delightful reminder of Keyes at her best, the perfectly imperfect family and the intricacies of the relationships within. If you have read about the exploits of the Walsh sisters (and their mammie) then you will already know that Keyes is able to write families like no-one else I know. Each family member has their own personality and unique relationships with each other. As you would expect, siblings relate to each other in different ways, often regressing to incredibly childish behaviour when together. With often hilarious results!

Whilst this is a comedy there is a lot of darkness in the story. I don’t think anyone goes untouched by disaster in one form or another. The Casey brothers all appear to have idillic lives, each having a loving wife supporting them. Whilst the story is told mostly from the perspectives of the wives, it is fair to say that the three brothers are the main characters. The impact of their upbringing affects them in their own ways, leading to what could loosely be termed as a simultaneous mid-life crisis.

I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Really decent read with the female characters in particular well crafted and relatable. Drags a little in the first third but actually pretty niftily put together with multiple strands of domestic dramas all coming together at the end. The start is excellent with a great premise of a concussed character blurting out various home truths and this is revisited again at a crucial point. Lots going on but it never lets you lose the thread of things, and there’s some wish fulfilment fancy trips and holidays to enjoy the descriptions of as well. Not read any of her others this is maybe less humourous? She’s unfairly lumped in as ‘chick lit’ ie popular and written by a female but her writing is much more subtle and spot-on than that jaded label would suggest.

My first Marina Keyes book and I adored it. Yes its long, yes there are many characters and yes I stayed up until 2am to finish it last night. The interwoven character plots are skilfully manipulated to give the Casey family zest and intrigues. About to order her other books to my kindle

Although this wasn't a thrilling book with huge gasp inducing moments, it was just a really lovely read with incredibly written characters and very relatable personable story lines. An overall brilliant read

Ahhhh... Marian Keyes.

Due to the strange times we are living in, I completely lost my reading mojo, but desperately wanted to read 'something', so I plumped for Marian Keyes latest book.

So glad I did as her whit and warmth are just what was needed. As wonderful an author as always, this book had be cosily kept occupied all the Easter weekend.

As recommended as ever!

This book has many positive qualities. It's cleverly plotted, with complex and relatable characters, and a good balance of humour and poignancy. It explores family and personal issues, with honesty and sensitivity.

The dramatic beginning draws the reader into the family drama. Delving into past family interactions and individual stories, an astute and insightful look at the family reveals deceit, infidelity and mental health issues. There are many characters, some hard to empathise, but they all play an integral part in the unfolding story.

Its slow pace and length, make it an ideal holiday read?

I received a copy of this book from Penguin Book UK - Michael Joseph via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Grown Ups is a wonderful look into another family's life with all the ups and downs, secrets and lies that you would expect when money and lust comes into play. Marian is excellent at creating characters that jump off the page and stay with you long after the book has ended. We can't travel to Ireland right now, but we can with Marian Keyes.

This book is the story of the three Casey brothers, their wives and families. The oldest, handsome Johnny, is married to Jessie who, when she isn’t running her chain of exotic food stores, loves to organise big family events. Middle son Ed is easy-going and his wife, Cara, uses her professional ability to cater for even the most awkward guest in her hotel job to good effect in soothing family arguments. Finally, the youngest son Liam, an ex-professional cyclist has his new wife Nell, young, funky and artistic, but has lost touch with his two young children from his previous marriage. With children, step-children and children’s various friends thrown into the mix this is a big, boisterous, blended family: but is it as happy as it looks? The story begins with Johnny’s birthday dinner and moves back and forth over the past six months to reveal why Cara spoils the evening with some unpalatable truths. We discover that everyone has their secrets, that sometimes family is toxic but that the best family members will always be willing to help you overcome your problems.

Marian Keyes writes the sort of fiction I’d like to define as ‘chick-lit for grown-up chicks’. The humour, romance and family angles are all there but the people involved are very, very real and easy to identify with. Sometimes funny, sometimes insecure, often flawed but always worth meeting. Just like Marian herself!

Grown Ups is an utterly charming, absorbing story of everyday life (well…sort of) which serves as a much-needed lighthearted break from the madness of the world right now.

The book follows the Casey family and their many members – all of whom are interesting, well-developed characters; Marian Keyes has done her usual excellent job of characterisation in Grown Ups, creating characters you a) care about and b) really want to read more of. They each have their own issues or quirks, but although some are far less likable than others (you know who you are!), all of them feel like they could be real people – and I love ‘reading’ their Irish accents!

I don’t want too much anything away about the storyline but I really enjoyed reading about the vibrant Jessie and Johnny and their relationship together (and with money: I would usually think that I wouldn’t sympathise with, or want to read more about, characters who have so much but don’t always really appreciate it, or can’t seem to stop spending when others struggle, but they’re such likable, generous characters that this didn’t really bother me), as well as Cara’s own battles with food (which was shocking and saddening at times) and Nell’s struggle in her marriage – plus much more of the family’s dilemmas.

Some parts are perhaps a little predictable, but never to the detriment of the story, and there are still lots of surprises in its pages. I felt that the characters’ reactions mostly realistic, meaning you didn’t have to suspend your disbelief too much, and the ending – which links in so well to the start (and I’d forgotten how the book started by the time I got to the end) ties everything up beautifully.

This is a very long book (well over 600 pages!), and sometimes I can feel like a book is dragging on too long when it’s this kind of length, but I absolutely didn’t feel that way with Grown Ups. I devoured every single page, wanting to read more and more about the Casey’s lives and interactions with eachother, and wishing I had a huge family too (though perhaps without a lot of the drama!)

By the end of the book you really feel like you’ve got to know them all so well – in part I guess because it’s such a long book, but also because the characters feel like they’ve become almost like friends. I’d really recommend Grownups as a brilliant book to completely lose yourself in.

Fantastic.

I have avoided books by Marian Keyes for a number of years after not understanding the hype surrounding her and also because I didn't enjoy a couple of her books.

This one though, has made me completely change my mind... or rather decide that perhaps I prefer her "newer" books.
This is full of life and all of the wonderful - and awful - things that come with it.

No one writes a dysfunctional family better than Marian Keyes. And the Caseys are no different.

The story revolves around the Casey brothers, their wives and children. On the surface they are a happy family with no worries. But beneath the surface... the book opens at a birthday dinner, where secrets are being spilled. We then go back 6 months to find out just how everything unravelled for the family.

As ever, Marian has written a wonderfully eclectic mix of characters. Some are more interesting than others, so I enjoyed their parts of the book more.

Another entertaining family drama from Marian, if you are already a fan, you will definitely love this one.

Sadly not for me. . There were bits I liked but I really struggled to relate to almost all of the characters so found it hard to warm to them.

Once again Marian Keys delivers a wonderful tale.

The three Casey brothers Are very close and anyone looking in from the outside would think they have the perfect family life, with lovely families who stick together, socialise together and holiday together.

But everything is not quite together and over one summer it all starts to unravel for each of the three households.

By the end of the summer they will all have to begin to take responsibility for their situations and be Grown Ups.

Great characters in this excellent story, which makes us all realise that life just isn’t perfect all the time, but problems can be worked through and resolved.

A great read, was going to suggest a good summer read, but it will also be a great book to enjoy during ‘social distancing’ in the next few weeks/months.

Thank you Marian for another wonderful tale.

Initially I found the huge cast of characters hard to keep up with in terms of who was married to who, and how everyone was related. Once I’d gotten to know everyone I sped through the book, as I usually do with Marian Keyes stories.

The book starts with one of the characters, Cara, spilling a few juicy family secrets at a birthday dinner and we work backwards from there to see how the family got to that point. Although dealing with very serious subject matters (e.g. eating disorders, adultery) the writing is hilarious, really making me laugh out loud regularly whilst also shedding a tear at the end.

I will miss spending time with the Casey family (except Liam who seems to have no redeeming qualities at all) I thoroughly recommend this book!

Not the best book I've read by Marion Keyes too many characters and too much going on Enjoyed the bulimic story line was very interesting and enjoyable ending but all in all a disappointing read and a bit too long for me

Every now and then I need something lighthearted and easy to read after constant psychological thrillers so I was convinced this would be a book that would offer some light relief. I'm a big fan of Marian Keyes but sometimes I find some of her books a bit hit and miss and this was one that just took me far too long to get into.

Based around the lives and wives of the Casey brothers, Johnny, Ed and Liam, 'Grown Ups' navigates around the crazy family life of a very 'close-knit' family who practically live in each others' pockets. Johnny and wife Jessie are the main collaboraters in keeping the family together. Strangely enough I liked Jessie despite the fact that she seemed to buy her family with expensive holidays and gifts. Ed and Cara seem to be the most together couple but when Cara is faced with an eating disorder their lives quickly spiral out of control and I'll be honest I actually thought the book was about Cara's memory loss. Then we have Liam and Nell, Liam is definitely the most unlikeable character in the book and Nell was just pretty annoying.

I think as the book was so long it was just slower to get down to the real action but around the halfway point it did pick up.

Overall, not one of my favourites but it was readable enough.

You can’t go wrong with a book by Marian. Another fantastic book, great characters, nice easy flow to the story. Definitely one I’ll be recommending.