I have been promising to add book reviews to the site for a while, and I finally took the time to read a good old-fashioned chick-lit favourite’s latest offering this weekend.
I’ve loved Marian Keyes since the nineties, and I tend to buy everything she does almost on autopilot. She has a relaxed writing style and a warmth that makes her novels very comforting and easy to read.
This book was no exception, although I’ll be honest and say it’s not her best.
The introduction to the story starts with a chance car crash – nothing serious – but it sets a scene for future characters and the ideas of ‘fate’ and ‘karma’ which run through the book.
The story is set in different time periods; from the car crash which doesn’t really seem to have a lot of point as the story progresses, we then move to near present time, and find the protagonist Stella despairing over her annoying son, Jeffrey, and his bizarre yoga obsession. Jeffrey really is an annoying and unlikeable character who seems to be in a bad mood for the entire book.
She’s also dealing with an ex-husband who thinks he’s something of an artist and is jettisoning all his possessions in an attempt to prove that Karma will provide for him if he gives everything away. Including his home and his business. And his pants.
The rest of the story deals with how Stella ended up in that situation. We go back a few years, and Stella is in hospital, after developing a rare neurological condition which leaves her unable to move or speak. The family get bored after a few months of enforced visiting, and you can feel Stella’s frustration mounting. Things improve when her case is taken over by charismatic neurologist Mannix, who helps Stella learn to communicate through blinking. The pair develop a close bond, and Stella looks forward to his visits…until they stop, abruptly.
Where I think the book excels is the way Marian Keyes describes the hell of being totally paralysed and unable to communicate. She describes the emotions it would bring up, the isolation and frustration you would feel, and also the physical indignity beautifully. Imagine knowing that you’re turned every three hours by nurses but being in searing pain after two – and unable to tell anyone.
Stella’s recovery continues and she goes back to her life as a beautician…until events conspire to throw her together with Mannix again, and a chance photograph results in Stella uprooting her family, moving to New York and touring around America with a book written while she was in hospital. Everything is going her way…or is it? As she ends up back in Ireland, separated and arguing with her son (she has a daughter, Betsy, too, but has left her in America with her much older husband) it’s safe to assume that at some point, things went pear-shaped.
I won’t ruin the story for you, but it’s not hard to work out who stole Stella’s life. It might be a little harder to work out how, and why, as it does seem like a bit of a snap decision made by the perpetrator, which didn’t seem that well thought out to me. We never do find out what happens to the person involved, and I thought this could have been explored better as there was a tantalising possibility that it would have all come crashing down for them, too…and you really do want it to.
There are a few red herrings…a couple of times I almost changed my mind about who I thought was going to be the person to burst Stella’s bubble. In all honesty, she does a lot of the work herself, but there are a few places in the book where characters seem to be introduced with potentially dastardly motives who end up being quite benign. There are even odd sayings from some of the characters that make you think perhaps the title is too literal and nobody stole her life, it’s just something that was said at a pivotal moment in the story.
I enjoyed the book, and wanting to know who the two-faced sneak was kept me going to the end. I did feel the ending was a little bit underwhelming – there was scope for a lot more to happen, come-uppance perhaps and more salacious detail about the schemer’s evil plan, but I did enjoy the book and I’d recommend it as a Sunday afternoon feel good read that won’t challenge you too much.
I’d give it 3.5/5
Buy it here: The Woman who Stole my Life – Marian Keyes