| Synopsis: |
Author
of the hugely popular Rachel's Holiday and Lucy Sullivan is Getting
Married, Marian Keyes is back swinging the doors of heartache and hilarity
with Last Chance Saloon. Meet Tara, the rapidly expanding food-loving
shopaholic; Katherine, the neat, male-ego-destroying singleton; Fintan,
the fashion-conscious lovely, and Lorcan, the gorgeous but rotten
redheaded womaniser. Marian Keyes deliberately deploys stereotypical
characters and situations, then attempts to subvert the stereotypes,
though perhaps in rather obvious ways. Throughout, Tara bores us with her
lament that she is at the last chance saloon, meaning that if she ends her
current relationship at 31, she's on the shelf for life. "For the
first time Tara visualised it and she contracted with fear. It was like
being told to jump off a cliff ... 'But what would become of me without
Thomas? I'd never get anyone else and I hate not having a man. And it's
not something I'm proud of' she added quickly. 'I'm going to puke', Fintan
interrupted, urgently." Those who can resist the urge to follow
Fintan's lead on the umpteenth rendition of this particular complaint will
enjoy the book. It's addictive--reading The Last Chance Saloon is like
watching the omnibus edition of Sunset Beach; you know the acting is awful
and the same scenes keep on repeating themselves but you can't help being
hooked and feeling sated afterwards. At almost 600 pages, settle down for
a Saturday afternoon and don't expect to be getting up again until Sunday.
--Nicola Perry, Amazon.com
|
