Patricia S. (patsto) reviewed on + 33 more book reviews
I rate this book at least a 9 out of 10. At least.
Lucy Sullivan, the eponymous heroine of Irish writer Keyes's second offbeat romantic comedy
to be published in the U.S. (after Watermelon), fancies herself simultaneously miserable and
happy. A 26-year-old Londoner, Lucy is the kind of woman who thinks that any man who's
decent to her must be Mr. Wrong. But when she visits a fortune-teller with a trio of
mismatched friends, a marriage is predicted for the near future. When the fortune-teller's
prophecies for the other three come true in peculiar ways, even disbelieving, boyfriendless
Lucy begins to suspect that, somehow, wedding bells will ring for her. The identity of the
lucky man will come as no surprise, though Lucy remains oblivious until the very end, but
there are many eligible bachelors on the scene, among them Gus, Lucy's sexy but unreliable
new lover; Daniel, her oldest friend; Chuck, a handsome American; and Adrian, the video shop
man. The attendant mayhem includes drunken meals at ethnic restaurants, flamenco dancing
accidents, blind dates gone wrong and many delicious confessions and revelations. As Lucy
says, "I was still at that stage in my life when I thought that weekdays were for recovering
from the weekend," but more often than not, her weekdays are as full of exhausting fun as
her weekends. Surprisingly for a comic novel, the book also takes on the serious themes of
clinical depression and alcoholism, handling both with sensitivity and humor. Throughout,
the effervescent narrative is fueled by lots of witty repartee.
Lucy Sullivan, the eponymous heroine of Irish writer Keyes's second offbeat romantic comedy
to be published in the U.S. (after Watermelon), fancies herself simultaneously miserable and
happy. A 26-year-old Londoner, Lucy is the kind of woman who thinks that any man who's
decent to her must be Mr. Wrong. But when she visits a fortune-teller with a trio of
mismatched friends, a marriage is predicted for the near future. When the fortune-teller's
prophecies for the other three come true in peculiar ways, even disbelieving, boyfriendless
Lucy begins to suspect that, somehow, wedding bells will ring for her. The identity of the
lucky man will come as no surprise, though Lucy remains oblivious until the very end, but
there are many eligible bachelors on the scene, among them Gus, Lucy's sexy but unreliable
new lover; Daniel, her oldest friend; Chuck, a handsome American; and Adrian, the video shop
man. The attendant mayhem includes drunken meals at ethnic restaurants, flamenco dancing
accidents, blind dates gone wrong and many delicious confessions and revelations. As Lucy
says, "I was still at that stage in my life when I thought that weekdays were for recovering
from the weekend," but more often than not, her weekdays are as full of exhausting fun as
her weekends. Surprisingly for a comic novel, the book also takes on the serious themes of
clinical depression and alcoholism, handling both with sensitivity and humor. Throughout,
the effervescent narrative is fueled by lots of witty repartee.
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