WATERMELON by MARIAN KEYES

WATERMELON

BY MARIAN KEYES

THE BLURB:-

Claire's husband left her the day he was at the birth of their first child- I mean, if he thought it was going to upset him that much he should have just stayed at home- but to rub salt into the episiotomy, he didn't even have the decency to leave her for someone skinny!

He's just absconded, leaving Claire with a newborn baby, a broken heart, two extra stone and an er... birth canal ten times its normal size.

In the absence of any better offers, Claire goes home to her family. To her beautiful sister Helen, her soap-watching mother, her bewildered father. And in a story that's both hilarious and bitter sweet, Claire gets better. A lot better.

In fact so much better that when James slithers back into her life she's in for a bit of a surprise.

THE REALITY:-

After having a bit of a hard time with Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married (another Marian Keyes novel) I decided to give Watermelon a go as the blurb made it sound like a much better story, even though I knew it would sit within the same, disliked, annoying, genre of “chick lit.”

This was not bad, and a far easier read. Marian Keyes is definitely a good writer and all the characters here, especially the principal ones, had a lot more depth to them.

Long winded and in need of a little speed reading in parts, it nevertheless painted a very good picture of cohabiting life in London and a rich family life in Dublin.

As a study in a relationship breakdown, you can't help but like Claire and feel for her “if it wasn't so absurd I'd cry rather than laugh" predicament. Being dumped just after having had your first baby cannot be anything apart from heartbreaking, but the writer manages to add depth and humour to the situation and to Claire herself.

It's interesting to see the different stages Claire goes through in her quest for recovery, and it's great to see her winning, with the help of her lovable family and a bit of eye-candy in the shape of Adam.

But it's with the slimeball known as James, the shit who has an affair with a fat neighbour, and then has the audacity to blame Claire for pushing him into it due to her shortcomings, that really allows the writer to shine. Every annoying aspect of him comes across on the page well, and you just want Claire to stick up to this twat- which she eventually does. James is a bully who feeds off other people by undermining them so that they lose their confidence and become dependent on their aggressor for approval. We've all suffered someone like this, at some time or other in my life (I had to put up with someone like this at home, as a child) and ultimately, we end up (hopefully) finding our self esteem and rejecting them.

I'm glad Claire gives James the big fuck off. This is chick lit that's managed to arouse emotions in me, so brownie points to it!