(Disclaimer: I read this while recuperating in hospital and so some of my reflections might be affected by medications and the need for something low key to entertain my eyes.)'Sushi for Beginners' has a similar set up to many chick litty novels - centering on three women; one who seems to "have it all" but doesn't really, one with a seemingly perfect life but a terrible secret and one who is the frumpy non-fashionable girl who eventually gets the guy nobody thought would fall for her.I'm not saying it's a bad formula, but I'm saying it's a formula. I think it's because I recently read Monica McInerney's "Alphabet Sisters" and a few others like this.And this is all very well and good, but the problem is the story needs to balance the characters well - especially with the "frumpy" character, or it's easy for the reader to get fed up with their silliness and fecklessness. I found the balance of the characters wasn't right. Lisa - the high achieving, high maintenance go-getter was really difficult to feel empathy for. She just went too far, especially in her put downs of other characters, in particular one of the other main ones. The "thing that really makes her sad" didn't come soon enough in the story and neither did the changes in her behaviour that would endear her to the reader.I found her nasty, shallow and didn't like reading the parts from her perspective. Clodagh - the "one with the secret" - again was just a little too mean (especially to her own children) and didn't really resolve her mistakes to a point where I cared what happened.Then there's Ashling - the "frumpy" one, also the clichéd "Daggy slightly overweight girl out of her depth in a fashion magazine" cardboard cut-out - who, if she was my friend, I would maybe forget every now and then to invite along for drinks and have a better night for it. And as for the character of Jack - it might just be me, but he seemed to be a completely different person each time he appeared. Was he the stern moody boss? Was he the ridiculous passive boyfriend to a psycho? Was he the nice gentle guy who needs a cigarette and a hug? I just couldn't work it out - it was almost like there were plot points he needed to fulfill and his character changed to meet them.A smaller problem with the book is that being set in the magazine world, it has dated somewhat - this is very much magazine life in the late 90s (which, having read a little of Keyes' non-fiction work she actually had direct experience in.)Likewise the introduction of the stand-up comedy world was nice and useful in bringing in nice young men for the purposes of plot - but joke routines were simply awkward rendered in print.There were also plot opportunities set up that could have been taken - the title made me assume the idea of Ashling researching for magazine articles about meeting men through doing activities (a salsa class being the first) could have led to all sorts of fun shenanigans, including a sushi cooking class (how wrong was I?)Or possibly her having a crack at doing a comedy routine, allowing her to get a whole lot of stuff off her chest and come out of her shell?This is the third or fourth Keyes I've read, and I liked "Rachel's Holiday" and even "This Charming Man" because they tackle slightly more serious issues - or at least, serious issues more successfully and sympathetically (especially given Keyes' own personal issues). Yes, the storyline of Ashling's mother might have brought a little gravitas, but it was quite quickly skipped over.I have a copy of "Last Chance Saloon" sitting in the TBR pile, but seeing there's three main characters on the blurb on the back, I've decided to read something else for the time being.
This novel is set in the fashion magazine industry, and I was primarily interested in this novel because I work in the media industry, and have had a lot of contact with magazine teams. However, in New Zealand it seems to be a lot more laid back than in Sushi for Beginners! The Good: despite being chick-lit it had a fair bit packed into it, and I didn't once feel like the plot was dragging. It is set in Ireland, and the contrasting POVs between Lisa, from London, and Ashling from Dublin, were wonderful. There were a number of love triangles going on, and I'm happy to report that the results weren't as predictable as I'd assumed they would be. At times, it is a bitter-sweet tale, and although I'm a sucker for a happy ending, Keyes manages to keep away from the fairytale style ending often seen in chick-lit. The Bad: Two of the characters, Lisa and Clodagh, were completely unlikeable, and my attitude towards them didn't improve much, even towards the end of the book. There were numerous in-scene shifts in POV that I found a little unsettling. The Verdict: A light-hearted rom-com style novel, recommended for a lazy sunday at the beach. My review can also be found here: http://readingatdawn.blogspot.com/201...
What do You think about Sushi For Beginners (2008)?
I wouldn't say this was a great book. It's another one that I managed to read on planes and in airports but wouldn't make time for reading it when I wouldn't otherwise be bored to tears.I agree with other reviews here that the characters are not developed. In many cases, as with Jack, Lisa, and even Ashling, the characters change, even sometimes drastically, but we never really get to understand why. We are told the actions of characters in the past and given some glimpses into what upbringing and past relationships they've had, but it doesn't easily flow into present character actions. The relationships amongst the characters aren't well developed either.It's not difficult to read such superficial stories, but it's also not as enjoyable to not better get to know the participants in the novel.
—Liz
I am very much not into chick lit, but Marian Keyes is one of my friend Heather's favorite authors. We read another book by her for our book club, which I didn't much care for. However, Heather assured us that not all of Keyes books contained such stereotypical chick lit characters. I was looking for something that was available to check out last minute via Overdrive for my Nook to take on my Alaskan vacation, and this was available so I decided to give Keyes another chance. The book still wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but I will agree that it was much less chick litty than Last Chance Saloon. This book centers around a new start-up fashion magazine in Dublin. The main characters are a native Dubliner who is being promoted to this magazine, but who feels very much out of her element; the best friend of the previous character who is stay at home mom not very fulfilled in her life; and a transplant from London who was as she sees it banished by the publisher to helm this new magazine.The themes are all still pretty much of the chick lit genre, but I found this book to be a huge step up from Last Chance Saloon in that I didn't want to stab any of the characters because of their complete self-hatred and reliance on men. All these women seemed to be pretty self-possessing and capable of making decisions and not just sitting around getting walked all over.
—Danielle
For Ashling Kennedy, the new job she lands at start-up Irish fashion magazine Colleen is a dream come true. For Lisa Edwards, a high-maintenance London editor expecting a promotion to New York, her appointment as editor-in-chief of Colleen is a slap in the face, the only consolation being her rumpled-but-handsome new boss, Jack Devine. Furious at being passed up for a job at Manhattan magazine, Lisa vows to make Colleen the envy of the fashion industry, even if it kills her. She drives her Dublin staff to exhaustion, and Colleen becomes a smashing success. But after a particularly lusty meeting with her much-maligned long-distance London boyfriend, she wonders if the move and the single-minded career obsession have been worth it. Meanwhile, Ashling is betrayed by her boyfriend and her best friend Clodagh, whose bourgeois domesticity she's long envied. Ashling realizes that she has to let go of her cheerful "Miss Fix-It"
—Arnetra
