Marion Keyes appeared in my parents' house when I was, I think, in my mid-twenties. I think perhaps a friend of my mom passed some of her books on to her, but I don't remember my mom reading them, because I don't remember her talking about it. It's not literature, you know.
I read her though. I read the fuck out of her and I had a blast. That one about the book agent in London, who used to be a police officer in America, and the aspiring young writers from Ireland? Oh my god- the sky-blue leather jacket that the wife of the agent's lover, who was also her boss, was wearing? The pharmacist whom one of the aspiring writers had a crush on, telling her "we're a bit long in the tooth for this game"- she looked like Liza Minelli. I can't remember the name of the book but it was amazing. And the other one, where the husband of the newly-married heroine died, and she was heart-broken? And then she was courted by a guy who looked like Anthony Keidis from Red Hot Chili Peppers? She had the best job in the world, remember, she was a make-up rep based in New York. I hadn't experienced grief and bereavement then, but it has visited me since, hard, and somehow that book of Marion Keyes resurfaces back in my brain when I try to cope. The butterflies on the cover.
The Irish Catholic Mammy or ICM. That was in another one. I had never come across an ICM before, but now I have my own Canadian version of the ICM, and wow, does she give those stereotypical Jewish moms of Philip Roth's stories a run for their money!
Marion Keyes- she's not "literature", but she's incredible. I've of course read other "brain candy" books, but none that left a mark on me like her books did. It's so silly and arbitrary, this stupid snobbish divide. I get that Keyes isn't Dostoyevsky or Austen or Houellebeq (barf), thank god for that. What is your most fabulous brain candy?
by 1000andonenites