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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
Enjoyed the book just didn't get engrossed felt like not a lot happened.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Read after Rachel’s Holiday (wrong way around) after loving that so much. I enjoyed this but not as much as RH. It was an easy holiday read and helped to set the scene better for the Walsh family. But it wasn’t anything particularly special
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia
I was bored with the dramaand skipping through pages
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Watermelon is a complicated nugget of a novel packaged as a flighty chick lit. It's the first in a long family saga about a middle class family in Ireland, five girls and this one focuses on Claire. The novel begins as Claire is abandoned by her cheating husband who leaves her whilst she's in hospital having her first child. The story unfolds as Claire deals with this catastrophe and tries to pull her life together while living back at hone with her parents and sisters.
Marion Keyes has an endearing and sometimes slightly infuriating story telling style. She writes long and very chatty sentences. This novel is more tangent than plot but it is done well. The way Claire rages to herself, ponders outrageous scenarios and anthropomorphises her clothes and objects is charming.
This is Keyes first novel and it came out in 1995. Watermelon has a very 90's feel, like a Hugh Grant film. Unfortunately, like much of the media of its time Watermelon has smatters of racism, sexism, a heap of fatphobia and lazy stereotypes. The main character can be really vapid and mean at times, the immaturity is sort of passed off as girl power, ugh. This was so disappointing because in other ways, the story and the characters are pretty open minded.
I am a sucker for family sagas, I love when I can dive in to complicated characters and dynamics. I am also trying to challenge myself to read more widely. My 20 year old self would have had too much misguided misogyny to read something so obviously written 'for women'. Book snobs will write this off as fluff, something silly, I really don't think it is. This novel explores intricate ideas around parenting, relationships and familial bonds and if those aren't important topics what are?
Marion Keyes has an endearing and sometimes slightly infuriating story telling style. She writes long and very chatty sentences. This novel is more tangent than plot but it is done well. The way Claire rages to herself, ponders outrageous scenarios and anthropomorphises her clothes and objects is charming.
This is Keyes first novel and it came out in 1995. Watermelon has a very 90's feel, like a Hugh Grant film. Unfortunately, like much of the media of its time Watermelon has smatters of racism, sexism, a heap of fatphobia and lazy stereotypes. The main character can be really vapid and mean at times, the immaturity is sort of passed off as girl power, ugh. This was so disappointing because in other ways, the story and the characters are pretty open minded.
I am a sucker for family sagas, I love when I can dive in to complicated characters and dynamics. I am also trying to challenge myself to read more widely. My 20 year old self would have had too much misguided misogyny to read something so obviously written 'for women'. Book snobs will write this off as fluff, something silly, I really don't think it is. This novel explores intricate ideas around parenting, relationships and familial bonds and if those aren't important topics what are?
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated