Fiction-Net > Book Reviews > Sushi For Beginners

Book Review Title Author Publisher Sushi For Beginners Marian Keyes Penguin Fiction-Net Rating Buy It - Buy This Book Cover Story Prada-wearing magazine editor Lisa Edwards thinks her life is over when her 'fabulous' new job turns out to be deportation to Dublin, launching 'Colleen' magazine. Might her new boss, the dishevelled and moody Jack Devine, save her from a fate worse than hell? Ashling Kennedy, Colleen's assistant editor, is an award-winning worrier, increasingly aware that something fundamental is missing from her life - apart from a boyfriend and a waistline. She desperately envies her oldest friend, Clodagh 'Princess' Kelly, who is apparently living the domestic dream in a Siematics Castle. So why, lately, has Clodagh had a recurring urge to kiss a frog - sleep with a frog, if truth be told? We Say Marian Keyes is an author who really knows how to write great big satisfying books. She also has a knack for creating characters that either feel like friends as soon as you meet them or have hidden depths and motives to be uncovered. Consequently, reading one of her books is like meeting up with your pals for a very long gossiping session and speculating on other people's behaviour to try and work out what they are up to. It's all good fun - and Sushi For Beginners is no exception. The story centres around three women - Ashling (insecure, single but funny and warm), Clodagh (beautiful, married but lonely) and Lisa (hardened, media type but secretive). You're probably thinking that they sound like stereotypes and you'd be right but fortunately, Marian Keyes knows how to flesh them out into real people. She voices their thoughts effectively and through fast-paced but carefully plotted events, their responses make them real. My one criticism is that the male characters are not developed in the same way and tend to drift around the periphery, either being handsome and mysterious boyfriend material, quirky and unattractive bloke-buddy material or simply cheating rogues. They are used merely to move events along. I was gripped throughout this book and despite being another long read, Sushi for Beginners never slackens off or becomes dull. It has a bit of everything - love, laughs and tears. It's one of those books that you'll get to a certain point and just not be able to stop reading until you get to the end. Review by: Rachel Taylor Buy It - Buy This Book