Grown Ups: British Book Awards Author of the Year 2022 Paperback – February 4, 2021

All this time I thought Marian Keyes was a brilliant comedy writer. The most intense situations still had me laughing with someone’s wry observation.This is not one of those books. It is exactly what the title warns. It’s about grown-ups.This book takes a deep dive into the myth that is adulthood. Growing up we all feel as though once we are adults, we will have all the answers. The entire story is a neon arrow, pointing to the word “Nope!”I love the pictures that she draws me with her words. I guess my only complaint is that I wish that there were more words to this story.

I love Marian Keyes & felt like I had waited a lifetime for her to write another novel. I was thrilled when I came across this book! I was a bit confused in the beginning reading this novel because there are so many characters right off the bat, but once I understood who was who & who was with who, I enjoyed it. I look forward to another novel!

I have just finished this book and absolutely loved it from start to finish.This is a grown-up book for grown-up fans of Marian Keyes. It is different to her other novels and yet so much the same.This isn’t a story with a central character, plot and a happy ending. It’s a behind the scenes look at the messy, imperfect lives of 3 brothers and their families. For the most part this isn’t a laugh out loud funny but there is definitely humour there, just more subtle than some of her earlier novels.This story is about messy adult relationships, rocky marriages and middle-aged angst. It’s about those insecurities and secrets we hide because we feel we’re too old not to have got ourselves completely together by now. There is an addiction story in there but it is just one story and I think Marian handled it really well.I do not understand the comments about it being hard to follow all the characters. There are 3 families and each has a story. There are extended family members that pop in but these are easy to follow. I sometimes forgot whose kid was whose but ultimately that doesn’t detract from the story.I honestly didn’t want this story to end and yet I couldn’t put the book down. And so, it’s over and I’m gutted because I’m in self-isolation and I just loved being a fly on the wall in other people’s ‘perfect on the outside, and not so perfect on the inside’ lives.Personally I think this is a must read if you're a Keyes fan and can identify with being in your 40's and life not being as perfect as you hoped it would be.

I was so looking forward to this new book by Marian Keyes and I have to say, I was very disappointed. I'm not sure if it is me or her......I felt that this book, much more than her others, used a lot of Irish slang that I had a difficult time understanding through context. Also, there were F-Bombs galore. Do run of the mill people over there really use this word constantly? I must say, I am feeling VERY old, even writing those last two sentences ~ hence my comment on is it me or her.Finally, there were a lot of different story lines going on here, which, since I was reading on my kindle and could barely make out the family tree, I had difficulty in remembering who was who. I also did not like many of the characters or feel vested in them. The kids and their dialog were hysterical ~ could have used more of them.Overall, it was an ok book. I usually can't put her books down, but I had no problem putting this down to sleep.

Family dynamics always intrigue me. It’s a bummer, some of the choices that were made by characters in the story. Others I wanted to celebrate. It kept my interest the whole time.

I had not had the pleasure of reading Marian Keyes until I discovered Grown Ups. I live in the US but heard her on a BBC Radio 4 podcast talking about the book, and it sounded delightful. I ended up binge reading it during a week when I had a sinus infection and it was such a comforting companion. Marian Keyes does what I love best in a story, which is to offer something relatable with warmth and good humor, while diving into the achey depths of adult life, right now. Almost every one of her characters is loveable and infuriating in equal measure, much like the people we would chose for our friends and family. It’s also a hearty book. I loved that it wasn’t over in the standard 265 pages, and yet I never felt like it dragged. I was grateful to find a book that presented “grown ups” that ranged from early 20s and well past late 40s. Jessie and Cara, two women related by marriage in their mid to late 40s get most of the plot’s attention, as do their husbands and children. Keyes deftly avoids rubber stamping these women in cliche and I was grateful to find myself relating to both of them instead of merely empathizing with their situation. Keyes is also nuanced in her approach to men and what it means to show up as a partner, spouse, and father when they are walking their own thin lines. An absolute pleasure to find this book, which I was able to get in hard copy through Amazon before its US release. Will definitely be going back to discover more of Keyes works.

Minha autora preferida sem nenhuma dúvida! Livro intrigante e maravilhoso… e ainda tem final feliz, tudo que precisamos nessa pandemia

it is a fast-paced and extremely interesting book. All characters are well woven. Not a single page that you would want to skip . Cant put it down once started.

The novel begins with a prologue set in a time during the passage of the novel which is not clear. It appears to be a beginning but as soon as you get beyond that prologue, it's clear that it's been drawn from another point in the story. It's a point to which we will return with devastating effect The prologue introduces the characters and the complex relationships between two families, the Kinsellas and the Caseys. Both are distinct with their own problem, idiosyncracies and problems. The families are connected by marriage. Jessie Parnell, an ambitious, impulsive entrepreneur and owner of a fine foods business marries Rory Kinsella and then after his untimely death, his best friend Johnny Casey which the Kinsellas have more than a little trouble accepting. It's those relationships and the relationships across the two families that is the driving force of an intricate, funny and occasionally heart-rending novel that deals with bulimia, immigration and intense, passionate, physical love. That cocktail is superbly mixed in a glass reflected in the ironic title. 'Grown Ups": a child's name for adults is about how adults can behave with all the fear and insecurities of children. But the title also refers to the children coming of age in the novel with their grown up desires and inability to handle the adulthood that is thrust upon them. The novel takes us through the impending crisis in Jessie's business that she shares with a husband she is losing, through the shallow perfidy of her husband's brother Liam and the artistic free spirit Nell who he marries and if fooled by his apparent cool quotient. It's a broad sweep of a novel where each character is both finally drawn and believable. The story sweeps through will-they-won't-they sexual escapades to searing mental health problems and the wrong-headedness of Irish refugee policy and yet never loses its comic take on how we wrestle with who we've become. This is the first Marian Keyes novel I have read since 'Sushi for Beginners'. I highly recommend for an intricate story well told, great characters and a satisfying ending.

Very interesting and fascinating book but there was no mistery or secret, and the end (8 years later) only describes one of the character.

Grown Ups tells the story of the Casey family. Johnny Casey is married to Jessie, they have 5 kids between them and successfully run their own company. They spend a lot of time with Johnny’s brothers Ed and Liam, their wives and kids celebrating birthday parties together and holidaying together. On the surface, they are one big happy family.Ed and wife Cara are happily married with two boys. Cara is a hot shot receptionist at an upmarket hotel, is well liked by the whole family but has always struggled with her weight.Liam and his wife Nell are recently married after a whirlwind romance and are still getting to know each other. Nell is Liam’s second wife, is quite a bit younger than him and is a theatre set designer.But at the beginning of the book at Johnny’s birthday party, Ed’s wife Cara, who has just had a knock on the head can’t keep her thoughts to herself and starts spilling all the families secrets, to everyone’s horror!I’ll start with a small disclaimer. I adore Marian Keyes and have read and loved everything she has ever written, starting with Watermelon way back in 1996! I got a serious case on envy when I saw bloggers receiving proof copies of Grown Ups. I ordered a copy and it arrived on publication day and then it sat on my shelf. I’m sure I’m not the only blogger who packs their schedules so tight they rarely have time to read books from their shelves! Especially books that are over 600 pages long. But then Covid-19 hit and a combination of me trying to be good a couple of months ago and some blog tours being postponed meant I was suddenly able to choose what I read!I have to admit when I picked it up and read the first chapter I was a little worried I would keep track of who all the characters were. There is even a family tree that I had to refer to, to try and figure out everyone’s relationship to each other! But within just a couple of chapters I knew who everyone was. Keyes is such a great creator of characters, she has managed to all the characters their own clear personality.Johnny and Jessie are the lynchpins of the family. They are overwhelmingly generous and treat everyone to amazing holidays and nights away. Growing up as an only child, Jessie just loves family and genuinely adores surrounding herself with the other adults and kids. As with all families, everyone has their own problems too. Jessie’s previous husband died in his thirties and Johnny’s step son Ferdia especially gives him a hard time. Jessie also still desperately misses her first husbands family who cut her out of their lives when she married Johnny.As with all of Marian Keyes’s books, Grown Ups is humorous (even laugh out loud funny in places). But also tackles serious issues, most notably bulimia which I think is handled really well. I actually loved all the characters (apart from Liam perhaps) and the 656 pages just flew by. I actually didn’t want it to end, and I’m really hoping there is a sequel at some point because I feel they have so many more stories to tell. Full marks from me…I couldn’t fault it.