Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married (Marian Keyes)***

Lucy Sullivan is nothing like a Lucy should be. I’ve got no problem with Marian Keyes breaking the traditions of naming – her Daniel isn’t much like a Daniel either – and besides, this book might have been written before the traditions were established. But if she had been more like a Lucy should be, the book might have worked a lot better.

This is a very funny book with some great characters and some really good twists. So I can completely understand why people love it. But for me the problem with the book is that Lucy isn’t a very nice person. She can be really nasty. Her mother obviously isn’t the nicest person in the world either, but it doesn’t mean Lucy should speak to her with such loathing and disrespect. Yes, Mrs Sullivan might deserve it, but Keyes really doesn’t go deeply enough into their relationship to make Lucy’s behaviour seem understandable, never mind acceptable.

To begin with, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married seems to be telling the story of three flatmates in search of love. We follow Lucy, stupid Charlotte, and the bossy, bitchy and wonderfully characterised Karen, a Scot who lives up to the stereotype of her nation beautifully. Lucy is supposed to be the nice one they can’t live without. She does deal with them both very tactfully for the most part, but that’s not enough to make me like her. Karen, not Lucy, is the one you like despite everything. Charlotte is the one you can’t help loving because she’s so sweet. Charlotte’s many imperfections slip your mind to the extent that you think she doesn’t have any.

Lucy is supposed to play a similar mediatory role with her three workmates. Keyes keeps on reminding us that Meredia is the obese one, and as the book is told from Lucy’s point of view, it’s one more reason to see Lucy as a bit of a bitch. There’s so much more to Meredia - a lovely, warm girl with an endearing enthusiasm for life – than her weight. Megan is an Australian bitch who is constantly at loggerheads with Meredia, but she doesn’t seem too much of a bully as Meredia can stand up for herself pretty well. It’s interesting that the two 'bitches', Megan and Karen, aren’t-English - although Keyes is Irish, and the Irish characters are even worse.

The book starts off as a perfectly acceptable comedy about finding – and keeping – a boyfriend. But then the story take a serious turn. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it would have been more effective if some darker overtones had been there from the start. It’s difficult when the genre suddenly changes halfway through. There’s a section where Lucy goes home to take care of her mentally unwell father. There’s definitely no comedy here, and nor should there be with a subject like this, and it’s probably the part of the book where Keyes’ writing is at its most vivid. But it doesn’t really have any place in what started off as a comedy. Keyes’ Anybody Out There combines comedy and tragedy really well, but it is a sad book with funny parts, and it stays that way throughout. Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married is a comedy that suddenly becomes a tragedy.

There are some great moments in this book. Like when Lucy does a runner in the middle of a date (the guy deserves it), and we get to see the guy’s reaction, in delicious detail. There’s the time Charlotte develops an interest in psychology. It’s also lovely when Meredia finds a guy. And it’s certainly a relief when Lucy finally meets her man – he’s not the greatest, but she gets no more than she deserves.