I love Marian Keyes. I do. And she can write about death very well. No Dress Rehearsal was another great idea, but it kind of fell a bit flat, and I was left wondering what the point of it was.
The very short book – just seventy-nine pages long - tells the story of Lizzie, who dies in an accident but fails to realise she’s dead. When her partner ignores her, she assumes it was because of the row they had the morning before she died, but being ignored by everyone else seems inexplicable – until two people show up in her office, and tell her she’s dead.
It’s a great idea. I’ve read about people not realising they’re dead, but never from the point of view of the dead person.
But the book doesn’t work for me. One thing I have said about Keyes’ longer novels is that it often takes me several chapters in order to get into the story. Rachel in Rachel’s Holiday is a pretty horrible person to begin with, so it took me quite a while to learn to like her. Probably more than seventy-nine pages. I had a similar problem with Lizzie - she just didn’t seem terribly nice. As the book was so short, I didn’t really have time to get to know her. Some parts of the book were told from the point of view of Lizzie’s friend, Sinead. But I didn’t really like her either. She was okay, but a bit of a doormat, and her storyline didn’t interest me very much – it wasn’t nearly as original as Lizzie’s.
The book is, of course, wonderfully written, and there was a bit of humour – more than you’d expect from a book with a death theme, although anyone wanting to see bereavement and comedy put together effectively might prefer to read Catherine Alliott’s A Married Man.
But No Dress Rehrearsal just didn’t quite work. Not for me, anyway. This is possibly because it is aimed at adults who have trouble reading - but I would say an adult who has trouble reading needs a good book a lot more than I do. I'm not going to give up on reading because one book (okay, more than one!) disappointed me. This book could be making people decide whether they take up reading or not. Reading can probably enhance everyone's lives if they find the right book - so a book like No Dress Rehearsal really needs to be good. But then I am the fussiest person in the world, so maybe this book works really well!
Sunday, 8 March 2009
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2 comments:
Nice review, Soph. I haven't read this book, but I'd agree with you that as part of a scheme for increasing literacy in reluctant readers, it's extra specially important that it's good. I do love Marian Keyes, she has written some of my favourite ever books. Although when I think about it, I only *loved* 'Lucy Sullivan' and 'Anybody out there'. I didn't get on with Rachel's Holiday, the Other Side of the Story or Sushi for Beginners, thought they were boring, with unlikeable characters. Watermelon was okay, but only okay. Weird. I never thought of Ms Keyes as being (for me) a very hit and miss author, until now!
I *loved* Anybody Out There and Watermelon and grew to love Rachel's Holiday but I suppose she is quite hit and miss. Or maybe her stories are for quite a small audience. I found Claire's misery hysterical in Watermelon because I'm a bit like that, I grew to understand Rachel because some of the things later in the book I could relate to, I could relate to Anna with the depression and imagining. Yet Lucy was a miss for me even though I should have related to the depression. I suppose she is a bit hit/miss love/hate. So much with reading is down to personal likes/dislikes, I'm definteily not objective! But then if you read a book as amazing as Anybody Out There and then you read something you don't like as much by the same author, it's easy to be disappointed. If Lucy had been by an author I didn't like and I was given them 'one last chance' I might have adored it because my expectations were lower. But maybe high expectations are unreasonable when personal likes/dislikes and your mood when you're reading can really affect your enjoyment and you can't blame the author for that!
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