Last Chance Saloon: A Novel [Hardcover]

Marian Keyes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 2001

No writer can tell a hilarious and moving story about the great truths of love, life, and friendship quite like Marian Keyes. Each of her internationally bestselling novels introduced a heroine so real, she felt like a long-lost friend. Now Keyes delivers her best novel yet....Lost Chance
Saloon

Tara, Katherine, and Fintan have been friends since the days when leg warmers were cool. All through their twenties they shared their joys, heartbreaks, and endless giddy nights out. But now they've graduated to their slightly more serious thirties -- and only Fintan has what can honestly be called a "love life."

Tara struggles daily with her eternal diet -- and lies to herself about Thomas, her lowlife boyfriend. He keeps his change in a little-old-lady's purse and wouldn't pay a compliment if there was a cash award attached to it. But when you're in your early thirties and comfortably seated in the "last chance saloon," sometimes a dubious man seems safer than no man at all.

Katherine, on the other hand, feels that the safest relationship is the one she has with her TV remote control. She wants no surprises and keeps her life as ordered as her drawer full of matching bra-and-panty sets, even when the guys at work start calling her the Ice Queen.

But it's always when you are least ready for change that life insists on one. Fate is about to throw a curve ball that will lead Fintan to extract a very serious promise from his two best friends. And when catastrophe inevitably follows crisis, everyone's fife is sure to change in unexpected ways ... and not necessarily for the worse.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Desperately single thirtysomething men and women populate Keyes's breezy novel. Childhood friends Tara, Katherine, and Fintan muddle along, dealing with the indignities and inconveniences we all face--and then some. Tara's perfectly horrible, freeloading boyfriend Thomas watches her diet like a hawk and remarks cruelly on the size of her posterior, comparing her unfavorably to younger, thinner women. Katherine is a professional success, but her personal life is nonexistent. Every one of her prior relationships--six in all--has ended disastrously, with Katherine getting dumped. Each time, she retreats further and further into her shell, until her most intimate relationship is with her remote control. Fashion industry insider Fintan has found true love with his Italian boyfriend, Sandro, but a health crisis threatens their happiness. Tara, Katherine, and Fintan, as well as their quirky cast of friends (people with names like Lorcan and Mandii), live, love, and learn the hard way, the only way they can. Not quite as obsessive as Bridget Jones and that damn diary of hers, Keyes manages to convey a painfully accurate portrayal of what it means to be single today, tempered by a few of life's less humiliating and more important lessons, like the value of true friendship. Funny and irreverent, Keyes's Last Chance Saloon is a terrific vacation read. --Alison Trinkle

From Publishers Weekly

Imagine Bridget Jones in a Jacobean revenge drama, a sort of 'Tis a Pity She's Single that's the flavor of this entry in the urban unmarried female angst sweepstakes. This time, the protagonists are two London women who grew up together in the small, repressive Irish town of Knockavoy. Tara, a computer analyst, lives with Thomas, a bitter and miserly high school geography teacher. Afraid to live on her own, she is willing to overlook the fact that Thomas ignores her birthday, constantly monitors her eating habits and insults her friends under the guise of being "honest." Katherine Casey, an accountant for an advertising agency, wears boring suits, has a hyperorganized underwear drawer and brushes off all advances, including those of attractive advertising account executive Joe Roth. As they turn 31, each woman is full of suggestions for improving the other's life and full of excuses for doing nothing about her own. That begins to change when Fintan O'Grady, their gay pal and fellow Knockavoy refugee, falls ill with a mysterious disease. As their paths are crisscrossed by a self-centered Irish actor named Lorcan Larkin, Fintan emotionally blackmails Tara and Katherine into making long-needed changes. Keyes (Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married) effectively describes the young women's searches for autonomy and love, but her flippant, arch tone is less effective when recounting the more grim stories of Fintan and Lorcan. In addition, some of the repartee, perhaps fresh when the book was originally published in Great Britain in 2001, already seems shopworn. The Knockavoy refugees are a sympathetic trio, however, and their deftly plotted saga is likely to appeal to fellow singletons. (Aug.)Forecast: Readers will have to be nearly as desperate as the heroines of Keyes's relationship drama to find satisfaction here but there's no underestimating the appeal of even halfway decent girl-talk books.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (July 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688180728
• ISBN-13: 978-0688180720
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (152 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,715,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marian Keyes lived in London for ten years before returning to her native Dublin. After receiving a law degree and studying accounting, she began writing short stories in 1993. She is the author of three previous novels--Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married, and Rachel's Holiday--all major bestsellers around the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Give this one a chance..., March 12, 2002

By 

Dianna Johnston "Compulsive Reader" (Joplin, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Last Chance Saloon: A Novel (Hardcover)

Last Chance Saloon is such a great book! I have read four Marian Keyes books, and she has yet to disappoint me. She has a wonderful way of mixing serious issues and sadness with huge amounts of laughter and fun. Last Chance Saloon is no exception.

Tara, Katherine and Fintan have been friends since their small-Irish-town days. Now living it up in London, the three friends have made a life for themselves in very different ways. Tara, who just turned 31, is a wee-bit depressed that she's getting older and involved with a terribly selfish, penny-pinching boyfriend, Thomas. For fear of dumping him and never being able to find anybody else, Tara manages to convince herself that being miserable is better than being alone. Katherine, or as her co-workers call her, the Ice Princess, is a brilliant accountant and very independent woman. Who needs a man when you've got success, right? But there's more to that statement than meets the eye -- could it be that Katherine's forcing herself to stay single? As for Fintan, growing up gay hasn't always been easy. But he's finally found soulmate status with Sandro and life is good. But then something tragic happens that completely tears Fintan's world apart. But through tragedy comes wisdom, and Fintan has a few things to say to Tara and Katherine about the way they've been living their lives.

It's the Last Chance Saloon for these three friends, or so it seems. There's a lot of growing up to be done, a lot of realizations to be made, and many changes to go around. Will they somehow make it through to the other side? Marian Keyes weaves a thought-provoking and humorous story and leaves no question left unanswered. Toss in some side characters like the trio's friend, Liv, who is in search for spiritual wellbeing; Fintan's family, the O'Grady's, who look like Hillbillies compared to the modernization of London; and suave, debonair, Lorcan Larkin, Ireland's answer to Fabio.

Expect to be laughing and crying with this one! Wonderfully written with a nice flow of short chapters that make the book fly by. Last Chance Saloon holds within its pages a great cast of characters and an unforgettable story. Witty, charming, and believeable. Excellent job!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Our 8th Reading Selection, January 18, 2003

By 

Hooked On Books - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Chance Saloon (Mass Market Paperback)

Last Chance Saloon was our Book of the Month for November 2002.

We thought this was a very funny book, but it wasn't that light it because it does deals with some serious issues but it still was very entertaining. We thought that the characters were well written and we really liked the involvement of all the characters had in each others lives.

This was a good book about friendship, overcoming adversity and growing as individuals. A few of us were very sad to see the book and some members are adding more Marian Keyes books to their Wish List.

We received varying ratings when the members were polled about this book, the lowest being a 3.5/5 and the highest a 5/5 but when averaged out our ratings come out to a 4, so this is a book we do recommend reading Last Chance Saloon.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marian Keyes' best effort yet!, August 7, 2001

By 

karolinatx (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Chance Saloon: A Novel (Hardcover)

I've read all of Marian Keyes' novels now, and I have to say that this might be her best yet. Watermelon was great, Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married a bit disappointing, Rachel's Holiday mildy depressing and frustrating, but Last Chance Saloon had me hooked. I very much enjoyed the cast of characters, each very well sketched out. The book really is a clever look at how easily one can become complacent, how easy it is to settle or simply float through life. The novel was a perfect mix of having something wortwhile to say about life and being immensely readable -- I oftentimes have the feeling that most books make me choose between substance and pleasure. Tara, Katherine, and Fintan will make you laugh and cry with their lives. Most definitily recommended.