Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married [Paperback]

Marian Keyes (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 23, 2007

What happens when a psychic tells Lucy that she'll be getting married within the year? Her roommates panic! What is going to happen to their blissful existence of eating take-out, drinking too much wine, bringing men home, and never vacuuming?

Lucy reassures her friends that she's far too busy arguing with her mother and taking care of her irresponsible father to get married. And then there's the small matter of not even having a boyfriend.

But then Lucy meets gorgeous, unreliable Gus. Could he be the future Mr. Lucy Sullivan? Or could it be handsome Chuck? Or Daniel, the world's biggest flirt? Or even cute Jed, the new guy at work?

Maybe her friends have something to worry about after all....

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lucy Sullivan, the eponymous heroine of Irish writer Keyes's second offbeat romantic comedy to be published in the U.S. (after Watermelon), fancies herself simultaneously miserable and happy. A 26-year-old Londoner, Lucy is the kind of woman who thinks that any man who's decent to her must be Mr. Wrong. But when she visits a fortune-teller with a trio of mismatched friends, a marriage is predicted for the near future. When the fortune-teller's prophecies for the other three come true in peculiar ways, even disbelieving, boyfriendless Lucy begins to suspect that, somehow, wedding bells will ring for her. The identity of the lucky man will come as no surprise, though Lucy remains oblivious until the very end, but there are many eligible bachelors on the scene, among them Gus, Lucy's sexy but unreliable new lover; Daniel, her oldest friend; Chuck, a handsome American; and Adrian, the video shop man. The attendant mayhem includes drunken meals at ethnic restaurants, flamenco dancing accidents, blind dates gone wrong and many delicious confessions and revelations. As Lucy says, "I was still at that stage in my life when I thought that weekdays were for recovering from the weekend," but more often than not, her weekdays are as full of exhausting fun as her weekends. Surprisingly for a comic novel, the book also takes on the serious themes of clinical depression and alcoholism, handling both with sensitivity and humor. Throughout, the effervescent narrative is fueled by witty repartee; though its outcome may be predictable, its sentiments are heartfelt, and its progress is sprightly. Fans of Bridget Jones will be delighted. Agent, Russell Galen of Scovil Chichak Galen. (Aug.) Holiday.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Following the successful Watermelon, the Irish-born, London-based Keyes introduces us to Lucy, luckless in love but destined (according to a tarot card reading) to be married within the year.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Perennial; Reprint edition (January 23, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060090375
• ISBN-13: 978-0060090371
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (247 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #437,018 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.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 45 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Bridget Jones meets Sex in the City July 7, 2000

By Karen Bierman Hirsh VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I had such fun reading this book. The title alone made me laugh and once I opened the book I was not disappointed one bit. This is the first of Marian Keyes books that I have read and I will certainly pick up the rest. She has a wonderful witty style that comes across to the reader in abundance yet she can also write about the hard times in life that we must all go through with a sense of dolefullness and a softness that keeps the reader involved.

Lucy Sullivan is single, desperately so, works at a dull, dead end job and lives with two flatmates - Karen, the egotistical and ruthless one and Charlotte, the sweet and somewhat ditzy other one. The reader can't help but take Lucy's view of these characters.

Her office workers convince her to go to a fortune teller who announces, among other things, that Lucy will be married within the year. Lucy, like the reader, laughs this prediction off but as her officemates' predictions begin to come true one can't help but think that Lucy has a chance.

Through the book we meet her best friend Daniel, who Karen has the hots for, Meridia, her over weight and fabulous co-worker, Gus, the man of Lucy's dreams as well as her parents. Lucy tries to keep her head about her while her flighty boyfriend comes and goes, her job becomes duller and her family begins to fall apart.

But will Lucy find the man of her dreams? Will she be able to hold it all together? Only time will tell (as will readers of this book). While Marian Keyes seems to follow a bit of a pattern in the book, it doesn't seem to hold her back one bit.

I laughed along with Lucy and felt sorrow along with her. With lines like, 'If I had left then, that second, I would have missed the arrival of my anger. But no, I met it me at the door as it staggered in, gasping and panting, worn out from the crosstown journey. "Sorry I am late," it wheezed, cluthing it's chest. "Awful traffic..."' one can't help but totally know what Lucy feels like. Her struggles are very true to life as are the situations she finds herself in. If female readers don't see a bit of themselves in her I'd be surprised.

Anyone that enjoys watch 'Sex in the City' or has read and enjoyed Bridget Jones or Girls Guide to Hunting and fishing will certainly enjoy this book.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh out loud funny and touching at the same time June 11, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I absolutely loved this book. So many great lines had me laughing out loud - such as when Lucy avoids asking her roommates to keep it down late one night, lest she be drawn into drinking a half a bottle of vodka in a "If you can't beat them, join them" exercise, her descriptions of Tom, and the details of why she is reluctant when a man takes her hand and tells her to feel his heartbeat, just to name a few. Yet buried in this breezy prose are some hard realizations for the character of Lucy, such as those epiphanies she has while trying to hold her family together, or when she realizes the repeating pattern in all her relationships.
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I have gotten so tired of "women's literature" that reads like the manuscript for a Lifetime TV movie: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (must we keep being tortured with books about unfit lunatic mothers and why it's OK that they have irreparably damaged their children?), The Girls Guide To Hunting and Fishing (this book was terrible and I'm not sure it even had a point), and We Were The Mulvaneys (don't even get me started on what kind of a twisted, repressed, wretched excuse for a mother would think sending her daughter away into exile after she got RAPED was a good solution), and on and on and on.
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This book, as well as the other Marian Keyes books I've read, delievers a valid message without making you feel like you want to kill yourself after finishing the last page. Her dry and acerbic sense of humor keep the reader entertained from start to finish, and she always manages to endear the characters to the reader's heart.
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I've seen this book advertised as a "beach read", and it is in many ways a light and easy read, but there is plenty of substance and insight to be found, so don't let the categorization fool you.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars I Wouldn't Even Give It One Star If I Didn't Have To!!!!! December 2, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I just read the other reviews and we can't be reading the same book!!!!
I am shocked Ms. Keyes is usually a great writer and I absolutely love her other titles,
however this one is HORRIBLE!!!! Lucy the main character is pathetic, needy, and way way too nuerotic for my taste.
I am only halfway through the book and am still struggling reading it. She sets women back like 20 years, and I just
want to scream at her!!!! She helps her father drink, makes excuses for every man in her life and although she is in her early 20's acts like a teenager and goes out every weekend and gets drunk and brings home strange men. Even her job is a joke, it sounds more like the type of jobs I had as a teenager then a young adult. But then again reading this book, she certainly isn't characterized like an adult in any sense of the word. I don't think I am even going to be able to finish the book, all I can say is thank god I didn't actually buy the book and only borrowed it from the local library.