My Lover's Lover [Paperback]

Maggie O'Farrell (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: McArthur & Co / Headline Trade (2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747268177
• ISBN-13: 978-0747268178
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,712,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

MAGGIE O'FARRELL is the author of four previous novels, including the acclaimed The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, which was a B&N Recommends Pick, and After You'd Gone. Born in Northern Ireland in 1972, O'Farrell grew up in Wales and Scotland. She has two children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as After You'd Gone.., October 5, 2003

By 

Diane "dianemax" (Newfoundland, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Lover's Lover (Hardcover)

I loved the book After You'd Gone by the same author. I had high hopes for this one, but it didn't meet that expectation.

I enjoyed O'Farrell's journey through Lily's mind and how she felt in her relationship with Marcus. Her obsession with Sinead was also interesting but none of the characters felt real to me. Lily's leap into a love affair with a man she knows nothing about just seemed a little strange and his avoidance of every question regarding his previous relationship only compounded the evidence of the fact that he was and still is deceptive.

While wondering about a significant other's past relationships is natural, I think that Lily took her curiosity to the extreme at times, even tricking her subconscious into believing things that were not true.

A good piece of fiction, but I would recommend her other novel before this one.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not That Interesting, February 26, 2006

By 

A Discerning Reader (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Lover's Lover (Hardcover)

My Lover's Lover is a story of women acting foolishly. Marcus is obviously a good looking guy with a lot of confidence in his ability to lure women to him. Two basically good women fall for him, and they make serious commitments way too early in the getting-to-know-you stage of the relationship.

The story of how each woman managed to be deceived is interesting, but not compelling. Most women are intelligent and appropriately skeptical about these things; and judging by the way these women are characterized in the novel, both of our heroines would have been more careful.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this novel is that there is no definite conclusion. It's touted as a novel of suspense; but apart from a crime passionelle, there is nothing too suspenseful about this. The book just wanders off into a foreign country, and all of a sudden the book's over. I wouldn't recommend anyone read this, although many seem to think O'Farrell is capable of much better judging by her first novel After You'd Gone.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, not great., July 3, 2003

By 

"o-dubhtaigh" (Dublin Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Lover's Lover (Hardcover)

This is another fine effort from O'Farrell but unfortunately comes nowhere near her debut work. After You'd Gone is a spectacular read, full of passion, intensity, and inspiration. My Lover's Lover tries to do the same, but it tries too hard. In many places the story feels forced rather than flows as it does in After You'd Gone. Characers lack the depth of her earlier work and there is little to distingish the characters of Sinead and Lily so it is difficult to feel a real degree of empathy with either of them. Strangely, it is the men in this book who have all the depth of character. Having said all this, My Lover's lover is certainly worth a read simply because O'Farrell is such a talented writer. A worthy four stars.