Customer Reviews

Once In a Lifetime

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Once in a Lifetime by Cathy Kelly

Kenny's Department store has been a mainstay, a way of life for ages in Ardagh a small Irish town and unfortunately there is a rumor of a takeover bid. Unfortunately for this exclusive store, the rumors are true.
This book is supposed to center around, and tie together, the women that work at Kenny's, the woman that is married to the stores owner, Ingrid Fitzgerald a political journalist and another woman steeped in an aura of mystery and the paranormal, Star Bluestone. And this would be all fine and dandy if the book really did tie the women together and left out a lot of the past folderol. What should have been expanded on was David's extra curricular activities and his wife dealing with it. Ms Kelly tried to ramp up the tension with her allusions to things not being what they seem and giving us tiny glimpses into the "paranormal" aspect, but for me this trick just didn't work. It seemed more like Ms Kelly wants to jump on the speculative fiction band wagon but can't commit.

The women were not all that likable and Ingrid, even through her mourning, wasn't a very sympathetic character, Star was too vague and "airy fairy", the characters of Dara, Kitty and Lizzie didn't do a thing for me. And speaking of the story, it seemed a little trite and quite thin and haven`t we yet had enough yet, of weak women finding empowerment through the advise of their friends?

As a Maeve Binchy fan, people often recommend Cathy Kelly to me. I've never been able to make it through one of her books. This one, at least, I did finish, though that was largely because I needed to review it.

Using Kenny's department store as the center of the stories was enjoyable - I found it difficult to keep the storylines straight - there aren't an unmanageable number of main characters, but each has her own constellation of supporting characters with their own problems - Natalie's alcoholic friend Lizzy, Charlie's domineering mother, Ingrid's work cohorts - none of whom really matter.

Kelly's writing is more modern and younger, and perhaps then ineluctably crasser than Binchy, but more to the point, she doesn't have the gift of making characters I really care about, and though the lives of the characters in this novel are connected in a casual way, they don't have the coincidentally deep connections that make Binchy's writing such a delight.

So against Binchy, this book doesn't stand up, but it's not such a treat on its own either. It's predictable and easy to read, but I can't say I'd recommend it.

I received this book from the Amazon vine program. I would never have picked it up on my own for two reasons. One is the cover..terrible chic lit that says to me "keep away"! The title is another. There are other books with this title, and it too shouts chic lit. There is nothing wrong with fluff, chic lit etc. I do pic it up on purpose now and then. Most of the time, I just don't as it is not a favorite. I do like to keep fluffy books around for days when I need a fluffy read. Do not let these things deter you. Not if it is the story that matters to you.

Is this chic lit? Yes and No. It certainly has all of the aspects of chic lit. Girls, divorce, make up , shopping and so on. But the characters are much better rounded out, and the story is much richer than some of the chic lit I have read.

This is a story of women who live in a small town in Ireland. Small town all have one thing in common, it seems. Everyone either knows or knows about everyone else in town. I think what drew me in most was the character of Star. She felt like a kindred spirit.

I liked Charlie Fallon. She is one of those women who it would be very easy to dismiss as a young woman with little substance. She works in the make-up department of the Kenny department store. We find out just how wise and gentle this character really is when she grows a little and feels more comfortable in her own skin.

Kenny's is the basically the heart of the book. Many of the characters are involved in some way with the store or the family. David Kenny inherited the store from his parents and is struggling to keep it going during difficult financial times. His employees are like extended family and he knows how difficult it would be for them if he lost his battle to keep the store as is. The people who work for him appreciate this and know how lucky they are.

Ingrid is Davids wife. He has a son and a daughter, and they have friends and lives of their own that figure into this story. I enjoyed this story. I liked most of the characters and cared what happened to them. I also liked the way that acceptance was both a reality and a lesson.

If you are looking for a good story with likable characters, this is a book for you. I will be happy to read more from this writer. I also plan to gift copies to at least two people I know who will enjoy the story, and perhaps learn about acceptance.

Good read for a relaxing afternoon.

Cathy Kelly is one of three authors on my Irish-writer 'autobuy list', the others being Marion Keyes and Maeve Binchy. It's very rare that I'm disappointed with any of these; they have a gift for creating interesting characters with fascinating interwoven storylines.

This book is an exception, however. I was hopeful given Marion Keyes' cover-quote saying that this is one of Kelly's best with wonderful characters. Not. Yes, Ingrid - the most prominent character, wife of Kenny's magnate David and host of a prime-time TV political talk-show - is likeable and interesting, but she's surrounded by others who really didn't appeal at all. For once, also, the various characters' stories didn't gel for me, and the book's structure did not hang together.

Characters such as Kitty, Dara, Lizzie and others were irritating and unsympathetic. David, Ingrid's husband, was too much of a cypher in the beginning for me to form any liking for him, and I'm left wondering what Ingrid ever saw in him. As for Star Bluestone, the proclaimed lodestone of the book, I could have done without her and her flaky second-sight mumbo-jumbo.

Sorry, Cathy Kelly, but this book was considerably below what I'm used to from you and will be finding its way to the nearest second-hand bookshop.

I've been reading Cathy Kelly books for years, ever since I picked one up in an airport bookshop in Munich once when there wasn't much choice of English books. I read it on the plane home instead of sleeping, and enjoyed enough to seek out more by the same author. I used to order them delivered from amazon.co.uk because they were not available in the US. Now they are, which is a generally good thing. It's hard for me to review this book as if I've never read and loved many of her other books, so I won't try. One of the things I generally find with Kelly's novels is that I start out not finding any of the characters all that interesting and then by the end of the book, she's somehow made me care about all of them, to the point where I am usually totally engaged with all the stories by the end of the book.

This book is a little different, as I found the main characters pretty interesting from the start, but then my interest wandered as I kept reading. I didn't hate the book, exactly, but I got to the end and was left with a feeling that it had been a pleasant few hours I'd spent reading the book, but not a particularly engrossing experience. The plot is interesting and not totally predictable, the characters are reasonably interesting (although most of them got less interesting as I knew them better, instead of the other way around as is more common with Kelly's women), and the writing is fluent as usual.

Not a waste of time, by any means. I'd recommend this book for a lazy holiday at a beach house or a rainy Saturday afternoon at home.

When I saw the cover, I thought ONCE IN A LIFETIME would be a fun chick-lit book. I read that the author, Cathy Kelly, was the most popular author in Ireland, and I imagined she was akin to Marian Keyes for some reason (whom I don't think much of).

So...two wrong thoughts don't make a right--but choosing this book was a great choice all the same. Kenny's Department Store, a store specializing in unique luxury items, is at the heart of this novel that takes place in Ardagh, Ireland. The owner, David Kenny, connects a number of women who we get to meet and care about in ONCE IN A LIFETIME: Ingrid, his successful journalist wife, Star Bluestone, his former lover and wisewoman/artist, and Ingrid's best friend, Marcella, who is a loyalist to the Kennys and also has got a lot of living and loving to do. There's also Charlie Fallon, who is the daughter of one of Star's former acquaintances, and Dara, one of Star's intimates. Her daughter, Natalie, and Molly, Ingrid's daughter, are best friends, and we get to learn about them, too.

These are just names to you, but Kelly creates rich characters with distinctive voices and riveting backstories--so they are all living, breathing characters to me. The story holds some surprises, some very sad and some joyous--and some a combination of the two. The plot is not particularly complex. However, there is a great deal of psychological understanding and wisdom passed through in this book, if you are willing to open yourself to it.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME is a lot deeper than I was expecting--it's not chick lit, but a novel, not a genre title. Perhaps some would call it "women's fiction," but to me, in this case, that just means there's an emotional focus you might not expect in traditional literature. And of course, women are the main inhabitants, but do we call HEART OF DARKNESS a men's novel?

No. So let's call this what it is--a moving novel with characters you care about and a plotline that is not particularly complex and even meanders a bit--but is a page-turner for all that.

I've ordered ALWAYS AND FOREVER, another book by Ms. Kelly, and look forward to reading all of her books at some point.

This is the first book I have read by Cathy Kelly, and I enjoyed it much more than I expected! The blurb on the back of book led me to think that the plot would center around Kenny's Department store and I wasn't sure how interesting that would be. However, Kenny's simply provides some loose structure to the plot, connecting the characters in a tenuous way that makes sense and adds to the story.

Once in a Lifetime portrays a group of women who live in the same area and either know each other directly or through a connection once removed. Each woman is facing a challenge unique to her particular circumstances--a new widow who learns heartbreaking secrets about her husband, a successful career woman seeking love, a young woman plagued by a lack of confidence, an older woman with the ability to see past the obvious, a step back in time to the life of a woman now dead, and her daughter searching for a sense of identity. This sounds very confusing, with many different strands, but Cathy Kelly transitions smoothly between characters and some how makes this all work.

This book is very well written, which one would expect from an author as highly acclaimed as Cathy Kelly. I enjoyed not only the variety of characters, but that there was a "satisfactory" ending for each, instead of a contrived "happy ending." The character who can see past the obvious can actually see hidden things about a person. I don't usually care for this type of writing device, but it was not overdone here and positioning the character as a bit unique and a loner made it more believable. This is a great book for anyone looking for an escape on a quiet afternoon--there is enough to the book to capture and hold your attention. I have already ordered another book by Cathy Kelly based on how much I enjoyed this one!

This book really isn't about any one thing in particular, but about a lot of people. They are all connected in some way to Kenny's Department Store in Ireland, which sounds like a really fun place to shop. They don't sell your average department store things, but more like high end specialty items such as the tapestries one of the characters, Star Bluestone makes. The book moves from character to character and back and forth from the past to the present. It's almost a little random the way the book moves around, kind of like when you are daydreaming and one thought just kind of leads to another or something. At first that kind of annoyed me, but about 1/3 of the way into the book I was familiar enough with all of the characters and it wasn't that hard to follow. The best part of the book is that there are so many characters and really, they are all very likable. You get to find out about life as an artist, a famous news celebrity, the owner of a department store, the lives of their young adult children and the things they do and the past and present lives of their parents. There is no way I was bored at all reading this book because of the variety of characters and the different time periods the book covers. The book was a pretty quick read and I really enjoyed having it to look forward to at the end of each day.

This is an intricate story with many people involved. You become acquainted with each of them and then intrigued with their relationships. Although there are many individual stories, you learn most about Ingrid Fitzgerald, a TV political interviewer, and her husband David Kenny, who owns and runs 'Kenny's', an upscale dept store which was established in 1924. They've been married for 25 years and still are deeply in love. When he dies of a heart attack, she is devastated, and is unable to cope with anything! She takes a leave of absence and their two adult children come home to stay with her.

After several weeks, she realizes that her kids need to get back to their own lives, and tells them she's OK. When she goes to her husband's office, she finds a locked drawer which she pries open and discovers that he has been having an affair. She is so angry that she quits mourning and goes back to work. She tells the young woman who had sat in for her while she was off that they're not enemies and that she'll be working for only another two or three years. A man who had been close to her husband tells her that David had broken up with the woman and was so sorry. He adored Ingrid and hoped she wouldn't find out. In a way, this makes her feel better.

The employees at the store are extremely worried that it will close. The economy has affected it greatly, and with David Kenny dead, who's going to handle things?
Ingrid realizes that morale is very low and finds an investor who is willing to step in and keep the store open.

There are several other stories in the book, child abuse of a woman who grew up, conquered alcoholism, married and had a beautiful little girl. The best friend of Ingrid who met, fell in lust, then love, and married a much younger man. Others who also are part of the whole story, a woman who had been David's lover when they were young and is a 'white witch' and more!

It's a great read. You really get involved with the characters.

First off, ignore the baffling cover art- I have no idea what a Carrie Underwood lookalike on a giant swing has to do with the plot. The title isn't at all clear, either, but it's so generic surely I could come up with a justification.

The story is actually stories tangentially connected to Kenny's Department Store, a suburban Irish Henri Bendel or Barney's. Paths cross, but not all that much in some cases -- and the theme seems to be how women of various ages find a sense of self-worth and meaning in modern day Ireland, and in mid-to-late twentieth century Ireland through flashbacks and back story expositions. Several characters are (well) over 45, which seems to be more the real heart demographic of the book, despite the girl-model on the cover. Some are mothers, some are not. Some are married, but most are not. We find out some of how they ended up feeling how they do and what they do or intend to do about that. The writing carries you along, and there are insights along the way. Unfortunately there are really too many threads and characters who are only somewhat related to each other to get any real depth. I felt a bit unsatisfied at the end, as if I didn't find out enough about someone or other, but I couldn't really say who. I certainly would have preferred a focus on say Ingrid, Marcella and, maybe Star, although Star was a bit on the mystical Irish white witch side for my taste.

All in all, it's a box of chocolates--many flavors inside, yet related because of the chocolate coating, hard to put down, yet not very sustaining in the long run. Great beach read or for Ireland lovers.