Customer Reviews

Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married

5 star:		(94)
4 star:		(66)
3 star:		(35)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

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.

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.

Having read Rachel's Holiday, Marian Keyes's latest book, I thought I should definitely read one of her earlier novels. I had been looking for a laugh-out-loud romantic comedy to read and Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married did not disappoint. What great novel! This book shouldn't be compared to Bridget Jones -- it shines its own light.

Lucy Sullivan has received the news of a lifetime: a psychic has predicted that she will be married within a year. The problem is that she has no idea to whom. Who is the lucky man? No one knows. Of course, the search for Mr. Sullivan will take some interesting and rough turns, for Lucy isn't exactly a girl with very high dating standards.

This is a great novel. The story is very reminiscent to a Jane Austen novel -- it has that heroine-looking-for-love-in-all-the-wrong-places-but-wouldn't-notice-the-true-love-of-her-life-if-it-hit-her-in-the-head love theme. I loved it. Also, it's like a more intelligent version of the TV sitcom Friends. I loved the neurotic characters. Lucy's roommates -- Karen, the bossy and high maintenance one and Charlotte, the ditsy and naive one -- are hilarious! As are Daniel (he seemed adorable), Megan and Meredia. I laughed so much with this one. In fact, I was given some puzzled looks on the train on my way to work. My only complaint is Keyes's obvious need to stereotype races. Oh, and having read Rachel's Holiday, I have detected a pattern in Keyes's writing -- a pattern that I cannot discuss for it might spoil the plot.

Funny, charming, and as resistible as it is addicting, Lucy Sullivan should be on every woman's reading list. That is if you're in the mood for good British humor.

Like a small child, I was originally drawn to the book for its bright pink cover and gold lettering. Inside, I was delighted to find the most hysterical book I have read in years. The monologues that Lucy has are insightful and sharp. Her sarcastic descriptions are woven together with such sincerity that you take them at face value and then crack up! I have told all of my friends to read this book. It encapsulates the lives of college women, and young 20 somethings world wide. There is such a strong and perceptive character development among the room mates, it will remind you of your greatest friend and your biggest enemy. You root for her throughout the book because, naturally you want Lucy Sullivan to GET MARRIED! The choices of suitors leaves only one that you hope will be at the end of her aisle. A fabuous read for when you call in from your own rotten office to lay around and eat chocolates.

I loved Marian Keyes' other books, and by the end, loved "Lucy Sullivan" too. Keyes does a great job of capturing the Bridget Jones-esque lifestyle and man-quest of 20something women. Her characters are believable. And the book is so darn funny! I laughed out loud a number of times, and kept reading passages to my husband, who found them as amusing as I did. This book does, however, have a tendency to ramble and could have used another edit or two to tighten it up. (In particular, conversations, especially nonsensical and ultimately annoying Gus-Lucy conversations, went on way too long.)

I recently made the joyous dicovery of Marian Keyes's "Watermelon". So, you can imagine how excited I was to receive her new novel "Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married". Unfortunately, I was disappointed. I didn't "suffer-through" this book, I did find parts of it enjoyable, I just didnt' have the connection with the characters that I did with "Watermelon". In all honesty, I didn't love these characters, I didn't even like them very much-namely Lucy. This alone makes it difficult to recomend this book. Read this book and be slightly entertained. Read "Watermelon" and laugh-out-loud from start to finish! I do look forward to Ms. Keyes next book!

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.

I love a good, predictable single Brit gal book. As a matter of fact I live for them! But this one left something to be desired. Lucy Sullivan is miserable and annoying. Nobody could possibly be as stupid as she is - from letting her friends control her to not realizing her father is an alcoholic and dating a lunatic drunk. Gus, who she winds up dating throughout the book, is completely over the top. Lots of us have gotten ourselves into relationships with men who don't treat us well, but nobody would put up with that. And there is no way a nice, responsible, handsome man like Daniel would ever see anything in someone like Lucy, who treats him horribly and is happy being miserable. Unless there's something wrong with him underneath it all too.

This book was also way too long and redundant. I felt like the conversations with crazy Gus went on for HOURS. And I felt like I'd scream if Lucy mentioned one more time how NOT attracted to Daniel she was.

I've read worse, and like I said, I love a Brit chick book, so I'll give it 3 stars. But Marian Keyes can do much better. Skip this one and pick up Last Chance Saloon!!

Are you looking for a great book to read at the beach? I suggest Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married. This book is funny, smart, witty, and well written. Helen Fielding is great, but so is Marian Keyes. Give it a whirl, you'll thank me for it!

Generally I'm a fan of Marian Keyes' work, but this time around I was so bummed by her story. Lucy is weak, whining and seems to be too stupid for words sometimes. How could she have no idea what an alcoholic is?! And her obsession with the loser Gus just makes her look pathetic; especially as her friend Daniel is such a catch and she's so nasty to him. The story's additional characters garnered no sympathy or fondness from me either. Lucy's work colleagues are nasty and generally unpleasant, and her flatmate Karen is truly awful. I finished the book in the vain hope that it would somehow pick up and get better, but it never did. The sappy ending was tied up just a little too neatly in a bow for my taste. The saddest part of this book for me, however, are the reviews I've read here. I'm disheartened by the women who have said they identified with Lucy's character. Are we really that bad ladies? There's got to be better role models out there. For Keyes' better works, try Sushi for Beginners or The Other Side of the Story. Overall, a big letdown this one.