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Rachel's Holiday (Paperback)

~ (Author) "They said I was a drug addict..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, John Joe, Luke Costello (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (183 customer reviews)
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Rachel's Holiday + Watermelon + Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Irish by birth but a trendy New Yorker for the past eight years, Rachel Walsh learns just what it means to have too much fun in this lively drama about addiction and recovery. Rachel enjoys cocaine, alcohol and meeting men in bars, especially men wearing tight leather pants. She can match anybody's hilarious anecdotes about a Catholic childhood, but recently her life's gone awry, and God has become "more like a celestial stand-up comic" than a "benign old guy with long hair." When she wakes up in a hospital emergency room and finds she's been diagnosed as a suicidal drug addict, she's enraged. She's also broke and unemployed, and her boyfriend has abandoned her. As a final indignity, her father takes her back home and books her into Dublin's Betty Ford-like clinic, the Cloisters. Famous for a clientele of rock stars, it should be a glamorous spa, but it isn't. Quarters are spartan, clients do housework and group therapy is humiliating. It could be worse, though, and there's one good-looking fellow-inmate who might, or might not, be a lifeline post-Cloisters. This novel isn't a how-to on overcoming addiction but an examination, often comic, of treatment that is expected to result in personality changes necessary for recovery. Smart-ass Rachel actually becomes a beguiling heroine after learning to wake up and cook eggs at about the same time in the morning she used to fall into somebody's bed in New York. Clever badinage ("the only way to get over one man is get under another") unfortunately sometimes gives way to phrases like "pantie-meltingly gorgeous." The narrative is overlong, and the characters rarely speakAthey yell or shriekAbut, overall, Keyes's stylish wit keeps readers attentive, and her take on addiction is insightful and compassionate. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


From Library Journal

Irish author Keyes continues her pleasantly amusing storytelling, although this book has more of an edge than last year's Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married (LJ 4/15/99). Rachel Walsh is definitely not a drug addictDeveryone does cocaine every now and then, right? But her roommate, Brigit, and semi-boyfriend, Luke, see a problem. Simply to pacify her friends and family, Rachel checks into an Irish rehab center called the Cloisters, expecting daily massages and seaweed wraps. Rachel is devastated to learn that she is enrolled in a real drug treatment center! We follow Rachel as she confronts her addiction and learns a lot about herself. The story is funny, fast paced, and sometimes intense. It's also longDand while it is an enjoyable read, it would have been spunkier at half the size. FYI: the movie is already in development. Recommended for public libraries.DBeth Gibbs, formerly with P.L. of Charlotte & Mecklenburg Cty., NC
Copyright 2000 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: 592 pages
  • Publisher: Avon A (April 30, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060090383
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060090388
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (183 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,617 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #23 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Irish

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Marian Keyes
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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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They said I was a drug addict. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, John Joe, Luke Costello, Misty O'Malley, Barry Grant, Marian Keye, Real Men, Rickshaw Rooms, Sour Kraut, Abbot's Quarter, Llama Lounge, Margaret's Easter, Rachel Walsh, Thank God, Club Mexxx, Narcotics Anonymous, Stephen's Green, Cute Hoor, Dentist O'Dowd, Involved Significant Other, Please God, Hilda Shaw, Jack Daniels, Las Vegas, Marian Keycq
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Rachel's Holiday
62% buy the item featured on this page:
Rachel's Holiday 4.5 out of 5 stars (183)
$10.79
The Other Side of the Story: A Novel
14% buy
The Other Side of the Story: A Novel 4.3 out of 5 stars (268)
$11.19
Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married
10% buy
Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married 3.8 out of 5 stars (233)
$10.19
Watermelon
9% buy
Watermelon 4.2 out of 5 stars (273)
$10.19
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Customer Reviews

183 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (183 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Marian Keyes does it again, July 25, 2000
By Bryna L. Reed "New Mom" (Lexington, KY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Rachel's Holiday (Hardcover)
There is a reason Marian Keyes is one of my favorite authors. I think I read this book nearly two years ago. I was first introduced to Marian Keyes when my husband bought me Watermelon. When I finished it I knew I needed to have more! That began my search for her books. That is when I found Amazon.co.uk. I ordered everything she had written and pre-ordered one of her books that wasn't published yet. All of the books were well worth the extra cost to ship overseas and well worth purchasing from the UK. Rachel's holiday became my favorite. Which was amazing because I swore that I couldn't find a more entertaining book than Watermelon.

Rachel's Holiday is a wonderfully entertaining book about Rachel, the sister of Watermelon's heroine Claire. Rachel is addicted to drugs and alcohol and nearly ruins her life although she thinks there isn't anything wrong. She looks at rehab as a "holiday", she could use a vacation anyway, and she might get to see some celebrities while she is there. This isn't your typical book about a 20-something hitting rock bottom and having to pick up the pieces of the life she has ruined. The story is so witty and so funny that I laughed out loud but it is much more than that. I really fell in love with this book and the author. I wait for her books the way kids wait for Harry Potter!

Buy this book and you won't be disappointed. Better yet buy all of Marian Keyes' books.

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully entertaining and enlightening read!, July 26, 2000
This review is from: Rachel's Holiday (Hardcover)
I thoroughly enjoyed Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes. First of all, the depth of information it gave about addiction was astounding -- Ms. Keyes really seems to have done her research. I don't see how anyone could become an addict after reading this book!

What I especially found interesting was the dichotomy of Rachel's viewpoints -- she thought one way while she was still abusing drugs (and when she first started at the treatment center), and a completely different way when she began to recover. There were people she considered "stingy" or "no fun" while she was abusing drugs; she later realized they were only trying to help her. On the other side of the coin, there were people she used to think were almost godlike, and she finally realized that these people were human just like her -- and not really as great as she originally made them out to be.

Above all, though, I found this book entertaining. Marian Keyes has a wonderfully wicked sense of humor that I can truly appreciate. I'm starting to figure out that I really like books told in the first person; this book and Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married (which I read first) both drew me in with their cozy girl-talk style. I know this is a major cliche, but I really did not want to put this book down -- I felt so involved in everything that was happening to Rachel.

The only problem I found with the book is that I thought the ending was a little too convenient and a tad too predictable. Anyone who read it kind of knew how it would end about a quarter of the way through the book. That in itself was not necessarily so bad; to me, a lot of the enjoyment in a book is watching the journey from point A to point B, even if you already know what point B is. (This is a key philosophy to keep in mind when reading romance novels.) However, it seems to me Rachel should have had to work a little harder for that outcome than she actually did.

All in all, though, it was a very pleasant, worthwhile read, and I'm looking forward to reading more of Ms. Keyes' books.

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Serious topic inside of a good read, August 9, 2000
By "erin_g" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rachel's Holiday (Hardcover)
I read this book a few months ago after much internet hunting trying to find it so I didn't have to wait for its US release.

While Keyes' previous works have also dealt with serious subjects, they were underlying, not at all the main topic in the book. This book, however, takes a hard look at addiction. While she does it with humor, she doesn't necessarily sugarcoat it. I especially appreciated that it was the main character's point of view the story was coming from. This book is written in first person, which I like, but at first you may find it rather disconcerting. The story coming directly from Rachel helped me to relate to what addiction is like, how hard it is to overcome. In the beginning, I actually found myself truly wondering if she was an addict. That kind of scares me. It told me why addicts have such a hard time overcoming.

I don't want to scare anyone off in making them think that this is an depressing, deep book filled with sorrow and woe. It's not. It's very funny at times. I love the way the family interacts. I think they're a lot like most families, just most families would never admit it. If you've read Watermelon then you've already been introduced to the family, if you haven't, read it. It doens't really matter which one you read first. Just enjoy them.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not my favorite
I liked this book, but had trouble staying focused. When it was funny, I laughed until I cried, but then the book seemed to drag. Read more
Published 23 days ago by L. M. Young

4.0 out of 5 stars Read the entire series!
Rachel's Holiday, Anybody Out there, Watermelon and Angels are each about one of the sisters in the mad Walsh family. Read more
Published 7 months ago by IdeaSmith

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant study of drug addiction
Marian Keyes is such a wonderful writer, I believe I could read a grocery list she'd written and find it both funny and moving. Read more
Published 8 months ago by S. McKinney

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read
This is the first Marian Keyes book that I have read, and I loved it. I'm planning on reading all of her books, since I really enjoy her style of writing and her sense of humor... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Carmanie

5.0 out of 5 stars Still one of my favorites
Marian Keyes really got me hooked with this book. It has got to be one of my favorite women's lit books ever - i enjoy all of the characters and appreciate how real the problems... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Anonymous

3.0 out of 5 stars Inconsistent Use of Characters?
As I mention in my review of another Keyes work, I read the Sullivan books out of order, and, as a result, may have developed a slightly different sense of the characters. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Jennifer L. Gordon

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!
I really REALLY enjoyed this book - and it was so well written! I can't wait to read more books by Marian Keyes.
Published 13 months ago by K. Grimes

5.0 out of 5 stars Straight from a Girl who has Hit Rock Bottom and Climbs Her Way Back Up Top!
Great book - gives an insider viewpoint on addiction and shows the mindset behind the person going through recovery - well done! Read more
Published 15 months ago by N. Barnes

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read!
I love Marian Keyes. I first fell upon her during my search for British Chick Lit. I started off with Lucy Sullivan... Read more
Published 17 months ago by mayflower

4.0 out of 5 stars It was...serious?
This book surprised me. It had serious matter, and dealt with it well. I really enjoyed it.
Published 19 months ago by B. Gray

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