As someone who has fought a lifelong battle with her own eating disorder, it was refreshing to see the topic addressed with equal parts honesty and professionalism. I was particularly impressed by Keyes’s sensitive handling of eating disorders through Cara, who struggles with disordered eating and bulimia throughout the novel. The novel moves effortlessly from outright insanity to potent, sober moments that had me feeling all too deeply for the very same characters I had been laughing at mere pages earlier. Reader engagement is clearly high on Marian Keyes’s list of priorities, and her unique blend of drama and hilarity ensures her successful manipulation of even the subtlest sympathies for her characters. Somehow, Grown Ups managed to be wildly entertaining and eccentric without feeling contrived, its characters swept up in high drama and extreme circumstances without sacrificing the reader’s investment in their narratives. Sure, the Caseys are a bit caricatured – but that’s where the fun comes in. I absolutely adored Keyes’s sharp wit and straightforward style, which clearly lends itself to this type of novel wherein lies and secrets ramp up the pace and intensity until the reader can barely breathe. Then there’s Liam and Nell, the newlyweds whose marriage none of the other family members can really comprehend, seeing as Nell is so fantastic and Liam is so… not. Ed and Cara, in contrast, run a totally normal family unit with totally normal problems – aside from the crippling eating disorder that Cara is working to hide from both her husband and her colleagues at all costs. Johnny’s wife, Jessie, holds both their immediate and extended family together through sheer willpower (and the not-so-small fortune she’s amassed from her “exotic” grocery business). Brothers Johnny, Liam and Ed couldn’t be more different from each other, but are united in their hatred of emotionally distant and borderline abusive parents. The Caseys are completely bloody batshit crazy. Honestly, it was difficult to focus on anything else for the three short days I spent reading Grown Ups. I know this for a fact because I’ve never really considered her novels “my thing”, what with the networks of secrets threatening to break apart already complex relationships – and yet there I was, utterly engrossed in the Casey family’s dysfunction.
Marian Keyes has a certain gift for writing alluring family drama. ISBN: 9780718179748 Review Thank you to Netgalley and Michael Joseph Publishers for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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