Title: Grown Ups

Author: Marion Keyes

Genre: Domestic Drama

Main Characters:

• John Casey – brother 1
• Jessie Casey – John’s wife
• Ed Casey – brother 2
• Cara – Ed’s wife
• Liam Casey – brother 3
• Nell Casey – Liam’s wife

Summary:

They’re a glamorous family, the Caseys.

John Casey, his brothers Ed and Liam, their beautiful talented wives and all their kids spend a lot of time together – birthday parties. anniversary celebrations, weekends away. And they’re a happy family. Johnny’s wifeJessie – who has the most money – insists on it.

Under the surface, though, conditions are murkier. While some people clash, other people like each other far too much…

Everything stays under control until Ed’s wife Cara, gets concussion and can’t keep her thoughts to herself. One careless remark at Johnny’s birthday party, with the entire family present, starts Cara spilling out her secrets.

In the subsequent unravelling, every one of the adults find themselves wondering if it’s time – finally – to grow up?

Verdict:

This started off very slow and I struggled to get into it in the beginning. it’s also quite long so I had to soldier on but once I had, I had to keep reading to get to the ending. It also starts with the end so you feel you have to get through the story to see how it got to where it started…

I found there were a lot of characters and I struggled to keep up with who they were, who they were related to etc, which made the story quite confusing at times. But the book follows your typical large, extended family and the drama that comes with the great mix of personalities and backgrounds. This story deals with all the issues: marriage, parenting, gender, friendships, in-laws, co-parenting, eating disorders, infidelity, careers etc. Even amongst the drama, books like this always make me wish I had a big family.

I’ve always loved Marian Keyes and the way she deals with our daily struggles and experiences. I would still recommend Grown Ups, just give it a chance.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Any other good book recommendations whilst we self-isolate and enjoy more time in a good book?

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