Under the Duvet: Shoes, Reviews, Having the Blues, Builders, Babies, Families and Other Calamities

Marian Keyes is more than just a novelist, she is an incredible reader of people and offers insight into the writer's world. I loved this book, and it makes me love her novel writing more to know how open she is about her insecurities and her fears. This book proves that Ms. Keyes can write anything and make it interesting, because she herself is interesting!

What a joy ... just like finding a pot of gold under a rainbow! Marian Keyes has us longing for a return to the Emerald Isle with a fun book that is best read by sticking a finger in the pages and finding the start of a chapter! From an author who writes in bed readers will be transposed into the Irish mindset and if you really try you can slow the pace of your life and be one with the Irish for a moment or two.The anthology of columns shows that Marian's writing has great effect for a quickie read as well as being enveloped in her novels.

Some people take to their beds to escape from their lives; Marian Keyes takes to her bed in order to reflect on her life. She really does spend her days "under the duvet," comfortably propped up on pillows and typing away on her Sony Vaio laptop. Meanwhile, her husband of nearly a decade, Tony Baines, keeps the home and business fires burning from a more traditional workplace downstairs, communicating with his wife via a dedicated telephone line.Such a setup has not only allowed Keyes to give full rein to her writing talents; it's given her a pretty great title gimmick, because when you come right down to it, so many things do take place under the duvet (or over, or around, but I digress). Most of the 47 short pieces in this book were written for the Irish Tatler and other magazines and newspapers, which has had some reviewers noting that "Keyes is also a journalist." She modestly points out that this is true insofar as she has produced these works of journalism --- but that she did so after becoming a novelist, when editors began to seek her out for pieces.However, her modesty is misplaced because those who sought her out were clearly doing so in order to get Keyes's singular take on life, love and the pursuit of more hours for shopping. Smart editors they are, because Keyes not only has a winning way with words but with people as well. She comes alive in her essays as the spark plug of her family --- a person who doesn't believe she is the center of the universe, but around whom the folks naturally gravitate nonetheless.This serves Keyes particularly well because everything --- a supposedly slimming seaweed wrap, a single kitten-heeled mule --- is fodder for her delightful gristmill of contemporary manners and mores. One essay's experience, "In the Name of Research --- Going Under Cover," about a brief stint at a glossy woman's magazine, was used to great effect in SUSHI FOR BEGINNERS, Keyes's second novel about --- what else? --- a start-up glossy woman's magazine.But Keyes is not merely collecting fodder; she's sizing it up as well. "Fear and Loathing in Los Angeles" (her experience there shows up in ANGELS) contains acute observations of that city: "It was fearsomely hot as we drove along and the gray glare hurt my eyes. The sky looked like it could do for a good scrub with a wire brush. Abruptly I realized what was so odd --- there were no human beings on the streets. The place had a strange science-fiction feel to it."Here's another thing about Keyes as a journalist: she's remarkably honest in her observations, especially as they pertain to herself (and Himself, as she dubs her good-humored husband) or her family. Having finished a university degree in law, she spent much of her twenties in substance abuse. Now, ten years sober and wiser (and having dissected that part of her life in RACHEL'S HOLIDAY), Keyes writes of her darkest hour in the previously unpublished "The Pissed Is Another Country, They Do Things Differently There": "From Sep

She's young. She's hip. She's Irish. And she has written some of the most entertaining and humorous novels I've had the pleasure of reading. So it is quite a treat for me to sit down and enjoy what our Irish cousins have already been treated to....a collection of many of her columns which have appeared in the Irish Times newspaper. This may be old hat to Dubliners, but it's a newfound treasure for most Americans. The book is like a box of chocolates and each short read is a tasty little morsel to devour and enjoy. What a treat it is to get this inside look at one of my favorite authors and share in her musings on just about everything. How does it feel to see someone actually purchase your book? How did she get the background material for Sushi? What was the nicest time of her life? How did it feel to be at a book signing for Rachel's Holiday and have no one show up? What are her feelings on shoes, Catholicism, real estate agents, and a whole lot more.My personal favorite was "Happy Christmas! Form An Orderly Queue" not only because I love to read any work set at Christmastime but because of the glimpse it gives us into Marian's family life which just had to have been the basis for the wild and whacky Walsh clan of many of her novels.If you love Marian Keyes already or if you just like short humorous pieces to make you laugh out loud, I highly recommend this one.

I had never read a Marian Keyes book before......Under the Duvet was a gift with magazine purchase. She is hilarious! This book is a collection of short stories and anecdotes that every woman can relate to - it will have you laughing out loud. You won't be able to put it down. I am off to order more of her books - I am hooked!