The Woman Who Stole My Life - August book club

I enjoyed this book, particularly the hospital sections. However, like other reviewers, I felt that it was too wordy in places, such as the American sections. I also found some of the characters very annoying, such as the husband. Overall, I'd say its a good read.

I so agree with Emily Harburn. I too felt that there was more than one story/book in here. In fact I think that if Marion Keyes had written about Stella's experiences in ICU, which I found very interesting, as a separate novel and the US section as another then both would be greatly improved.
I enjoyed the humour at first, but as in other of the author's books, I found its relentless presence grated. There are serious themes in this novel which are not explored and in some cases feel trivialized.

I finished this book yesterday and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt the eccentric characters were interesting if not always believable (which for me really didn't matter). As someone said earlier I love the Irishness of Marian Keyes. I think it has a different style than her earlier books in that, it was a tad more serious and with not so many laugh out loud moments but then I suppose a writer's style will change with maturity. I'm most definitely still a fan.

I really enjoyed this book from start to finish.I haven't read any of Marian's books before and therefore had no expectations.I thought the characters were well drawn and I felt empathy for Stella and Mannix.I also loved the humerous descriptions that crept in now and then.
I have to agree that the story-line did jump between present and past.The change of print style helped,a bit, to avoid confusion for me.Stellas life was chaotic and rushed in America and I think that came over very well. I really wanted to punch Gilda on the nose for her two faced stealing of Stella's life.
Not my usual genre of book but thank you Gransnet for introducing me to yet another different author

Thank you for my book! I was very surprised and happy to receive it. I figured being across the pound I might not get one. I've never read this authors books and was drawn in from the first page. I will definitely read more of her books.

Thank you, Gransnet, for this book, which I have found an easy and enjoyable read. I've never read any Marion Keyes before. I liked her characterisation and humour, and for me the switching between places and dates worked well and kept the interest. This was a book of rather predictable but enjoyable contrasts, from the impossibly useless husband, Ryan, to the improbably perfect replacement, Mannix, the unbearably needy friend, Zoe, to the faultless new BF, golden girl Georgie, the brittle sibling, Karen, to the big soft brother, Roland, the warm, homespun Irish background to the dog eat dog glitz of the New York publishing world.

GNers have said that this book, with its theme of debilitating illness, is more serious than previous Marion Keyes novels. From the sample given of (I assume) the next book, it looks as though illness/injury - and being stuck in one place because of it - is again a major theme. I'd like to ask the author if there is a particular reason for this?

Technically I suppose Marion Keyes' books are chick lit, but they are nothing like the old bodice rippers our mothers may have read. These are superior chick lit. They are generally very well-written and constructed, with a certain darkness undercutting the sweetness and the happy ending. I am a fan.

Having said that, this isn't one of her best - I agree with previous comments about unnecessary complexities in the plotting and the rather perfunctory resolution. However, it was still an enjoyable holiday read - in fact it was difficult to put it down as I really wanted to know how things worked out. It's a strange thing that unpleasant characters are always more involving than nice ones & there are some interesting ones here - I was thoroughly irritated by Ryan and appalled by Gilda (spoiler alert, but I guess everyone will have read the book by now). I really liked Roland though!

I was particularly interested in the details of Guillain-Barré syndrome because a chap I used to work with years ago developed something like this, although I can't remember now if it was actually the same disease or something else with similar symptoms. I googled today to try and find out more about it and discovered details of a recent case only a few days ago.

I have read my copy and thought it to be an excellent read. I have not read anything by Marion before so this was a first for me and I can't believe that I haven't found out about her prior to this, I clearly have some catching up to do! The story is primarily about Stella & Ryan and their extended family and all the characters were believeable. Mannix was a joy when he entered the story and remained so throughout. I was so sad when Stella and Mannix seemed to have a parting of the ways but relieved when it all came good at the end - Shep included. One blink at a time was remarkable and aptly described the situation Stella found herself in. Can you imagine the horror of finding yourself like that!? Absolutely awful.. I would definitely recommend this book it really is very good.

I found it hard to engage with the characters. Stella, who I appreciate, at the beginning, is locked inside a void - a dark place indeed, but her long thoughts and discussions within her mind were relentless and repetitive. I did not like or engage with the doctors and her ex Ryan was again unmemorable. The story was somewhat repetitive and certainly the constant break up fragmented first chapters made re reading some part inevitable. The repetitions of,for example lady chino's dominated my reading in the end and I found myself grating my teeth. I have read Marian Keys before and found her to be fun, entertaining - but not this one sadly. I did finish it, but did not end the book with a satisfied sigh, but more of a phew.

After reading almost the first hundred pages at a sitting I got well into the story before life intervened and I have only been able to snatch odd moments to complete my reading of this novel. Maybe this is why I didn't feel the intial pace was sustained. However, I have enjoyed this, my first expereince of reading a novel by the author, and one of the things that helped my enjoyment was the use of different fonts to indicate flashes back within the story. Often a story that is not told chronologically can prove difficult to follow and I would like to know if this was a device chosen by Marion herself or her publisher.

I should also be interested to know if the book was written in the sequence in which it appears or whether the story of the illness was written first and then the rest of the story woven around it afterwards.

Finally, this is such a rare disease, did Marion have prior knowledge of it before she wrote the book or did she seek out such a problem to flesh out a gleam of an idea?

I have just finished this book and enjoyed it. It was a bit lighter than some of my other recent reads, and yes, a lot of the plot lines came as no surprise, but it was well written and engaging.

I didn't have a problem with the time changes, and found the way that the font changed between these passages was a good indication as to what was happening.

Thank you again for my copy.

I agree with Phoenix that the font change was helpful. I often enjoy reading books by Irish authors, and this was no exception.
I would like to ask Marian whether there is a camaraderie or is it rivalry between the Irish writers?

Am I too late? In case I'm not I would like to say to Marian that I have loved every single one of her books. I love the tone of her writing. I would like to ask her how she has coped with her depression - I really admire the way that you have been so open about it and I have learned from this myself. Also has what you have been through changed the way you write or what you write about? And if I can throw in one more (told you I was a fan)n because your humour is so legendary did that place even more pressure on you to be the funny person people think of you as when in fact you were going through the hell of depression which is anything but amusing? Thank you so much and already looking forward to the next one.

I really enjoyed this book and found it to be stronger than a lot of her other books. I like her as an author but tend to view her books as beach reads. This I found more engaging and even brought a tear to my eye in places.
Why does the main male character always have to have a weird name though!! why cant ij just be Brian.
I like the way this went from dark to light and in true chick lit style there was a happy ending. It covered a lot of issues in a short book from illness to divorce to moving abroad but did them lightly with humour.
an enjoyable read.

I can't put down this book. It's very funny and sad at the same time. The characters are totally believeable, and the way the story is structure makes the reader want to know what happens next.

Has Marion first hand knowledge of the illness that the main character finds herself in?

I can't wait to read her next book!

I finished reading the book while away on holiday. I liked the way the story jumped around in time. I couldn't work out where the story was going to end. I have bought another of her books and will read it later, I like to read books by different authors.

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Reported.