Marian Keyes - The other side of the Story

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (April 11, 2006)

ISBN: 978-0060731489

My rating: 2/5

Jojo Harvey is a literary agent whose star is on the rise. In love with both her married boss and her burgeoning career, not much distracts her. Until she finds herself representing two women who used to be best friends. One of them, Gemma, has suddenly found herself from a broken home - at the age of thirty-two. Meanwhile, Lily - the woman Gemma has always blamed for stealing her one chance of happiness - is enjoying the overnight success of her debut novel. Set in the world of publishing, 'The Other Side of the Story' is about love, loyalty, glass ceilings and survival tactics - and what to do when you get your chance for revenge. (mariankeyes.com)


My thoughts

I kinda thought this book was boring. I had read "Anybody out there" a while back and remember how much I enjoyed it and the tissue box which I had used up .... so I was looking forward to this one.

But really I can't say anything else than boring. We all have a bad day and I suppose what I did like was the description of the publishing side ... the pain we feel with bad reviews, the hope and the let-down - the roller coaster of being in this business. But there's nothing else to say. Gemma's story was ... okay. Dad falls in love with his secretary and leaves his wife. Daughter writes about it in emails and these emails fall into the hand of a Literary Agent. That is Jojo - her story. I have no idea. Lily is Gemma's friend. Well they used to be friends until Lily falls in love with Gemma's ex. Lily's just released her book - a bestseller.

So that's it. Sprinkle with a bit of relationship and you have "The other side of the story".

I did like a lot of the Lily's soul-searching. It was great reading - thus the 2 stars, but IMO too little too late.

I still have another Marian Keyes' book somewhere on my desk and will persevere, hoping it'll be more like the first book I've read.