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I've just finished this book and not sure if it's a work of genius or if it missed the point a bit.
There are three main characters and each of their lives has been affected to a greater or lesser extent by the (anti) hero of the title Paddy De Courcy. Two of the three, Grace and Marnie, are sisters and their stories are linked and are very powerful. They also know Alicia, the much less interesting fourth woman. Lola, she of the irritating diary prose, I think belonged in a different book. She's very funny and charming in her own right but her situation never rings true and I can't help thinking she was put in for some light relief. She really adds nothing to the main plot and her 'heartbreak' is not convincing. I also thought the whole politics storyline was weak.
There is a second theme to the book, and that's addiction and this is described absolutely brilliantly.
I love Marian Keyes' writing, and I looked forward to picking this book up every evening. She has the knack of creating characters you feel you really know, and for that alone it's worth reading this book.

Why intelligent woman write in silly voice? Real people no speak like this! Grate on nerves very quickly. Not easy rise above, even though quite funny jokes.

Ok enough of lampooning the style. What a shame that the most entertaining of the three narrators of this book was landed with this appalling format - speaking in pidgin English and presented in italics. Excuse my language but - WTF??

Lola had plenty of charm and loads of witty observations to make but really, what an effort was required to get past that style. Worst of all was she had her friends spoken dialogue - inside speech marks - delivered the same way. Very, very bad. Naughty editor need be firmer with writer. (Sorry, lapsed back into it!)

You all know the set-up of this book by now and I agree with many others who have said that what the charming man himself lacks is charm. Surely this story would have packed a much firmer punch had the charmer actually managed to persuade any of the readers that he really is the blue eyed boy at the outset. Instead, we meet him as an arrogant idiot and very quickly realise he's darker than that. So where's the charm - bad boy acts bad. No surprise there.

The story isn't about him anyway - he's a side issue. What is the story about? Who knows. It just goes on and on and on and every time you get into it and really get involved with a character, it's all snatched from under you and you are forced to start again with another character. Such is the downside of the multi narrator story.

In so many ways Keyes wants to have her cake and eat it with this book. She shuns the conventions of chick lit novels then shamelessly wallows in them near the end. She despises conspicuous wealth but knows her readers want glamour and aspiration so ladles it on endlessly. I think one quote from one of her narrators summed it up - it was something like 'I hate the rich and famous but find myself fascinated by their lifestyles'.

Fair enough, she's a mass market writer and the market demands this stuff.

Although the book was very long, in some ways it wasn't long enough. Each of the voices really needed a book of their own. For instance, Grace gets a chapter in which her snooty, sneery in-laws (with endlessly described material goods and lifestyle) let her down by overlooking her partner as a godfather to their child. This is set up and turned into quite a big deal. But it never gets referred to again and in fact we don't hear any more of her in-laws.

Maybe Keyes should write lots of shorter books and give each story breathing space - who knows, maybe that's exactly what she wants to do but her publishers are demanding books like this.

Either way, as the cover suggests, you can still 'Trust Marian' - she makes other chick lit writers look like the joke that they are, and manages to engage the reader from the very first sentence. If the book is a big old mess then it's still in another league from the rest of the genre.

Take it on holiday, it will be your faithful companion. I just wish this book was more... perfect. God knows Keyes has the talent.

I love all the books from Marian Keyes, she is a great storyteller.
This book also got me hooked. However, I only read the first part from Lola and after that I skipped all of hers. "Her" way of writing really annoyed me and I could not bring myself to read anymore of her teenage-ish rambling.

While I agree with many of the points made by Blonde Bookworm's review (and particularly her comments about other authors - cool review) and many other critical ones, I enjoyed myself (if you can describe reading a book about such dark subject matter as enjoyable). This is a very clever book. It tackles a very hard subject with aplomb, and leads you neatly to the end. I found Marnie's story heart-breakingly realistic, unsurprising as Marian Keyes has suffered the same way herself, and I didn't have any problems with the style of Lola's diary. I loved the characterisation of Grace.

But yes: the novel needed to be tightened. I imagine that if you're an author as successful as MK, it takes a brave editor to cut a book up. And I also agree: what's with the 'molichino' highlights mentions at weird moments?!

This book was not to my liking at all. I have read all Marian Keyes' books and enjoyed them immensely, as the serious parts were always peppered with good laugh-out-loud humour. I hated the staccato style in which Lola's story is written and lost interest when it went on and on. I skipped through a lot of it. The separation of the characters doesn't work for me at all, as it is difficult to knit them together eventually.

However, I decided to persevere (as I said before I am a faithful follower) so I read the book half way through and decided at that point that I wasn't bothered continuing with it any more. I can't remember putting a book down at that stage before. Had I not been looking forward to another tried and trusted Keyes book I probably would have taken a different approach, but it just didn't appeal.

Miss the old style Keyes :(