The Other Side of the Story by Marian Keyes

The Other Side of the Story Reviews

• 
  Tiffany

  2.5
  
  Mildly entertaining, but I HATED the characters.
  
  1. Gemma. GET OVER IT. Yes, your best friend "stole" your boyfriend (not EVEN), but it happened THREE YEARS ago. And don't even get me started on Gemma's mother. What an IDIOT. I can understand being devastated after your husband of thirty-five years leaves you for a younger woman, but to make your idiot daughter take care of you for MONTHS as if you're terminally ill? GIVE ME A DAMN BREAK.
  
  2. Jojo. I actually liked Jojo. I didn't have a problem with her affair with Mark, and I liked her ambition. Every time I reached a Jojo chapter, I breathed a small sigh of relief at having been done a ridiculous Gemma one.
  
  3. Lily. OK, she was kind of sweet. But what an idiot with money, and she was such a WIMP. Reading a Lily chapter was like watching a train wreck, and then it just got old.
  
  Marian Keyes, I will give you ONE MORE CHANCE, and then I'm calling it quits. Oh, and by the way, your novels DO NOT need to be this long.
• 
  Paula

  I was not expecting this book to be that good. I found instead that i was addicted to the three main characters' stories. This book is a typical girly novel, where the main characters are obsessed with their relationships. Gemma is pining over her ex and is oblivious to the fact that she would be better off with her friend Johnny. Lily is worried about the fact that she stole Gemma's boyfriend and that Gemma will seek revenge and Jojo is the object of a man's affair, and is desperately waiting for him to leave his wife.
  
  The novel is, as i said before, highly addicting and very enjoyable. I would recommend it to anyone who is stuck inside on a rainy day and looking for something fun to do.
• 
  Tala Lolias

  I love Marian Keyes books soooo much and this was all sorts of happy, enjoyable, cringe worthy and heart warming. I do love a book that tugs at my heart strings.
  
  
• 
  Lindsey

  The heroine of this book is a fun loving Irish girl who gets stuck in the middle of many misfortunes. Due to a turn of events, she has to stop her current life and help out her family. While the story starts off where you are feeling sorry for the main character, Marian Keyes does a great job of reeling the reader into the storyline and she does a great job of keeping the reader entertained throughout the book, no matter the subject. This book is a page turner and keeps the reader wondering what will happen to the heroine until the very end. She takes her misfortunes and she makes them positive, and in the end her life might turn out better then it was before.
  
  This is a fun read if you would like to do some light reading before bed, or lounging around on a Saturday afternoon.
• 
  Janelle

  I really enjoyed this book, over 500 pages but I sped through it with laugh out loud moments along the way.
  The story is told through 3 characters. Gemma who is like an Irish Bridget Jones ( 30 something singleton, gay best friend etc). Her father just left her mother for a younger woman after 35 years of marriage. Then there’s Jojo, a literary agent having an affair with her married boss and lastly Lily. A writer, she has a baby daughter with her partner who is Gemmas ex, and Jojo becomes her agent. There’s loads of other characters and while it sounds complicated it’s easy to keep track of the story.
  It totally hit the spot at the moment. Great read.
• 
  Ellie

  I'm rather enjoying listening to this book as I drive to work and home each day, although I do find myself talking in a strange Irish accent :)
• 
  Renee

  This book was full of potential, but the characters were AWFUL. It could have been really funny.
  
  Gemma - she was bearable, but so, so bitchy. Anyone out there saying "but woman are bitchy" - you've seen nothing yet. She's so hung up on losing her man that she considers his daughter "half mine". I'm rereading this just because I'm busy and still want to read - can put this book down easily.
  
  Lily: she and her partner Anton were unbearable. I don't live in the real world per se, being just 18 and living at home, but I know that buying Jimmy Chos and renovating with no money is so stupid. Wondering where the money is, that's even worse. That poor little girl, it'll be a miracle if they send her to school, they might decide to build a rocket using tuition fees
  
  JoJo: I didn't mind her, I found her story was written well. I'm not a fan of affairs but I think JoJo handled her cards well.
  
  Gemma's Mam: I can't stand to read pages with her. I refuse. She is an idiot. Yep, her husband left her for another women.my parents were together a long time too when they split. My mum managed to get dressed and survive without fake heart attacksAND she pays bills!! My god!! Gemma's Mam was so out there and ridiculous, of the people I've encountered - divorcees and widows - no one carried on half as bad as Gemma's Mam.
  
  Gemma's emails were. Rude and unfunny, don't know how Susan deals. 1/5, thanks to JoJo.
• 
  Claire Simpson

  I really, really wanted to like this book more than I did.
  
  I loved the idea, and some of the writing was brilliant, but it was the characters that let it down for me.
  
  Gemma was kind of forgettable and a bit arrogant, although I'll admit that I took her side over the whole Lily thing. But it's a sad state of affairs when a reader is hoping that more bad stuff happens to a character, and this is what I found myself doing with Lily. I enjoyed every single bit of her suffering. There was just something so unpleasant about her, even though she is supposed to be nice.
  
  And as for Jojo....I found it hard to swallow that anyone with any notions of a serious career would call themselves 'Jojo'. In addition, I just found her to be so over the top and exciting that she seemed a bit cartoonish.
  
  In all I enjoyed this book, but just not as much as I've enjoyed other Keyes novels.
• 
  Josie

  Firstly, I would just like to boast that I read this 600+ page book in ONE DAY. Completely, started it in the morning, finished in the evening. And so if I managed to do that, it must have caught my interest. And, well, yes it did. I was never bored, I just kept reading and reading, sucked into the stories of these three women. BUT it's the kind of book that I probably wouldn't choose to read again, nor will I remember much of it in a month's time. And now comes complaint time, because I found I didn't really relate to any of the three characters, and they all did things that really annoyed and frustrated me!
  Firstly, Lily. I've always found it slightly distressing, actually, to read or watch characters who have no idea about managing money go about wrecking their lives. I just cannot fathom why you would buy an expensive house when you did not have a fixed, steady income to pay back the loan - but worse than this is the fact that even though they were broke, they went out on a shopping spree in a ridiculously expensive store, never mind the consequences of THE BANK TAKING THE HOUSE. It just reminded me of watching Middlemarch, when Tertius and his STUPID wife kept on spending well beyond their means, and she just didn't get it. Yes, like I said; it makes me distressed.
  And Gemma...well Gemma wasn't too bad, apart from her obsession about a boyfriend she had YEARS before, who was 'stolen' by her best friend, oh, and the awful way she treated Owen.
  But most annoying was Jojo (and no, it wasn't just her name!) who, apart from doing something I completely disagree with on moral and stupidity grounds, sounded like an adolescent for most of her parts of the story. I understand the author trying to give each of the characters different voices, but is it really realistic to have a 33 year old intelligent career woman saying 'like' and 'you know' every tenth word? And things weren't 'very' tempting, oh no, they were 'way, WAY' tempting, like, you know?
  Hmmm...but I still read it all in one day!
• 
  mellyana

  I like Marian Keyes, that's why I bought this book.
  
  I always think that every writer sort of take something from the writer's life into the book. Especially the first book. And, I sometimes think Marian Keyes does the same. Especially if you read Under The Duvet. But, so what, if Marian Keyes decided to write from something happened in her true life? This time, in The Other Side of The Story, it's her life as a writer. I guess.
  
  It's a book of writer, and publisher. With it's glamorous and not so glamorous life. When ideas flowing like a river through the hands of the writer, when writer's block arrived. You can get a glimpse of what's writer life look like?
  
  It's a book of love and betrayal. When a lover run way, when a lover lie, when a lover meet the mistress, when two lover finally end up happily after going up and down.
  
  Although I had stuck two time (the first third part of the book, and the last three-quarter of the book), I like the book. In fact, due to my intense moment with this book, I had a row with the bf of me *wink*.
  
  and, this book gave me idea on how I should write my little project.. yipeee
  
  
  
• 
  Wendy

  I do so enjoy Marian Keyes' books; they're thick and full of real people and a combination of everyday and extraordinary circumstances, and I am always at least curious about how things will come out, if not actively caring.
  
  This one involved three protagonists, and the bookjacket blurb drew a few links between them, and I expected there to be a big encounter between the three of them, but they seemed never to be in the same room at the same time. It read like three books loosely knitted together into a single novel, with publishing being the unifying thread. Not that I didn't enjoy it, but the "only sort of" linking didn't quite work for me. It didn't feel as polished as some of her other stuff, and the varying POV's (two first-person, and one third-person) felt awkward in some ways.
• 
  Crystal Allen

  Marian Keyes is such a doll. I've met her twice. Once when she did an event at the store I managed and another time when she was back through town and I was lucky enough to have lunch with her. She is one of the loveliest women I have ever met. And I loved this book too! I had a lot of fun with it because it was about an author, a literary agent and an event planner (I've worked in the book biz for years and have also worked as an event planner). The book is told from the points of view of all three women who know each other and who's lives intersect but not so much that you are hearing the same story three times. Bad review, fun book.A perfect beach read!
• 
  Rebecca

  Another Keyes, another long book. But unlike her other stories, which I can find painfully full of pointless detail, this one at least was spread amongst 3 different people, so if one was annoying, it wouldn't be too long before another one came in. But unfortunately, 2 out of 3 protags were annoying.
  
  Protag #1 is a whiny, revenge-seeking crazy-person whose boyfriend moves to London (from Dublin) and then hooks up with her friend. Please, like you weren't going to break up anyway. Her father leaves her mother and for some reason, her mother becomes and helpless slag and she has to take care of her.
  
  Protag #2 is the women the boyfriend left Protag #1 for and she is an insecure dreamer who writes some book and sells it to Protag #3.
  
  Protag #3 is a book agent. She was my favourite as she took no shit from anyone, even though she was sleeping with a co-worker. She has a melt down near the end, which is kind of annoying, but luckily, she moves past that quickly and gets back to her normal self.
  
  Protag #1 writes a book as well about her parents but only wants Protag #3 to rep it because she reps Protage #2 and she wants to bring her down because she stole her boyfriend. I hate shit like this automatically. Why does anyone want to be with someone who doesn't want to be with them in the first place? MOVE ON! Blah.
  
  Grade: C-
• 
  Lauren B

  Marian Keyes manages to win my heart again.
  After reading my first of her novels a few months ago, I thought this is an author I need to read more of.
  After now reading three books, I can safely say Marian is one of my favourite authors. I don't often read chick lit, but when I do I generally lean towards books set in the UK/Ireland.
  This one in particular peaked my interest because it was set around two authors and an publishing agent. Being someone interested in that sort of job (and studying editing and proofreading at the moment) I generally find myself picking up those kinds of books.
  But what really won me over, these girls are REAL. They have their flaws, they can be bitchy, feisty, deceitful... but they have good hearts.
  The mother in Gemma's story was overbearing, annoying and was wayyy too dependant, but she was REAL. And I know that I've enjoyed a book when I am thoroughly and intensely frustrated with one of the characters, because everyone feels that way in real life about at least one person they know.
  I love Jimmy and was so glad the ending worked out the way it did.
  There were a lot of moments where I was completely shocked and moved by the story, Marian has yet again managed to influence me and make me feel as though I am a part of the story and these people are my friends.
  I intend on buying every single one of her novels for my collection and look forward to reading another MK book asap.
• 
  Amanda

  I liked this book better than I had expected. I very rarely read 'chick lit', but it can be nice to relax with, something cozy and mindless (meant in the best way!). I really liked Jojo, I loved how she lived in a very grey area - she was having an affair with a married man, but she felt so guilty and couldn't bear to be the cause of a broken home. Gemma seemed really immature for her age, and her whole writing thing really bugged me. The story she wrote sounded crap and it didn't seem fair to reward that sort of non-effort with money. Lily I sort of liked, but sort of didn't. It annoyed me how paranoid she was about Gemma getting revenge. I really really disliked Anton, I never figured out what Lily, or Gemma, saw in him. He hurt Gemma, and even though they were broken up at the time he didn't even care. Even though Lily was so upset over it, he still didn't care! And he was happy to sit back and be depressed over his crap job and let Lily stress over writing without even bothering to try and do anything to save them. I liked the way the story was told from every viewpoint, so that you got to fully understand what happened.
• 
  Hannah

  Gemma is hilarious and Jojo is fabulous, but Lily is just self-centred and boring. I don't know how but Keyes makes me desperately sorry for Jojo stuck as a mistress and of course you feel for Gemma as life seemingly crumbles. But Lily just annoyed me with her continually dithering about how horrible life is. Of course you won't have many friends when you steal one if their boyfriends (every one knows you never dip your toes in that water!). And really your life isn't do bad - beautiful child, loving partner & book published! It's a veritable check list!
  
  But then she grew a pair (sorry for the expression - so unlike me but I was rather inspired by Jojo's hard talking American ways) and I liked her again. As did the other two just in time for me not to throw the book down in frustration. Happy endings all round! But you expect nothing less in this genre.
  
  My only question to the author would be this: did you realise as you were panning Lily and Gemma's books that you were also writing a bunch of unrealistic nonsense in the same genes as their's?
• 
  The Book Maven

  I didn't enjoy this one as much as "
  Sushi for beginners." For whatever reason, the characters of this novel were not as easy to sympathize with--I spent a good deal of time wanting to smack the three leading females...or at least try to re-make their lives.
• 
  Lilah P

  Marian Keys takes chick lit and makes it deep. Yet still hilarious with just enough love and romance. Despite the length of this book I finished it in two days because I could not stop reading!
• 
  Lorrane Fortunato

  Eu queria conhecer a escrita de Marian Keyes e o escolhido foi esse por falar de livros e tudo mais.
  No geral, achei o livro bom, mas ele é desnecessariamente longo e fiquei incomodada com a quantidade de comentários problemáticos. A escrita é legal e, por isso, talvez eu dê outra chance e leia algo mais recente da MK.
  Se eu tivesse lido as resenhas antes, provavelmente não teria lido esse livro, mas foi válido. Risquei a autora da listas dos que eu nunca li e durante toda a leitura do livro me peguei com vontade de escrever, o que é sempre bom.
• 
  Gabi Coatsworth

  As other people have said, it’s a very long book - about twice as long as most women’s fiction books. I listened to the audiobook while driving, or I might have abandoned it. The other thing is that it’s rather meta - about a literary agent and two of her clients whose lives intersect in various ways. But the women characters are very self-absorbed and the men are sort of weak. I’ve enjoyed many of Marion Keyes’ books but this one isn’t one of her best.
• 
  Katie

  A bit of fluff, reality stretched a few times, but rather soothing for the soul and brain. Perfect holiday read.
• 
  Jodie

  On one hand, I loved it. It’s Marian Keyes, who is one of my favourite authors. Commonly known as chic lit, Keyes stories are usually full of heroines whose lives are inevitably changed by, sometimes horrific, life events. It was exactly the kind of book I needed to read at this time of life.
  
  On the other hand, it simple wasn’t long enough. I wanted to keep reading about the characters and what happened after the epilogue. Maybe a bit too much filler for three separate stories? Filler or not, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
• 
  Mrs E M Morgan

  This is a doorstop of a book, three very different, female protaganists, none of whom I particularly
  liked. Lily, who winds up ending her relationship with the love of her life, in a self fulfilling prophesy, through guilt at stealing him from Gemma, who can't get over losing him and plotting to get him back and Jojo, probably the least unlikeable, also riddled with guilt because of her affair with her married boss. It was an excellent book, although I found the idea of a 60 something woman falling completely apart when her husband leaves her hard to believe, as I don't know any one who would react in that way. Because I didn't like the main characters, I nearly stopped reading, but I'm glad I didn't as most of the other characters in it were people I would enjoy meeting. (Apart from the abandoned wife!) Definitely won't be going back to this one.
• 
  Rania yousife

  NOPE.. just, no ..
  
  
  
  Fist of all, I need to mention that my rating might have due to the fact that this kind of book is not my favorite genre. Moreover, the rating might have been affected by the thickness of the book. It also might have been because this book was not a high priority and had lots of books which I ached for reading them. Therefor, my review might not be credible.
  
  
  Lets start with what the story is about, the story involves three main characters: Gemma, she receives a phone call from her mother that her father is leaving them for his secretary. She makes a book based on it and gets and agent, Jojo, whose Lily's agent. The second character is Lily, Gemma's used-to-be friend, because ,as Gemma thinks, Lily stole Gemma's boyfriend, Anton. The next one is Jojo, their agent, she is having an affair with her Manger, Mark and these three ladies lives intertwine.
  
  What I feel about the characters is that they were annoying, well, Gemma is the most annoying and easily-to-hate of the three of them. First because, she spends so much time hating on her friend, and keeps dreaming that Anton might get back to her. She hooks up with a young man, Owen, and tells him that they are not in a "real relationship", but when he leaves her, she cries and act as if he dumped her. In addition, she has nothing to do with her life she, somehow, stalks and wants to know everything about Lily and Anton, and keeps hoping that they will brake up , I mean, come on get a life you brat!!!
  
  Lily is also a need-to-slap women. She abandons Anton after all what he have done to her. He gets her the agent, buys a house for them and does almost do everything for her. The guy is madly in love with her and she blames him, not them for losing the house. I just cant accept her attitude and how she doesn't see that she is as wrong as him.
  
  While Jojo is my least "hateable" character in this book. I mean she is strong and everything. But her fault is that she is too proud, there is this incident where she blames Mark for not letting her persuade her plan, she is an independent woman, why she listens to his opinion and then blame him?? But I feel sorry for her, although she was at some point stubborn and annoying, but I like her. I shipped Jim Sweetmen with her, or the flower boy"
  
  Not to mention, Gemma's mam was ridiculous. She does talk to her neighbor just because she made a cake for her other neighbor's daughter birthday, which the later asked the former. I mean it is not her fault, what should she do?? I mean she too need to get a life , oh yea, her husband left her for a young women. My bad..
  
  The plot was meh.. It was slow but , I admit, then it went decently. Again, I should mention that it might have to do with the fact that it was 600+ pages, which I only accept if it was a fantasy or destopian book. I guess it was because it is somehow three small stories in one book, I don't know.
  At some point I felt like I preferred reading about Cody or Johnny or Jim's stories rather than these women. Moreover, at some parts it got a bit confusing who was who, lots of characters were going on and whether it was a fantasy or reality maybe I was not reading the book very well. Also, while writing this review, I remembered the reviews in the book, how people were being mean to Lily's book. I hope I am not mean to Marian Keyes. "If you are reading this Marian, I respect you"
  
  To sum up, the book was at some point funny and cringe-y at others. The Russian lady, Cody, Manooj, Owen and jJm were cool. And as I said, it was simply not my type and I wanted to read other books which might have affected and blinded my judgment. And I must admit that I came out knowing more about publishing and writing books from The Other Side of the Story.
  
• 
  Amanda Patterson

  Marianne Keyes is back to her best with her latest offering about three whacky women in the London Publishing World. Gemma, JoJo and Lily are all involved in the world of writing. Lily as an author, by choice, Gemma, as her rival, by chance, and Jojo as a literary agent.
  
  I loved the insider’s view onto this world of words and wordsmiths and the people who make their money from both of them.
  
  Gemma is having a ‘lust’ affair with a younger man in Ireland, and a flirtation with a pharmacist on the side. She’s also still yearning for her true love, Anton, who left her for London and her best friend, Lily.
  
  Lily is an author who hits on a magical recipe with her flighty book, “Mimi’s Remedies” after years of struggling to have her real work published. She’s an overnight sensation and then a terrible failure. She has a baby, an unsuccessful boyfriend and a mortgage she can’t afford.
  
  Jojo is an American living in London (Must be a Madonna thing). She just happens to be an ex-policewoman who is one of the hottest agents at Lipman Haigh. She is engaged in a love affair with her married boss, Mark Avery. They trade witty emails and have lots of good sex, but something’s not quite right. Keyes weaves the lives of these three women together with a light touch. She is often funny, and poignant when she means to be.
  
  I enjoyed Rachel’s Holiday and Watermelon. I was frustrated by Last Chance Saloon and Angels. Perhaps Keyes was trying too hard. The Other Side of the Story is not meant to be deep. It is probably best described as chick-lit but I enjoyed it. It is an entertaining read that kept me giggling for a couple of nights in a row. In fact, it’s a perfect book to snuggle up with on a cold winter’s night.
• 
  Noor Ashadawi

  This book was very disappointing. It’s the first book I’ve read for Marian Keyes and I picked it up because of the excellent reviews it got.
  
  I honestly don’t get it! It was supposed to be a story of three ladies whose lives are connected through the publishing world; a publishing agent and two authors who happen to be two ex-best friends (obviously because of a Guy… DAAHHHH). The idea is that we would normally judge these women based on the less than honorable decisions they have made but that there is always “another side of the story”. Unfortunately, the author failed at coming up with another side to the story that would make me sympathize or relate to the characters. There wasn’t even a solid link between the three characters and they didn’t even meet once. I felt that the book was very piecy, shallow and honesty.. very boring. At least with the two ex-best friends there were two different versions of the same story regardless of how unconvincing it was. Hence the title.. “The other side of the story”. But why add a twist to the publishing agent’s story that would just make me judge her without clearly giving it the proper justification so I could at least attempt to sympathize or understand the character? The story of the agent is part of the “two sides to every story” theme as you might assume but sadly, we were only given the 1 dimensional version of that story. Overall, very disappointing