Finished

• Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes

  Rating: ***
  
  I'm taking a break from MK's books for a bit. Not that this book wasn't good, but the plots are feeling repetitive. I am also predicting what will happen and I'm right - too right - and that's no fun.
  
  As a stand-alone without a trail of finished MK books in its wake, this might deserve another half-star. What I admire most about all these books are the characters and this one doesn't disappoint. In fact, there are more characters than usual, with a whole cast of loosely connected people around the best-buddy core of Katherine, Tara, and Fintan. This is also not in first-person like most of her previous books. It creates a not unpleasing sense of detachment, which matched my lukewarmth (I know it's not a word, but doesn't it make sense?) toward the characters.
  
  I'm not being contradictory, though. I enjoy the diversity and detailedness of the people and they all feel very real. The development of relationships and establishing of old ones are excellent, which is none too easy given the great dearth of it in contemporary fiction. I like how MK always draw you in and then knocks everyone for a loop with a disaster or crisis. I appreciate her insight into human nature and its awesome resiliency, but I didn't find myself feeling like one of the characters. A good book, especially if you do get into Marian Keyes, but not her best.