The Brightest Star

Penguin Group (Canada) is reaching out to the blogosphere and sent me a book by Marian Keyes called 'The Brightest Star' last November. It took me like a month to read it (it's 600+ pages and I have a ton of course readings to manage as well). Then with the excitement of the holidays and then hitting the sudden influx of winter term classes in January I got a little behind in this post.

Marian Keyes is not an author that I would normally pick up as I had an assumption that her writing is geared towards an older demographic (à la Maeve Binchy). I was quickly drawn in this book as the premise is about this spirit who is hovering around a low-level apartment set in Dublin, Ireland. We view the characters in the story from his perspective and get to know them through this odd perspective.

It was quite interesting to me because I do live in a home that is divided into six apartments where we are all somewhat intertwined even though we are distant so I felt an immediate connection to the characters in the story. I also really loved the surveillance aspect of the prespective of the ghost. He was like a fly on the wall, or like that creepy William Baldwin character in Sliver where he was the landlord and he watched all his tenants with hidden cameras.

The characters in this book is what really got to me though. I wanted to know more about the couple Matt and Maeve who seemed to be so perfect but were taking anti-deppresants every morning like a daily multi-vitamin. Then there was a firey, taxi-driving, redhead Lydia who managed to garner the attention of a millionaire but she is totally non-chalant about the whole affair.

It sounds rather like a soap opera as I explain it here but the writing of this Irish author is much more quiet than that. It is more like a decadent drama with complex and interesting characters. Totally worth a read if you are into great characters and surveillance themes.

 

Sushi for Beginners might be my next read by Keyes.

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