Amazon.co.uk:Customer reviews: Watermelon: The riotously funny and tender novel from the million-copy bestseller (Walsh Family)

Great book, great narration. Ruined by use of American vocab.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 November 2020

I love this book and have read it many times. Gerry is an excellent narrator. But the whole book is ruined for me , as an English reader with an Irish family, by the fact that the text has been edited to substitute American words for the the English originals. It jars when words like ‘ Welfare’ are substituted for ‘benefits’ or ‘social security’. No one living in London or Dublin would ever use that phrase and it ruins the whole flow of the narration. And it happens constantly, diaper, sidewalk, apartment, bassinette, subway etc. These describe life in America not Ireland or England. The young woman protagonist has never lived in the US so it’s completely incongruous when these words are substituted for the original.

The worst example of this was when two characters discuss an “erb’ with a silent H rather than the English\Irish pronunciation “herb’ using the H. It’s a credit to the narrator that she managed to do it seamlessly but it sounded ridiculous in her Irish accent.

30 people found this helpful

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joecat

I wish I have believed the reviews before I spent the money.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 January 2021

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I really struggled with this abandoning it for a week or so half way through. I usually really enjoy Marian Keyes’ books but she has obviously improved over the years as this was her first (I believe). I did eventually finish it but had to miss out huge chunks of waffle that brought nothing to the story. I didn’t particularly like the main character who seemed very immature and really not responsible enough to have a baby. A baby that apparently was perfect and could be left for ages without needing any care. Any new mum will tell you that this never happens even if you do have a lot of help from family! Also launching into a new relationship just week after the baby was born is possibly not something that most new mothers would consider. Getting through the day for the first few weeks is an achievement! Having said all that I am now reading the 2nd book in the series and that does seem much better so far.

10 people found this helpful

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Jane53

Likeable tosh

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 May 2018

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Clearly Marian Keyes is very popular, this is the second book of hers I have read, however, they could be 100 pages shorter if she didn't constantly go off on a tangent. I understand that she writes amusingly, but I find her good storylines ruined by her meanderings. They aren't even consistent, you can read a couple of great chapters, then off she goes, for a few pages, which I personally had to flip through, as they irritated me. Obviously, I am in the minority here, this is just my opinion, but I don't think I would read any more by the author.

17 people found this helpful

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The Sleepy Reader

Too much waffle for me but good otherwise

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2022

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Watermelon follows the story of Clare who is going through the most unimaginably horrible separation from her husband, who decides it’s a good time to leave her just hours after the birth of their first baby. A few days later she returns home to Dublin and her family where most of the story takes place.

While the plot shows the worst of some people and goes through this difficult time in Clare’s life I didn’t find that I connected well with it. The writing is far too waffling even for someone like me who always manages to write massively long essays and then spends days struggling to reduce them for a word count and who often has verbal diarrhoea, a point of which took my friend two and a half hours to escape from last night despite spending the whole day together!

The characters are well developed but hidden under so many words and meandering thoughts that it felt difficult to remember the point. This felt like a very long read, before I got to even 30% I was checking that percentage wondering how much longer there was in the book which is never a good thing for me. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy it but I am a fairly quick reader and this seemed too long.

Clare quite understandably goes through a depressive episode after the horror who I don’t even want to name leaves her but then suddenly emerges and is suddenly moving on to someone who seems no better than her first husband. I felt sad that she didn’t feel her beautiful new daughter, Kate, was enough for her and that she didn’t feel she could just build a new life with her and the support of her, slightly crazy but loving, family. Kate is also the most perfect newborn in the history of the world! She wakes, eats and then sleeps for the rest of the day leaving Clare to do as she wishes, which often includes a lot of TV and moping around before the new relationship.

If you can already tell, I found this a frustrating read. I wanted to scream at Clare and shake her to stop her from being so sad and pathetic. She is so weak and insecure that I had hoped the story would be about how she grows as a person and becomes strong for herself and her daughter, alas, this was not the case.

This was too much for me and has made me panic about her other books as I bought a bundle of all seven of the Walsh Family books to read one after the other. However, I am assured that Rachel’s holiday is one of her best ever books and that one is next on my list in this series, but I think I will be leaving a short gap before I start on that one just in case it’s the same as this one!

One person found this helpful

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TL Clark

Brutally real, tragically funny

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 October 2017

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I have seen and heard Marian Keyes interviewed, and have recently started stalking...err...following her on Twitter. She comes across as mad as a box of frogs, in a deliciously wonderful sort of way.

This is actually my 1st time reading one of her novels (*insert shocked gasps here*)

And I'm delighted to find she writes as she speaks.
It's very chatty, and liable to rambling, but I love it.

I love how even Claire's internal thoughts and emotions are given life; they talk to each other and jockey for position in her head.

The story is brutally real (no Mills & Boon-ness here!), and tragically funny. The story should be really sad, given poor Claire's fall from grace. But it's dotted with humour which had me giggling like a fool.

Is it perfectly written without mistakes? No.
Is it going to appeal to everyone? What person does?
Do I care? Not a jot.

I'm going to be reading a lot more books by this lady.

13 people found this helpful

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Love Books Actually - Hannah Clarke

Why haven’t I read watermelon before now!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 September 2018

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I love that the first chapter takes you straight into the story, Claire minutes after giving birth is content and full of happiness, a loving relationship with a great husband, perfect home, good job and her first baby a beautiful daughter. Can it get any better than this… Of course not, it’s all downhill from now on. As her husband James suddenly announces in the hospital that he no longer loves her and that his been having an affair! I can now confirm James is the worst!

Poor Claire… with her marriage in tatters, a newborn baby and a body that she doesn’t recognize as her own she catches the next flight back home to Dublin to her dysfunctional family. Here we are first introduced to the Walsh family! What a family they are!

I read some reviews before starting where people have remarked on Marian’s ramblings throughout the book but I really liked this, I liked reading Claire’s inner thoughts and musings and getting an insight into each character of the family and stories from their childhood. It always helps me to set the scene and picture it! But I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea!

Back in Dublin, Claire takes refuge to her bed to recoup only to fend for her baby daughter, here we witness Claire at her lowest, going through what you can only describe as mourning, and the stages from sadness to anger.

Thankfully Claire pulls through and takes back control of her life, no longer feeling worthless and knowing she and her daughter deserve better than James.

Here she meets Adam, a friend of her sister Helen; Adam is younger, shy and very very cute! Adam takes an interest in Claire and they hit it off from their first meet. After bumping into each other away from her family you could clearly see an interest for them both. I felt that the attention from Adam was exactly what Claire needed to give her the confidence and the boost to feel like her again.

I guess I should speak about James at some point…! We hate him by the way, what a horrible man… I won’t spoil for you with what happens between Claire and James, as you know from the synopsis James does return to Claire most probably realizing that the grass isn’t always greener. Few scenes when he returned made me angry which shows how well Marian writes her characters, James was written very cleverly the way he could change Claire’s confidence in herself. Anyway enough about James!

I liked the ending of this story, it wasn’t exactly how I imagined it planning out, the story is a little predictable so the end part did throw me but that’s what’s great about Marian Keyes, she always does like to keep you on your toes.

Despite the sad storyline and the situation Claire was in, the story was full of humour and comical moments which I really enjoyed. I cannot wait to get started on reading the rest of the books from the Walsh family.

7 people found this helpful

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A Fair Introduction to the Talent of Marian Keys

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 September 2017

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I admit to being a Marion Keyes fan and have read most of her books but not this one. It's her first book and the books following this are much better.
In Watermelon there's far too many conversations with the main character, Claire, talking to herself. When other characters are involved, the book improves.
The plot is quite simple- Claire is giving birth to her daughter, with her husband James present. James then tells Claire he is leaving her for another woman and Claire returns to the family home in Ireland in shock. The storyline revolves around the months of Claire coming to terms with her 'loss' and what happens next. As with all Keyes' books there's a good deal of humour, paralleled with heartbreak. The comical moments are what this author is renowned for. She's a talented writer, with sharp wit. This is worth reading but as I mentioned, her books get better.

4 people found this helpful

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Mooie

Always a bit surprised the references to drink driving haven’t been cut yet

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 March 2022

Verified Purchase

Amusing and entertaining, light read and good for holidays/distraction. In this day and age I’m always a little surprised that the editors have retained the references (indirect but they’re there) to drink driving (Claire and Laura’s night out - both driving, references beforehand to “getting plastered”). I think while we can assume they didn’t “get plastered”, they still have themselves a few drinks before jumping back in their cars to drive home.

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Amazon Customer

Rubbish

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 August 2022

Verified Purchase

I was looking for a good laugh during my holiday 2 weeks in Croatia. Not heard of this author. Downloaded the first book.
OMG shocking. May be I have lived with many life experiences to read s load of crap.
Save your money if you have your own life event's. This book is not funny. Boring.

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Lind

Usually a funny author

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 November 2020

Verified Purchase

Think I read this book years ago in paperback and recently downloaded to kindle. I like Marian keys books as they are easy reading, good Storyline and great humour in them but this one is not her best.... I’m skipping pages of the main characters’humour’ maybe just Teri g to hard. Sticking with it as there’s other books in the set I want to read.

One person found this helpful

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5 star		53%
4 star		23%
3 star		15%
2 star		5%
1 star		4%

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