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Summary: 3 Irish women search for happiness
Review: Keyes takes us into the lives of 3 modern Dublin women and their search for eternal happiness. She writes some of the best chick-lit that's being published, and this is a goodie to add to the genre's bookshelves. These three women work for Colleen, a trendy women's magazine. One is a chronic worrier, one is a tyrant, and one is too domestic for words. Stir them up and put a Prada bag in the middle of the table, and watch them turn into children squabbling over who gets the Gucci wallet.
Rating: 
Summary: good stuff from Keyes
Review: Marian Keyes starts this story with hard-edged magazine editor Lisa Edwards in London, absolutely sure she is about to be relocated to an even more glamorous position in New York. Her bosses instead tell her she gets to start "Colleen", an edgy funky girls' mag in Dublin, Ireland, and she is going in 2 weeks. At the same time, timid Ashling is moving from her relatively stress-free job at a woman's mag to help at Colleen, with its skeletal staff and budget. Their boss is Jack Devine, or Divine Jack, as Joy, Ashling's man-crazy friend, proclaims him. Ashling discusses her life and what to do with it with Joy, her neighbor Ted, who is a struggling comedian, and her best friend from childhood, Clodagh, who is married with two kids and never has to work. Ashling meets Marcus, another comedian on Ted's circuit, and they start to date, Ted decides he likes Clodagh despite her being married. And Lisa likes Jack Devine, despite his being her boss and she not quite divorced yet. Keyes does a good job of developing each character and delving into childhoods that explain who they each are today. Each struggles with their personal demons and interact with each other as they work to launch their new magazine in 10 months. It's very interesting, and your perception of each character changes as you learn more about them.
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Summary: Another good read
Review: This is a story about how nice girls DO finish first sometimes. As always, Keyes' characters are engaging and their 20/30-something misadventures always entertaining. A great beach read.
Rating: 
Summary: Starts slow but gets better
Review: This is the sixth Keyes novel I have read. Generally, I find that she provides average-to-good reads, although for the type of fiction she writes, I find her books to be a bit too long. This novel was no exception, as the first half of the book really dragged; in particular, it was hard to get into the story because one of the main characters, Lisa, was not at all likeable. However, the book definitely picked up in the second half, when the characters became more three-dimensional and better developed. The story centers around Lisa, a hotshot London magazine editor who has been banished to Ireland to start up a new magazine; Ashling, the plain Jane who gets a job as an assistant editor of the magazine; and Clodagh, Ashling's gorgeous best friend who feels smothered by her roles as wife and mother. All three women are trying to sort our their work and love lives while also dealing with demons from their respective pasts. The cast of supporting characters adds interest, including Jack, Lisa and Ashling's boss; Joy and Ted, Ashling's supportive friends; Boo, a homeless man who Ashling befriends; and Oliver, Lisa's estranged husband. My actual rating of this book is three and a half stars: if you can hang in there through the somewhat boring first half, you'll be rewarded with several unexpected twists in the second half. A worthwhile read for fans of Keyes, but perhaps not for others.
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Summary: Well-written!
Review: This is my first Marian Keyes's books and I understand now why she has so many fans. "Sushi For Beginners" deals with the world of magazines in Ireland. Lisa, a powerful editor for a magazine in London was transferred to Ireland to start a new magazine targeted at women called "Colleen." Lisa was terribly unhappy at this transfer as Ireland was dull and dreary compared to London and she considered it an insult. At the same time, she was recently divorced from her husband of four years. Lisa is one of those difficult boss/supervisor as she is extremely competitive, arrogant and expected nothing but the best. Her assistant editor, Ashling was the complete opposite. Ashling is a big worrier and with somewhat low self-esteem. However, she is extremely kind, sensitive and caring. She found out that working for Lisa was extremely difficult as Lisa seemed to take it upon herself to make Ashling's life miserable. Then there is Jack, the managing editor at Colleen who also seemed to bully Ashling and Lisa had her eyes set on him. Other characters in the book include Clodagh, Ashling's best friend who is an unhappy housewife and mom, and who seemed to blame her husband for everything; Ted, Ashling's stand up comedian friend; and Marcus, another stand up comedian who seemed to be interested in Ashling. There are definitely a lot of characters and plots in this book which at times can be a little confusing but once you get the hang of it, you will enjoy the book. The storyline is nothing new - the whole arrogant editor and victimized assistant but Marian Keyes adds subplots which makes the entire book quite a treat. In addition, there are definitely humor and romance in "Sushi For Beginners". This is a great summer read!
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Summary: A Good book from Marian Keyes
Review: The first book that I read from Marian Keyes was "Lucy Sullivan is getting married" and I really liked it. The second book "Watermelon" I really hated. When I picked up "Sushi for Beginners" I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. But after finishing it, I really like it. Ashling and Lisa are two women trying to start a new magazine named Colleen. Clogagh is Ashling best friend who is bored with her marriage. As the magazine get going the lives of these three women will charge, some for the better, some for the worst.
Ms. Keyes gives the reader a smart book about growing up, and finding who you really are.
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Summary: endearing and entertaining!!
Review: I picked this book up on a whim as I don't usually read this type of fiction. I prefer mysteries and suspense, but I loved this book and will buy another Marian Keyes novel for sure. At first I thought it was just ok, but then I really fell in love with the characters and realized this book was about so much more. It's depth is surprising and the emotion that the author portrays is quite deep and insightful. It is laugh out loud funny in parts and heart wrenching enough in other parts to bring me to tears. I identified with each of the three women in some way. A delightful and special book.
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Summary: Somewhat Real
Review: I thought it was interesting to read about "life" in Dublin. It started a little slow and I found the friendship, which is claimed to occur between the three women, didn't actually occur. Nor does the domestic housewife work for Colleen magazine. (someone referred to this in one of the reviews.) I liked the way the characters developed into wiser people, at the end of the book, but it gave very little reason why it was happening to Lisa. Perhaps her experience was so humbling? Perhaps it was the lack of badger-like competition around her? Who knows???
It did, however, work into a very real aspect of these women's lives. There were real consequences for what they did, revelations and a possibility for a good future.
Angels is on the agenda next. I wonder what will be similar and what will be different. I checked it out from the library rather than purchasing it this time, though. ;-)
Rating:
Summary: It was all right...
Review: The book started off slow and remained that way until maybe the last 100 pages of the book. I thought the book could've been much shorter and still kept the gist of it. I didn't really care for the characters in the beginning, but there were many surprising turns later on that kept me interested till the end.
Rating: 
Summary: Light entertainment but won't keep your attention
Review: I read this book by the poolside during a vacation and it was ok material for that scenario, but I've read better. There's a lot of good fluff vacation reading and this would not be in that category. I didn't become involved in any of the characters enough to care what happened to them. Their personalities kept changing and it just felt like a mishmash of ideas of the writer rather than well developed fluff. I recommened The Devil Wears Prada over this book.
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