Angels

Maggie is the Good Girl of the Walsh Family, her sisters describe her as "plain yogurt at room temperature." She seemed to have the perfect life with the perfect husband and perfect job, but that was until she found out that her husband was cheating on her and she left him. She stayed with her parents and two sisters until one day she decided that she needed a change of scenery to help her sort out her feelings and she went to stay with her friend Emily in Los Angeles. Once she arrives there she runs into all sorts of characters from the movie business and proceeds to have a wild time while trying to figure out her life.

Angels is a laugh out loud funny book and I was sad to see it end. I look forward to reading more books by Marian Keyes and I highly reccommend reading Angels.

Maggie lives in Dublin and finds out her husband is involved with someone else. She leaves him, and after vegetating for a few weeks with her parents and sisters, splits for Los Angeles to visit her best friend Emily. There she encounters Hollywood types and hijinks, and the weird but really entertaining world of the movie industry. Emilys best friends, her neighbors and her script-writing career drive this story into high gear as Maggie discovers a new world and herself. As we go along on this fun ride we learn why Maggie and her husband have reached an impasse and why pain can be a touchstone for growth.

The Hollywood setting and Maggies Irish family (who show up in Los Angeles and add to the frivolity) make this a lot of fun but theres an unexpected punch here when Maggie reviews her two miscarriages and teenage abortion and their influence on her marriage. These are handled by Marian Keyes with so much depth that I was taken aback by being so suddenly immersed in another world of pain, loss and confusion. Not all of this book is comedy and not all of it can be dismissed as simple entertainment.