Making It As I Go Along by Marian Keyes Book Review

This book was provided as a digital review copy from NetGalley. I am under no obligation to post a review and all opinions are strictly my own

Marian Keyes first officially came on my radar when she released Saved By Cake, her book on baking and how it helped her depression. The first novel of hers I read was this time of year in 2013. I picked up a copy of Watermelon and decided to give it a chance. I fell in love with Marian’s writing and quickly read the rest of the Walsh family series, as well as some other of herbooks. I read and reviewed the last one, The Woman Who Stole My Life, and when I saw that this book was coming out I put it on my Books I’m Looking Forward To in 2016 post.

Making It Up As I Go Along is a collection of articles, both previously published and unpublished. They’re divided into different sections like Health and Beauty, Travels, and Things I Love. You can easily dip in and out of different sections if you like but I chose to read it through from the beginning. Marian has a chatty style of writing, reading this book is like talking to a friend. She has a unique vocabulary at times, some of it is very much Irish slang which made it feel even more familiar and cosy for me. But don’t worry, Marian (I usually use the author’s surname in reviews but I feel like Marian is more of a friend!) provides a glossary of words at the beginning as well as a who’s who of her friends and family so you can check back who they are if you forget.

I enjoy how frank Marian is at times about things, like her alcohol addiction and depression. As someone who also suffers from depression it’s great to see other people talk about their experiences as it can still be such a taboo topic. There were several times while reading this when I thought ‘This sounds like me!’. As an introvert too, I approve of Marian’s plans to have a colour coded coin system, where you can put down a coin and leave a party without having to go through massive goodbyes or having people get you to stay later than you want. Pink coin to mean ‘thanks, I had a fantastic time, I just need to leave now, goodbye’, hand someone a black coin to mean ‘thanks for coming but it’s time for you to go, bye!’. Other stories I enjoyed was the account of the Antartic cruise, how to break up with your hairdresser (hilarious!), her love of chemists and her infamous Chanel nail polish musuem (it needs to go on tour!). I love Marian’s wit and her how she describes her relationship with Himself, it was so charming to see how excited they were to meet other famous people. And from reading this book I’ve discovered Marian and her siblings co-own a house in Ireland near where I’m from, I could have been sitting a table away from Marian and not have noticed it! Madness! I shall be on the lookout next time I’m at home but for now, I’m on the lookout for an Almond Magnet icecream.