Last Chance Saloon continues to speak to me and it has been almost six years since I have read it for the first time. I don't know why I re-read this constantly. Maybe it's because I keep thinking that the ending of the book will unexpectedly change. I fell in love with the main characters in this book and really just wanted them to have nothing but good things.Even though this book is supposed to be about three best friends since child/teenage years Tara, Fintan, and Katherine. Most of the book devotes itself to Tara and Katherine's lives and how Fintan's health problems end up impacting both of them to do things that they never thought they would.Last Chance Saloon comes from a saying that Tara always says when it is brought up that she should leave her horrible boyfriend Thomas. Thinking of herself as old and decrepit, she thinks that if she does eventually leave Thomas or she him, that she will have no further chance at love.Katherine on the other hand is alone in between periods of when she dates a man and finds herself turning into a stage five clinger. The only one of the trio that is in a happy and healthy relationship is Fintan with his boyfriend. And life continues on it's way until Fintan is diagnosed with cancer. With everything becoming topsy/turvy we have all of them being affected by his illness. Fintain eventually calls his friends together to give them each a request that he wants them to do or he plans on dying just to spite them. I think the character I found myself feeling more affinity with was definitely Katherine. You eventually find out why Katherine acts like she does, but at the time you don't get it. Being the most self assured of the trio (and most grownup) you don't think that things affect Katherine like it does everyone else. It was great to see Katherine starting to let other people in and have her learn from her mistakes.Tara was maddening. I think that everyone has been in a relationship like Tara. You are dating someone awful. And you find yourself staying in it since the thought of being alone feels like a fate worse than death. Heck I am friends with some people who did this fairly recently and it gets tiring to listen to. I can't imagine dating someone like Thomas in real life. Bigoted, mean, cheap, and just a general asshole, Tara dating him made me dislike her since I was tired of her making excuses for the guy. Though this book is set up as a trio with Fintan. You don't really get inside his head too much except for the parts where you find out how he met and fell in love with his now boyfriend. That is one reason why I could not give this a full five stars. I think it would have worked better if we had more insight into Fintan and his pain and fear due to his cancer diagnosis.We instead flip/flop around with another character named Lorcan. At first you don't understand why Ms. Keyes included the guy and what he has to do with anything. If anything you start to realize that Ms. Keyes was leaving clues to why Lorcan was important throughout the book. You don't get to the payoff until almost the very end though. Lorcan was so horrible to not even feel real at times. Unfortunately I have met this guy's doppleganger in real life so I know that sometimes people like this do exist (womanizer, cheater, liar, etc.). I do still wish that we had gotten less information involving Lorcan and more with Fintan.I really don't have any complaints about Ms. Keyes writing or pacing. She writes very well and you don't have to worry about getting lost with which character is speaking. The entire book is told in the third person which allows you to keep track of who is speaking quite easily.
Buku ini bercerita tentang persahabatan. Dan menurut aku, buku ini bagus, karena gak hanya sekedar haha-hihi and talking about sex, tapi juga tentang sebuah sahabat yang selalu ada dalam saat senang dan sedih.Para tokoh ini buku ini ada Tara, Katherine, Liv dan Fintan. Tara, Katherine dan Fintan berasal dari kota yang sama di Irlandia. Kemudian Liv masuk ke dalam kehidupan mereka ketika jadi teman seapartemen Katherine dan Tara di London.Cerita dimulai dengan pesta ulang tahun Tara yang ke 31, dan ditutup dengan acara yang sama setahun kemudian. Masih tetap masalah percintaan yang seolah jadi masalah yang benar-benar berat dalam hidup mereka. Di antara mereka berempat, hanya Fintan yang bisa dibilang punya hubungan yang stabil. Fintan yang gay punya pacar bernama Sandro. Tara, punya pacar, Thomas. Tapi, herannya meskipun Tara begitu mencintai Thomas, tidak ada satupun teman-teman Tara yang menyukai Thomas. Menurut mereka, Thomas terlalu mengendalikan Tara. Sementara, Tara sendiri, masih lebih baik punya pacar, dari pada tidak sama sekali. “Siapa yang mau dengan cewek berumur tiga puluhan?” begitu pikir Tara.Sementara Katherine, dijuluki si Ratu Es. Karena sikapnya yang dingin sama semua cowok. Pengalaman disakiti pria beberapa kali yang membuat Katherine jadi dingin. Ketika ada cowok keren, anak baru di kantornya, Joe Roth, yang memperhatikannya, Katherine mencoba tetap bersikap dingin, meskipun dalam hatinya dag-dig-dug.Lalu, Liv… Liv punya hubungan gelap dengan pria yang sudah punya istri. Meskipun berurai air mata, Liv tetap keukeuh tidak mau meninggalkan kekasihnya itu.Tiba-tiba, sebuah cobaan menghantam Fintan. Benjolan sebesar buah kiwi di lehernya ternyata merupakan sebuah penyakit. Semua menduga Fintan terkena AIDS, tapi ternyata Fintan terkena kanker. Dengan lagak seorang yang sedang sekarat, Fintan mengajukan permintaan terakhir untuk para sahabatnya. Fintan minta Tara untuk meninggalkan Thomas, dan minta ke Katherine untuk berani membuka dirinya untuk Joe Roth.Meskipun kesal, kaget, gengsi, dan marah, permintaan itu membuka mata mereka, dan memberi kesadaran baru pada diri Tara dan Katherine, kalau mereka harus berani melawan hal-hal yang tidak beres di sekitar mereka. Tapi, toh, tetap mereka bingung, apakah mereka berdua harus memenuhi permintaan terakhir Fintan, atau tetap pada pendirian mereka?
What do You think about Last Chance Saloon (2003)?
I am so happy that I'm finished with this book!! I love Marian Keyes but this book left me with an agonizing desire to throw it across the room! But I was determined to finish it no matter what. I just couldn't get into this story. Perhaps, it was just too long and therefore, became quite boring. Or perhaps, it was because I couldn't seem to like the characters, with the possible exception of Tara. It had a good premise...live life to the fullest. I liked that, so that's something positive. Something that's even more positive....the book is FINISHED!!! Cue music while I do my happy dance:)
—Holly
Book review from BookCrossing: I'm a disaster at remembering to write journal entries while I can still remember the book! Sheesh! And the only reason I'm going to write a journal entry on this one is because it's getting in a box with some magazines to go to an American in Japan.Back to the journal entry on this book -- I have several spots marked, so let's see if I can remember what I marked!I don't know why I marked page 70, but I hated Thomas from the beginning. The conversation on this page did make me chuckle, though:I don't know. Maybe it's his brown jeans.Brown is the new black.But they're horrible. And look! His shirt is brown, too."Don't be brownist," Fintan advised. "And he's probably a dead nice person."I found this part profound (perhaps it has to be experiential):So Tara went shopping and tried to pretend that she wasn't starving. She had high hopes that looking at clothes would take her mind off things, but found she couldn't wrap her head around the idea of being size sixteen.. . .The only consolation lay in looking at sexy, funky shoes. Shoes were the fat woman's friend. Shoes still looked beautiful when all else had gone to hell in a handbasket.I did like this book, and found the dialog very entertaining. The relationships between the friends were enjoyable to read, too.
—Antof9
Critique complète sur mon blogTara, Katherine et Fintan sont copains depuis des années. Ils ont quitté ensemble l’Irlande et leurs familles respectives pour venir s’installer à Londres et vivre à fond leur vie de trentenaires. Alors que Tara la romantique s’enfonce dans une relation vouée à l’échec avec l’affreux Thomas, Katherine l’éternelle célibataire envoie balader tous les prétendants potentiels. Mais tous ces soucis leur semblent soudain bien triviaux, quand elles apprennent que Fintan est atteint d’un cancer et qu’il obtient d’elles une étrange dernière promesse…Une jolie histoire, pure chick lit, pleine d’humour et de bons sentiments sur l’amitié, l’amour et la maladie. Quelques longueurs, mais on passe un très bon moment. Critique complète sur mon blog Suivez-moi sur Facebook pour être informés des nouveaux articles
—Sissi
