A Book for Valentines

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Marian Keyes

We have the perfect book for Valentine's Day and a thought-provoking movie tie-in. Donal O'Donoghue reviews The Brightest Star in the Sky and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for 4 on Friday

The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes (Penguin)

Marian Keyes's last novel, The Brightest Star in the Sky, first published in 2009, is not the typical Valentine's Day book. But then Marian Keyes is not your typical Valentine's Day writer.

I first read this book, my first Marian Keyes book, back in 2009 as I had to go out to her house in Dun Laoghaire to interview her. I expected some sort of chick lit stuff and was more than pleasantly surprised by the story and especially the writing.

Keyes subjects are the not the usual and she goes into some dark places with her writing like addiction, adultery and alcoholism - and that's just the 'A's. But before you thinking this is a very bleak stuff, it also has to be said that Keyes is one of the most entertaining - and funniest - female writers on the planet.

One of the Ireland's most successful authors, worldwide sales of Keyes' novels, which have been translated into more than 30 languages, are in excess of 22 million. Literary heavyweight Zadie Smith has described her as "one of the most important feminists" in modern literature and she is regarded by many as a serious writer.

The Story

The story is set at 66 Star Street, Dublin. There are four apartments - or flats - at this address and each has its own interesting tale.

On the top floor there's Katie, a 40-year-old music executive with an unreliable boyfriend, Conall, who is addicted to chocolate which is probably the best thing that can be said about him.

Below her a pair of dour of Polish men who share their apartment with a sassy and sharp-tongued taxi driver named Lydia.

On the first floor is Fionn, a gardener who prefers cultivating plants than people but who has the looks of Brad Pitt and George Clooney combined. When he is offered his own TV show, his life changes.

At the bottom of the house live Matt and Maeve, who are 'Very Much In Love' and who stave off despair by doing random acts of kindness.

But all their lives are about to be changed by the arrival of a mysterious stranger. Is it an alien? Or perhaps it's a friendly ghost? Could it even be cupid? In any case its presence has a very definite impact on all those living at Number 66. By the way Marian told me that she herself is prone to random acts of kindness but usually when she stops to offer people a lift in her car, they are suspicious.

The Brightest Star in the Sky is a bright, breezy, hopeful and uplifting book. If you like your romantic fiction with a bit of snap crackle and pop this is the one for you

Battline Depression

Since the publication of Brightest Star, Marian has battled depression and stayed out of the limelight. She has just published a cookery book, Saved By Cake, that chronicles how food brought her back into the world.

By the way Marian Keyes has also managed to complete another novel in that time. She posted ther news in her first blog since May 2010. It features Helen Walsh who has appeared in earlier books like Watermelon and will be on the shelves in September.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Penguin)

This book, first published in 2005, is back in the news (and back in a new edition) because of the Oscar-nominated movie.

Extremely Loud has two Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor (Max von Sydow).

I haven't seen the film which has been dismissed by wags as Extremely Long and Incredibly Boring and having read the book I can understand the difficulties of adapting it.

The story

The story is told by 9-year-old Oskar Schell whose father is killed in the Twin Towers on Septemeber 11. A couple of years later Oskar finds a key in an envelope in a vase and is convinced that it belonged to his father. But of New York's 17 million or so locks, which one does this key open and what secrets will it yield? This sets him off on an epic quest across the five boroughs that is both physical and psychological, an exploration of the relationship between father and son as well as the trauma of loss.

Now Oskar is extremely bright and incredibly precocious. He writes fan letters to people like Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr, he is an inventor and detective. Something who hopes to solved the big problems of his world. He carries with him a tambourine.

Foer is doing unusual things with this book which has many gimmicks - blank pages, photographs, pages of numbers and a very end a flip sequence that flies a body back up to the top of the World Trade Center. This is all very clever as it attempts to place us withing the wondering, wandering mind of Oskar.

Over-rated?

There's no doubt that Jonathan Safran Foer can write. His first book, Everything is Illuminated, marked the 25-year-old as one to watch but this book attracted mixed reviews with one critic even listing Safran Foer as one of the most over-rated writers.

Much to admire

There is also much to admire in this book but also it is genuinely moving in places. But it can also confuse and it's a book that demands your close attention as narrators switch at the flick of a page.

It is also sometimes annoying. Oscar is 9 years old but at times he speaks and thinks like a very smart 28 year-old writer: in other words a case of having your cake and eating it.

Donal O'Donoghue