The Break by Marian Keyes is a contemporary story about love, life and families. Marian Keyes shows that life is not easy. At times it is complicated and messy, and not always black and white.
The novel is written in the first person from the point of view of forty something Amy. The reader 'experiences' life through her eyes. We 'feel' life crushing her down - the weight of children, parents, work and life in general.
The love of a mother radiates throughout the novel. We become acquainted with Amy's heart and recognise the great love and fierce protection she has for her children.
Grief can have far reaching effects. The reader views this from afar, and although detached ourselves, we 'feel' saddened at how life is progressing for some of the characters.
Self preservation motivates people to behave in ways they would not usually. Bricking up one's heart to keep out pain is a primative and understandable instinct.
The novel deals with topics such as mid life crisis, dementia and abortion which is illegal in Ireland where the novel is set. As well as eating disorders and sexual promiscuity.
Up to date references to television programmes and stars give the novel a contemporary and familiar feel. Marian Keyes has certainly presented an epic read on modern day life.
The novel, for me, had far too many bedroom scenes, in far too much detail for me to feel comfortable. I did end up skipping chunks of the novel. However this did not detract from the actual story as a whole which was a comprehensive read on life, love and family. The pressures of modern life can swamp people in their daily battle to survive but I was left with a feeling of hope and new beginnings.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

The Break by @marian_keyes was my 15th book of the year, and by far the longest, possibly the longest book I have ever conkered. I don't mean to make this sound like a challenge because it wasn't. Although it was some journey and it took me a month to consume, I must say it was an easy read. Not my usual bag I will admit but a part of this challenge was to stray from my usual crime / thriller genre. Now I have finished The Break I feel a bit like that I have lost a friend as it has been a part of my life for the last month as has the daily tribulations of Amy after she is left alone in Dublin to bring up 2 teenage girls and her 22year old vlogger after her husband disappears to find himself in Asia for 6 months. I think one of the best ways to sum up or describe this book is to say it is a book set in the middle of a mid life crisis of a husband and wife. It is a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride through a year in the life of Amy. All in all a decent read

Marian Keyes is an author who is always on my radar. When I heard she had a new, standalone, novel coming out I knew I wanted to read it. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of the book from Michael Joseph, Penguin UK and I finished it quickly, falling in love with the characters on the way.

At 576 pages it’s a typical long Marian Keyes book. I often find myself putting off longer books due to the shear size of my TBR pile. However this is my fourth Keyes book and I knew it would probably be worth it, having previously enjoyed Angels, Anybody Out There? and The Woman Who Stole My Life.

Keyes is one of those rare authors who can genuinely make me laugh (and it’s witty and clever, not silly humour) and feel so much empathy it makes me chest hurt.

Amy’s husband Hugh has left her to look after the children while he goes travelling across Asia. He has even insisted on an ‘open’ relationship – so he can do whatever he wishes with whoever he wishes while he’s away. You would imagine most people reading this would vilify the man for doing this and I did, at first. But this is a more complicated story than that. Hugh has gone through a bereavement and is clearly feeling lost and depressed. He perhaps isn’t thinking clearly and wants some time to focus on himself.

Reading this book, you feel so many different emotions and your opinions constantly shift – I surprised myself how much I could empathise with him at times.

Having got married myself this year I did of course make my husband promise that he would never do the same to me, but I feel that goes against the whole premise of this book. You just never know what will happen in the future. Everyone likes to think theirs is a marriage that will survive against all odds and will never run into problems. But that’s clearly not always the case.

As Keyes said herself with an interview with The Express: “You cannot always control what your partner wants to do. You must accept they are a different person to you and live with that pain and let them do it.”

The book shows the grim realities of marriage and shows that even after a long period of time you may not truly know your partner. They may not even know themselves – as you may not truly know yourself – especially after going through something as traumatic as a bereavement.

I found this book gripping, witty and realistic. This isn’t your traditional, soppy love story – but it is still a love story, and a really good one at that.

Easy reading but not one of the classics from this author

This is the first Marian Keyes book I have read, although not my normal genre I fully enjoyed it. A story of the trials and tribulations families can go through, and the consequences of misguided decisions. Some chapters were a bit long winded, but this book can make you laugh one minute and cry the next. Loved it

Really enjoyed this book, the story was totally believable and easy to relate too. Each character was strong and the dynamics were very very similar to modern day families.
It was funny, held my interest and still managed to tackle the stresses of modern life and marriage.
A nice, enjoyable read with depth.

I read my first Marian Keyes novel when I was a teenager and what a joy it was. I haven’t read any of her recent novels until now but I wish I had. Reading The Break was like welcoming an old friend back. I really enjoyed the story once I became familiar with the characters. There were laugh out loud moments and there was some really hard hitting topics that were weitten abou the in a sensitive way. I think everyone can sympathise with Amy and her girls at least once and relate to the day to day going ons in their lives.I fell in love with Amy’s mum who is something of a hit on her granddaughters vlog. Maybe it’s the blogger in me but Locmof has a special place in my heart. If you’re a fan of Marian’s other books you will most definitely love the The Break.

I read a lot of Marions previous work and so i was really interested in reading this.

Its a long book, took me ages to read but i was only reading a few chapters at a time.

Amy and Hugh are married and have a supposed happy family life. They live in a nice house with Amy's daughter from a previous marriage and their own daughter and Amys niece.

Hugh announces to Amy that he wants a 6 months break from their marriage and when he was gone their marriage was on hold but that he was coming back. Amy struggles at 1st with Hugh's absence but soon finds her feet.

This book whilst good in parts was undeniably boring in others, it waffled on too long, was a bit repetitive in places, i got sick of Hugh constantly saying sorry for example. Plus the ending of the book could of easily be done 100 pages before it ended.

The star of the book for me however was Amys daughter Neeve and her mother Lillian. Very funny.

I have tried re reading this book on a few occasions as I found it hard to get into but I had to give up it was hard to get into at the beginning, then it seemed to pick up only for it to slump again.

Fabulous book and Marian Keyes is back to her best. I still enjoyed her previous novel but I feel that The Break is the Marian Keyes we all know and love. Her humour is there, her brilliant insight into people’s relationships is there and well, the book has it all.

I loved Amy and Hugh. Well….I hated Hugh for a while, but with Marian’s magical descriptions of the turmoil of emotions people go through in a lifetime of one relationship, I had to grow to love Hugh too.

Hugh and Amy were far from perfect, but they had it all. Until they didn’t. This book shows perfectly how easy is to jump on the bandwagon and throw blame at the obvious person, the one that has left everyone else behind. But life is never that easy and both Hugh and Amy are brilliant examples of how self-growth is important for people to be able to invest their true self in the relationships they have with all people around them.

I loved the book. It brought me to tears quite a few times as I think most people will be able to identify themselves with some parts of the story. Is shows quite clearly that things are never what they seem and that we have to put to correct effort and work into our lives to feel fulfilled.

A book which shows how men and women are different. Hugh decided he needs to 'find himself' while leaving wife Amy to ensure life continues in his absence and the family doesn't fall apart.

The book tells of how life does carry on but things will change if one of the main players is removed and stepping back in won't always be easy.

Another great book from the author.

I always forget how much I love Marion Keyes!

The Break is a fabulously easy read that sucks you in to the point where you look up and realise not only has the sun set but also you really need a cuppa!

Her writing is so down to earth, with well-placed humour thrown in to soften emotional blows

Thanks to Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A new Marian Keyes novel is always hotly anticipated and a pleasure to read.  This is no exception and although she always manages to address strong issues in her novels she also manages to be warm and funny and carry the reader along.  That's no mean feat.

Marian's latest offering examines the long term marriage of Amy and Hugh and how life, children, work and everything can get in the way of what was once a simple relationship.  The novel begins with Hugh announcing that he wants six months out of the marriage to 'find himself'.  He's been grieving for his father and friend over the past year and has lost who he is and his place in the world.  Amy is, quite naturally, distraught, and through a series of flashbacks, we see how Amy and Hugh have reached this point.

There's a huge cast of characters, not least Amy's disfunctional extended family, but they all have a place to play and serve to reflect aspects - good and bad - on how Amy and Hugh's marriage.  There are moments of comedy gold, for example when Amy's mother becomes an unexpected YouTube star.

The Break questions whether a relationship can continue to grow and strengthen even when it is severely tested.  Who is to blame for things going wrong?  Marian Keyes also explores important issues in this novel, not least the dilemma facing many women in Ireland about abortion with sensitivity.  The conclusion seems to be that not everything is black and white, but always coloured in shades of grey, according to the individual situation.

Whilst the novel's themes and emotional heart is based in reality, my only truck with it is that for someone who claimed to be experiencing years of financial instability, Amy seems to do a lot of jetsetting (it's not that cheap to pop over to London on a weekly basis).  However, this adds to the escapism that I want to achieve with a Marian Keyes novel, and it's 500 pages of reading bliss.

Amy's husband Hugh has always been her rock, she's been able to rely on him in every way. But the death of his father leaves him a different man. A man who decided he's off on a 6 month break, not just from Dublin but from Amy, their family and crucially their marriage. He's promises he'll be back in six months but the question is will Amy want him back?

I do love Marian Keyes for bringing back some of my Irish roots to me. Reading her description of Amy's family life is (scarily) like some memories of my Irish relatives. And it's Amy's family and friends who make this book. Because although it's Amy's story it's the supporting characters who are the fun ones to read about. Amy takes awhile longer to grow on you. After many, many thrillers this was a welcome change. It's a funny and heartwarming tale that Keyes fans will devour.

I was very excited for the release of Marian Keyes latest book The Break having read sushi for beginners in the past.

It follows Amy who is trying to navigate life with 3 teenage girls after her husband Hugh has a mid life crisis following some sad events in his life. Hugh states that he needs time to himself but will return after 6 months, but the question is will they be the same people after that time and will they want to be together?

I did enjoy this book and found Amy to be very likeable, and thought marian keyes covered some very difficult issues very well as well as having some really funny parts

The ending was strong and left me with a smile on my face. An enjoyable read

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were totally believable and I was rooting for the family from the first page! My only disappointment was the lack of humour I enjoyed in Marian Keyes' earlier novels.

This is excellent, but felt very different to this author's previous books. Thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn't stop reading it long into the night. Highly recommended

I began this booking looking for a light, charming read that I could devour in a couple of days whilst on holiday. Unfortunately, I couldn't connect with any of the characters in a meaningful way, and whilst it was entertaining, I didn't feel that the narrative was going anywhere, so I didn't finish reading.

I'm sorry to say that I only got about 20% into this book and gave up. I've heard a lot of positive things about Marian Keyes so was pleased to receive this ARC from Netgalley to review but I guess her style just isn't for me. I usually try to soldier on to the nd of a book no matter what but this felt like such hard work as it was just grating on me. The humour didn't even make me smile a little and it just felt like lots of sex and detail about clothes and other 'girly' things which made for dull reading.

This book made a compulsive read throughout. My opinion of the main character changed as the book progressed from feeling sorry for her and having admiration for how she had progressed with her life to thinking her far too wrapped up in herself to fully see what was going on around her. An examination of character and how we take too many things for granted.