Grown ups: Another dysfunctional family saga by Marian Keyes

Even though Grown ups was published four years ago at the time of writing this post, it's Marian Keyes's most recent standalone novel. The book is written in a similar vein to her Walsh family saga in that it explores a complex and dysfunctional family, addressing a bunch of important topics amongst all the mayhem and Irish humour.

Check out my reviews of other Keyes novels, The brightest star in the sky and Sushi for beginners, and Lucy Sullivan is getting married.

Grown ups | Published February 2020 | Read December 2024

The story📖

You know a book is going to be complicated when the author provides a family tree at the beginning! Grown ups tells the story of the Dublin-based Casey family. Everyone in the Casey family gets on famously on the surface, but of course they don't, really. Things start to unravel when Cara, one of the Casey brothers' wives, suffers a bump on the head. In her concussed state, Cara lets out all the family secrets.

The book opens with the birthday party of Casey Brother Number One (Johnny), where Cara blurts out the family secrets. The book's blurb and that opening chapter made me think that the rest of the book would be about the fallout from Cara' revelations. It sort of is, but not in the way I was expecting. The story goes back six months to a family holiday and works its way back to Cara's outburst. There is an Easter get together at a posh hotel, the wedding anniversary of the hideous Casey parents, a murder-mystery weekend gone wrong, a family holiday in Tuscany, and a festival. Whew! The reader learns more about all the family members, their personalities, their resentments, dirty secrets, and grudges, all hidden behind the façade of a big, boisterous, happy family.

Here's a rundown of the Casey family. There's Johnny married to Jessie, his brother Ed married to Cara, and another brother Liam recently married to Nell. Then there are Johnny and Jessie's five children, the older two of whom Jessie had with her first husband, Rory, who tragically died of an aneurysm in his early thirties. Rory was Johnny's best friend, so Jessie and Johnny's marriage has caused all kinds of family drama. Cara and Ed have two boys and Liam has two girls who live in the US with their mother. The Kinsellas, Rory's family, are loving and kind, but the Casey patriarch and matriarch are just mean, authoritarian and completely self-absorbed.

Confused yet?

What worked for me💖

It's actually not so hard to keep up with all the people once you get into the story. It takes some thinking initially, especially since many of the characters have hard-to-pronounce Irish names. It's all worth the effort, though! That said, the Casey family spends A LOT of time together and as an introvert I found their closeness quite suffocating. But funny. Very funny.

The book is LONG (650+ pages), but there's plenty going on. It's witty in true Marian Keyes style, superbly Irish, and full of bonkers goings-on that made me tired just reading about them. It took me a while to lean into the story - and I actually had to give the book a second read after an earlier DNF attempt - but once I was settled in, I was hooked.

Jessie has built a successful gourmet grocery business. She splashes her money about on madcap family parties and weekends away. Johnny, is the Hot Brother. Bridey, one of Jessie and Johnny's daughters, is my favourite of the Casey offspring. She is absolutely hilarious, taking the whackadoodle Casey antics on the chin, throwing out witty one-liners and sounding like the only true grown up of the whole bunch. Bravo to Keyes for Bridey and the not-so-subtle message about what it means to be a mature adult.

Cara is easily my favourite. She's a decent human - hardworking, smart, and capable - and is secretly battling bulimia. Keyes handles Cara's storyline with lovely sensitivity, and I enjoyed reading Cara's journey. Ed, her husband and the second Casey brother, is the sweetest of the siblings. His characterisation helped me warm to Cara and her family. I also liked Nell, the bohemian of the family with a strong social conscience, married to Liam, Casey Brother Number Three.

There's a lot to unpack in the crazy Casey family. I was completely immersed in the family for all their flaws and dysfunction. Putting aside their madcap antics, the book feels very authentic. Keyes creates a genuine and heartfelt story of how adults negotiate their way through life, sometimes making bad decisions. She deftly explores the personality quirks, the emotions, the past behaviours (and mistakes) and personal issues that shape the decisions we make.

What didn't work so well for me😕

My only criticism, and hence my four rather than five star rating, is that I think Keyes is trying to say that the adults are not very grown up and that they need to face up to reality and...well...grow up. As I mentioned above, I thought from the blurb and opening chapter that the adults WOULD face reality and grow up after Cara unwittingly reveals their secrets. I loved working my way through their backstories, but I would like to have seen less of all that and more of the consequences of Cara's revelations. There is a bit of stuff post-reveal, but not enough for me. Keyes could have cut down on the bonkers family get togethers, all financed by Jessie, and focussed more on the family dynamics.

I especially would have liked to have seen Liam, Casey Brother Number 3, get his comeuppance. Poor Nell, she makes a terrible decision in marrying Liam in a whirlwind. He's a total sleazebag and a complete arse. I found reading his selfish and gaslighting behaviour towards Nell made my hackles rise.

I also couldn't warm to Jessie despite her continual generosity. I get that her behaviour is the outcome of her traumatic childhood where she struggled to fit in, but she was kind of annoying. She uses her money to control everyone and force people to like her. Johnny doesn't bring much to the table as her husband (and Brother Number One), as it does feels like he is mostly in the story to show the complexity of the family dynamic after his friend, Rory, died, and he married Jessie.

The wash up🔚

Keyes has written an entertaining, witty, and realistic picture of being a grown up that had me entertained from the outset. She broaches the subjects of refugees, body image and eating disorders, gaslighting, grief and loss, infidelity, jealousy, and family dysfunction with aplomb. You might be exhausted at the end of it - I was - but it's certainly a wild ride.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐