Sushi for Beginners: A Novel

Lisa Edwards

This Prada-wearing magazine editor thinks her life is over when her "fabulous" new job turns out to be a deportation to Dublin to launch Colleen magazine. The only saving grace is that her friends aren't there to witness her downward spiral. Might her new boss, the disheveled and moody Jack Devine, save her from a fate worse than hell?

Ashling Kennedy

Ashling, Colleen's assistant editor, is an award-winning worrier, increasingly aware that something fundamental is missing from her life -- apart from a boyfriend and a waistline.

Clodagh "Princess" Kelly

Ashling's best friend, Clodagh, lives the domestic dream in a suburban castle. So why, lately, has she had the recurring urge to kiss a frog -- or sleep with a frog, if truth be told? As these three women search for love, success, and happiness, they will discover that if you let things simmer under the surface for too long, sooner or later they'll boil over.

Discover the Keyes to a Great Read!

Hard-nosed, bitch-goddess London fashion editor Lisa Edwards was certain her ""fabulous"" promotion would mean more A-list parties, society page photos, and jet-setting jaunts to the fall collections.

Instead, she's being deported, Prada wardrobe and all, to supremely un-chic Dublin to launch Colleen magazine. Her assistant editor, over-organized world-class worrier Ashling Kennedy, however, is thrilled with her new job . . .until she discovers it comes with a very high price tag: Lisa Edwards. And then there's Ashling's oldest, dearest chum, Clodagh ""Princess"" Kelly, who seems to have achieved true happily-ever-after suburban fairy tale bliss -- but lately has this irresistible urge to kiss a frog. The chances of three such diverse, equally unsatisfied women bonding would be remote anywhere except in staid Dublin town, ""the magazine version of Siberia."" And once they do, they're going to start shaking things up -- in print and out of it -- especially when Colleen's rumpled, moody, wickedly attractive head honcho Jack Devine is tossed into the mix.

Set in the glitzy world of a high-fashion magazine with a detour through the madcap comedy club circuit, this book has its hand and heart on the pulse of young Dublin singles and marrieds who aspire to be successful, wealthy, and happy.

Ashling Kennedy is the heart of the story---the everywoman with boyfriend problems and weight problems. When she is offered a second banana spot on "Colleen" a new magazine for the upwardly mobile Dublin woman, she feels she has latched on to something really good. Unfortunately, her boss and editor-in-chief is the very disappointed Lisa Edwards. Instead of a big promotion to the New York office, this assignment feels like a passport to hell to the ultra-ambitious fashionista. Horrified at being shuffled out of London and off to Dublin, she vows to make this new magazine one the world will sit up and take note of.

Rounding out the trio of women is Ashling's best friend, Clodagh Kelly. Married to a handsome professional, the mother of two children, and tucked away in a beautiful home, Clodagh seems to have it all. The only glitch in her life is that she is bored and miserable.

The lives of the three women weave together and eventually collide as life takes some unexpected turns. An ex-husband, a wayward boyfriend, a handsome managing director, and staunch friends add interest to this story of surviving the daily grind and making it work for you.


Starts slow but gets better   April 7, 2004
Beth Cholette (Upstate NY USA)
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

This is the sixth Keyes novel I have read. Generally, I find that she provides average-to-good reads, although for the type of fiction she writes, I find her books to be a bit too long. This novel was no exception, as the first half of the book really dragged; in particular, it was hard to get into the story because one of the main characters, Lisa, was not at all likeable. However, the book definitely picked up in the second half, when the characters became more three-dimensional and better developed. The story centers around Lisa, a hotshot London magazine editor who has been banished to Ireland to start up a new magazine; Ashling, the plain Jane who gets a job as an assistant editor of the magazine; and Clodagh, Ashling's gorgeous best friend who feels smothered by her roles as wife and mother. All three women are trying to sort our their work and love lives while also dealing with demons from their respective pasts. The cast of supporting characters adds interest, including Jack, Lisa and Ashling's boss; Joy and Ted, Ashling's supportive friends; Boo, a homeless man who Ashling befriends; and Oliver, Lisa's estranged husband. My actual rating of this book is three and a half stars: if you can hang in there through the somewhat boring first half, you'll be rewarded with several unexpected twists in the second half. A worthwhile read for fans of Keyes, but perhaps not for others.


Better than Angels, but not that much better....   November 3, 2004
Ratmammy (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

SUSHI FOR BEGINNERS by Marian Keyes
(...)

I know there are a lot of Marian Keyes fans out there that have loved this book, SUSHI FOR BEGINNERS. This is only my second book I've read by her, ANGELS having been my first, and I gave it three stars. SUSHI FOR BEGINNERS I am also ranking three stars, but it's close to 3 . Here's why:

I think Marian Keyes has a gift for creating funny characters. I do find myself chuckling as I read her books, and that is a good thing. On the other hand, the problem I have with her characters is that they don't always seem "real". She has them do illogical things, or they may end up with someone that I can't see how it even happened. When I say "illogical", I don't mean "silly" or "crazy". What I mean is that she doesn't think her characters out all the way, so that she has them behaving in ways they shouldn't.

Because of this, I find myself rather disappointed by the end of the book. This was the case with SUSHI FOR BEGINNERS. Without giving it away, I did not see how one main character ended up with another character (some of the signs were there, but their interactions with each other were not enough, in my opinion, to have them put them together as a couple). I also did not see any chemistry or any reason for one or the other to want to get together. It just did not make any sense. On the other hand, I did approve of another couple getting together, because it made a lot of sense and I was also rooting for them.

To sum up, SUSHI FOR BEGINNERS is about a start up magazine in Ireland and the employees that work for it. Ashling Kennedy has just been sacked by another magazine, and finds herself working for Londoner Lisa Edwards at the new "Colleen" magazine. Lisa is known to be a [...] when it comes to the work place and focuses so much on her career that her marriage has fallen apart. At the start of the book, she is already separated from her husband and buries herself in work to try to forget him. Ashling is also dealing with a broken relationship, and is afraid to start up with someone new until she hits the comedy club circuit with friends Ted and Joy and meets a comedian, Marcus.

The good thing about SUSHI FOR BEGINNERS is the fun you'll have with the characters and the chuckles you will have when you read about them. If you don't take this book seriously, you will enjoy it. For those who are looking for a much better written book, this is not it. I suggest trying a book written by Jane Green.


Eh...   November 5, 2003
Hammiesgirl (USA)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

I would not recommend this book if it is your first one by Keyes.
Keyes is a scream, an absolute sarcastic scream. I usually love her because of her wacky outlook on things. Her books are hysterical, but at the core of them they take on very serious issues (drug use, alcoholism, depression, difficult childhoods), which I think is why Keyes is so successful in the realm of chick lit. She's the perfect blend of humor and seriousness.
I have read everything that she has written so far, and have to admit that I was a little disappointed with Sushi for Beginners. This book is not one of her best ones, and after reading her latest paperback (Angels) I guess I expected more.
In this book her characters come off flat and whiny. Lisa and Ashling are trying to get a new Irish womens magazine off the ground, and the basic premise of the book revolves around their trials. Clodaugh, the other woman, is a friend of Ashlings who is terribly unhappy with her marriage and kid filled life.
More than once I found myself wondering what the point of the story was. Keyes is a good writer, and the story isn't bad or anything, its just a little flatter than a lot of what she has written before. Her characters usually start off as either depressed or silly people who evolve throughout the book to become better, deeper, self fufilled ones who learn about themselves and what is really important in life. Lisa and Ashling get there eventually, but with two chapters left in the book it was too late. Only a teeny bit of true Keyes tried to shine through at the very end. And while I did laugh out loud a few times, Keyes trademark humor is overall missing from this book.
I'm not sure why this is. To me, her best books have been those that involve the Walsch sisters (Watermelon, Rachel's Holiday, and Angels), so maybe that blend of family humor is what shows Keyes at her best, maybe its what her books need. Because this one and "Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married" are both not Keyes' best at all.
So read one of the Walsch sister books or "Last Chance Saloon" before "Sushi for Beginners".


3 Irish women search for happiness   April 14, 2004
Peggy Vincent (Oakland, CA)
10 out of 17 found this review helpful

Keyes takes us into the lives of 3 modern Dublin women and their search for eternal happiness. She writes some of the best chick-lit that's being published, and this is a goodie to add to the genre's bookshelves. These three women work for Colleen, a trendy women's magazine. One is a chronic worrier, one is a tyrant, and one is too domestic for words. Stir them up and put a Prada bag in the middle of the table, and watch them turn into children squabbling over who gets the Gucci wallet.