She's the One (by Cathy Kelly)

(Amazon UK link)

I discovered the author Cathy Kelly about six years ago, and loved the first couple of books I read by her. I then started to acquire others, some of which I liked, some not so much. When, a few years ago, a friend gave me ‘She’s the One’, having read it herself, I put it on my to-be-read shelf. I wasn’t enthusiastic enough to read it immediately, but finally picked it up a few days ago.

Isabel and Dee are the two main characters in the book, which is mainly set in Dublin. Both are journalists, both in somewhat stressful romantic relationships… and both apply for a job as features editor in a women’s magazine. Dee already works for the magazine in another department, and Isabel is an outsider who has only recently moved to Dublin. The magazine decides to bring in someone fresh, so Isabel is given the job, and Dee appointed as her deputy.

It’s a good start to a book that switches viewpoints each chapter between the two women. They’re quite three dimensional. Isabel is tall, trim and confident, and has left her risk-taking husband who, once again, has gambled everything including her family home. She has two daughters: teenage Robin and eleven-year-old Naomi, who both adore their father. But while Naomi is easy-going and supports her mother, Robin is furious that she’s been uprooted, and has become very moody. 

Dee, by contrast, is overweight and lives with her fiancé Gary. He insists that he loves her but won’t do anything to help in the house. Her self-esteem is very low, and she drinks too much as well as binging on high-fat high-sugar snacks. Gary is a somewhat unrealistic person, sometimes slobby and disparaging, sometimes encouraging and positive. He criticises Dee’s drinking and eating habits, but then gives her sweets and alcohol. It’s hard to imagine what she sees in him. 

The management at the office consist of men who like upsetting their staff: so Isabel is introduced without anyone knowing that she has been appointed, and Dee is very upset, determined to hate her. Isabel is a genuinely nice person, and is very supportive of Dee, so they become friends. I’d like to have seen more of their interactions, as Dee changes her mind all too often. 

The magazine is bought up by another company, and the bullying management leave, only to be replaced by an unapproachable boss, a likeable manager, and another manager who is rude and arrogant, and appears to loathe Dee. Dee is easily bullied, until one day (towards the end of the book) she decides she won’t be bullied any more, and then changes personality with, apparently, no effort. 

I was enjoying the book, on the whole, for the first couple of hundred pages. Admittedly the male characters were almost entirely one-dimensional caricatures, but I did like both Isabel and Dee. In addition, there was far too much detail about the contents of everybody’s wardrobe, and many comments made about appearance. There was rather a lot of detail about food and alcohol, too; significant editing would have helped to cut down this very long novel (over 550 pages in paperback). 

Still, I was able to skip those rather uninteresting sections, and was intrigued by the story. 

However it then takes a different direction. Isabel starts to fall for a married man who flirts with her, and then Dee starts going out clubbing and gets involved with a visiting Texan. They have very casual affairs, it seems to me, and there’s far too much detail about what goes on in the bedrooms… and most of the rest of the story is about these relationships. There are brief forays into the office, but everything there is rather left hanging; and the last hundred pages or so become increasingly unrealistic. Isabel leaps to a conclusion and becomes irrational, while Dee becomes confident and assured just because a couple of men have admired her.

The book was written in 1998 so it was one of Cathy Kelly’s earlier novels; it’s a good thing I didn’t read this one first as it really didn’t grab me. I did keep reading the book, mildly interested to know how it would all pan out, but it’s not a novel that I shall read again. 

Not really recommended. This author has written much better books. 

Review copyright 2024 Sue's Book Reviews