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Angels (Walsh Family #3)

3.65 of 5 stars 3.65 · rating details · 13,251 ratings · 444 reviews

After catching her husband having an affair and being fired from her job, Maggie Walsh suddenly finds her perfectly organized existence has become a perfect mess. She decides, for the first time in her life, to do something daring -- and flees to her best friend, Emily, in the faraway wonderland of Los Angeles. In this mecca of tanned, beautiful bodies, unsvelte, uncool Ma...more

Paperback, 482 pages

Published April 1st 2003 by Penguin Books (first published January 1st 2002)

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Jul 16, 2008 Trin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, irish-lit, queerlit

This book almost does something very interesting for chick lit: the main character, an Irish woman whose marriage is coming apart, comes to L.A. to escape from it all. She is shocked—shocked!—to discover that the old friend she's staying with has another friend who's a lesbian. Then she gets a little crush on the lesbian friend. Then she has a lesbian fling! This is almost cool like fanfic. But then the main character realizes that she really loves her husband and goes back to him. Sigh.

Keyes do...more

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Aug 24, 2009 Mulva? rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Prologue:

"Shortly we will be landing at Los Angeles International Airport. Please ensure that your seat is in the upright position, that you weigh less than a hundred pounds, and that you have excellent teeth."

funny.

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Jun 20, 2008 Krystal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chicklit

I'm in the first couple pages, and can't wait to read more already. I love Keyes. She's had a couple little missteps, in decidedly subjective opinion. This though, has had me thinking all day! That's always a good sign.
Some of the content was painfully familair to me, but amazing in it's accuracy.
I seriously loved "Mammy Walsh" and Helen appearances throughout the story. There bits were so comical, especially the visit to LA.

Loved this one. I think this may be my favorite yet. I can't wait for...more

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May 07, 2008 Alison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-japan

Oh chicklit, how I miss thee. Although this chicklit wasn't all light and fluffy, it actually dealt with some serious issues that made me tear up as I read it. The protagonist is hilarious, her adventures in LA awesome. Although I must say I found it really annoying that every other people she met in LA kept saying she was from Iowa when she said she was from Ireland. I mean I hate so-cal as much as the next person, but they're not that dumb. Oh and I love the big fight she has with her husband,...more

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Jun 03, 2008 Ellen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Disappointing. I have loved other Keyes novels, but this one is SLOW. Nothing happens, nothing happens, nothing happens for FAR too long, mostly because the main character doesn't want anything, so she's not trying to do anything, so you get endless descriptions of her pointless days of hanging out. It's quite a long slog through the middle part. And Keyes seems to think Los Angeles "wackiness" makes up for all that, but it does NOT. At the end it gets pretty good, but I'm frankly surprised I ma...more

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Mar 12, 2013 Tabitha at lovenovel.co.uk rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There have been some very mixed reviews of this novel, but for me...I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was everything I adore about chick-lit, with a whole array of cringe-worthy humour, delusional thoughts, fabulously unlikely events, heartbreakingly deep moments and frustratingly familiar content. To my surprise, it wasn't until after I finished the book that I realised it is the last of a trilogy, the first two of which I have not read. I think that the fact I never knew this whilst reading it rathe...more There have been some very mixed reviews of this novel, but for me...I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was everything I adore about chick-lit, with a whole array of cringe-worthy humour, delusional thoughts, fabulously unlikely events, heartbreakingly deep moments and frustratingly familiar content. To my surprise, it wasn't until after I finished the book that I realised it is the last of a trilogy, the first two of which I have not read. I think that the fact I never knew this whilst reading it rather illustrates how clever Marian Keyes is at writing novels.

The book doesn't muck around or waste any time at the beginning and we very quickly find out that the main character, Maggie Walsh, has caught her husband having an affair. To her, the shocking discovery of this betrayal acts as a catalyst to unravelling all the things in her life that, all of a sudden, happen to be in a complete mess as well! Moving back into her old bedroom at her Mum and Dads fast becomes an unappealing option and so, she decides for the first time in her life, to do something impulsive and adventurous.

Maggie buys a ticket to the dreamy Los Angeles where her best friend Emily now resides, in the hope that the land of tanned, beautiful and irritatingly healthy people will somehow solve all her problems. Wanting to indulge in everything that she feels she might have missed out on by marrying at such a young age (24), she embarks on an array of highly amusing antics during her stay; experimenting with her sexuality by having a lesbian fling, nail-biting encounters with an old flame and a one night stand with a Hollywood hunk, to name a few.

By revealing the background to all the events bit by bit throughout the book, Angels very quickly becomes a real page-turner, capturing lots of little details that so many of us can relate to in some way or another. The hilarity of her family following her out to Los Angeles adds marvellous humour straight back into the story when things get a little bit deep, thus creating the perfect concoction of true chick-lit magnificence.

Angels is a moving but at the same time, light and fun read. Althrough perfect for chick-lit lovers, Marian Keyes also does a splendid job of touching on tougher topics, such as Maggie's miscarriage for example. All of this makes it a great read that is nonsensical yet profound all at the same time.(less)

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Dec 29, 2012 Zakiyyah Mandisa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Angels HarperCollins, 2002, 426 pp.
Marian Keyes ISBN 0-06-051214-8

Angels, whenever we think of angels we think of the soft unearthly beings who have a greater power than we can imagine. In fact this is misleading because this book isn’t about angels; it’s about rediscovering yourself and changing yourself for the better.

Maggie Walsh has just found out something shocking, the person she thought she could trust was in fact someone she couldn’t trust. So to get away from all of that, Maggie has to...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Baiba rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nesen es izlasīju grāmatu " Eņģeļu pilsēta",ko sarakstīja Mariana Kīza. Es izvēlējos šo grāmatu ,jo mani ieinteresēja tās nosaukums vien.Un kad izlasīju īso grāmatas aprakstu zināju,ka man tā patiks.
Iepriekš nebiju lasījusi nevienu citu šīs autores darbu,bet man ļoti patika viņas valodas stils - brīvs ,nevis formāls,ikdienišķs kā reālā dzīvē nevis mākslīgi izskaistināts ar epitetiem un metaforām.Vislabāk vienmēr ir paticis lasīt grāmatas kurās aprakstītie notikumi varētu būt reāli.
Kaut grāmat...more

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Jun 05, 2011 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chicklit

Keyes strikes again! I think I am getting to the end of her books and I can’t say I am unhappy about it. She continues to write about another daughter in the same family and the only daughter I have left is the youngest, most annoying one and I hope she hasn’t written a book featuring this daughter. This story is about Maggie, the most responsible of the daughters, whose married just falls apart and she runs off to LA to see her best friend. And she goes crazy. Apparently the reason she subconsc...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Elizabeth Quinn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Marian Keyes third Walsh sister novel, Angels, adds another interesting layer to the forumla she developed in book two: the breezy voice of chick lit, now and then stories depicting the lead-up to and consequences of an inciting crisis, and a more serious problem than the usual inane superficiality of chick-lit. To that mix Keyes adds an interesting primer on the screenwriter's trade in Los Angeles. This outing features the second Walsh sister, Maggie, whose parents and siblings think she's a pe...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Laura Fudge rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have been given a big pile of books from my step mum, many of which are Marian Keyes. A few years ago I read a few Marian Keyes books and I couldn’t remember which ones I had read from the blurb on the back… Probably not a good sign. I am also not a huge fan of “chick lit”.

About three chapters into this book I realised I had read it before. I couldn’t remember what had happened, but I was able to guess/remember most of the plot before it happened. The story follows Maggie, who has a big loud I...more I have been given a big pile of books from my step mum, many of which are Marian Keyes. A few years ago I read a few Marian Keyes books and I couldn’t remember which ones I had read from the blurb on the back… Probably not a good sign. I am also not a huge fan of “chick lit”.

About three chapters into this book I realised I had read it before. I couldn’t remember what had happened, but I was able to guess/remember most of the plot before it happened. The story follows Maggie, who has a big loud Irish family and a husband. Who to be honest, we never really found out much about. From what we do learn, he seems like a really decent bloke.

They are on the verge of breaking up as they have barely spoken to each other for months and seem to have some underlying problems that we don’t know about until later on in the book. Maggie realises he’s been seeing someone else and leaves him, which pleases her family, who don’t like him (I still don’t really know why…). She then travels out to LA to see a friend of hers and stay there for a month to get her head together. Her friend Emily is out there writing scripts which keep getting rejected…

We then follow them, Emily trying to get a script accepted, and Maggie trying to get her head together by sleeping around with a male friend of Emily’s – a self confessed tart that she falls for then gets annoyed when he doesn’t ring, and Emily’s gay friend Lara. Eventually she sorts out her issues, we find out what caused the split between her and her husband, and she ends up going home back to her husband.

Despite the lesbian sub plot which was mildly interesting, this book was a bit slow. It seemed to take ages to get going, and I didn’t really like many of the characters, they were either stereotypical or predictable, (and not because I had read this years before…)

This type of book is not usually my thing, too much shopping and not enough real people talking to each other about their problems. A nice bit of entertainment, easy to read, but not really my cup of tea.(less)

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Mar 01, 2011 Nenia Campbell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ladybooks, reviewed, x-2002s, i-burn-i-pine-i-perish

maggie garver nee walsh has always been the "good" walsh sister. she's also the boring one. for the first couple chapters, i was thinking, "ok, your husband dumped you and now you're going to engage in a stereotypical criticism of the los angelos glam scene. how bloody-freaking-original!" not.

however, angels surprised me. i wasn't expecting a lesbian fling. nor was i expecting a one-night-stand WHERE THE MAIN CHARACTER DOES NOT END UP WITH THE ONE-NIGHT-STANDEE! okay, so the standee did become t...more maggie garver nee walsh has always been the "good" walsh sister. she's also the boring one. for the first couple chapters, i was thinking, "ok, your husband dumped you and now you're going to engage in a stereotypical criticism of the los angelos glam scene. how bloody-freaking-original!" not.

however, angels surprised me. i wasn't expecting a lesbian fling. nor was i expecting a one-night-stand WHERE THE MAIN CHARACTER DOES NOT END UP WITH THE ONE-NIGHT-STANDEE! okay, so the standee did become the paragon for good male behavior at the end, but at least he didn't end up with the mc. he was sleeping around because he was /hurt/. i can buy that, i guess.

plus, i love mammy walsh. oh my god. the way she pimps out her daughters is hilarious. and only a ruddy irish momma would take on a tough-guy director and make him "sorry, and says he'll never do it again." mr. walsh is pretty hilarious, too. all stoically irishman and "i just want to eat some peanuts and watch the telly." i love how evil helen is, and how spacey and yet shockingly perceptive anna is. unfortunately my favorite, rachel, didn't have much of a role in this book - it's a pity, because rachel's holiday is one of the best books i have ever read. the way keyes portrayed addiction in that book was brilliant: the recovery, the delusional thinking, the abusive behavior.

i think the main problem with maggie was that, for the first half of the book, she didn't have much of a personality. it wasn't until the flashbacks that i began to understand where she was coming from. i feel that if keyes had started maggie's story from the beginning, her personality would have seemed less bland and more defensive. that would have kept her from looking like the mary sue i thought she was.

not one of keyes's best, but definitely fun. if you like reading about hollywood people making fools of themselves, you'll probably like this book. if you like reading about girly girls bitching about men and obsessing over appearances, you'll probably like this book. if you like mindless chicklit, you'll probably like this book. if you're looking for something more substantial maybe bypass this one and pick up rachel's holiday instead.(less)

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Jul 14, 2008 Carrie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

okay, i started reading this book and i thought it was AWFUL! i got to chapter 5 and it was getting more awful! I don't seem to ever do this, but I quit reading the book and returned it to the library. it just wasn't worth my time. i don't know if it was because i hadn't read any of the others in the series and didn't know the characters, but i didn't want to know them, they werent worth it! i wouldn't even give it a full star, maybe a quarter of a star.

SKIP it!

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Aug 17, 2007 Alcy_girl rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have only really liked some of the Walsh family books from Marian Keyes, and this wasn't one of them.

With the breakdown of her marriage, I was interested to see where Maggie would go. I was disappointed. She didn't really stray much from herself, and when she did, it was for such a brief moment in the book, that it was over before I realised it had happened.

It was all a little too predictable for my liking, but it was an ok light read between some heavier suspense stories.

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Nov 30, 2012 Lizzieyork rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Maggie ve la luz- Marian Keyes

Empecé con poquísima expectativa este tercer "tomo" de las Hermanas Walsh. Maggie me resultaba un tanto insulsa y quizá aburrida asi que pensaba que cualquier aventura que pudiera embarcar iba a ser tal cual me la imaginaba.
De a poco me fui interesando en los vericuetos de su separación. Y a medida que conocía el pensamiento y la vida que ella había tenido,mejor me caía. Me simpatizó su molde de chica buena, autoimpuesto con los años, pero más me impactó las tragedi...more

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Jan 17, 2009 Faith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2002-2004

I consider Angels the best book Marian Keyes has ever written (although I havent yet read all her books). Maggie is clearly the most sympathetic of the Walsh-sisters. I also think that Angels deals with wider themes. Maggie's problem isnt really low self-esteem, like Claire's and Rachel's. She’s somehow a deeper character. I also liked the plot. In Angels Marian Keyes is more entertaining than ever. I really laughed, especially when Maggie’s family came to LA to visit her. The Walsh family seems...more

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Apr 01, 2013 April Loebick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Angels by Marian Keyes is your typical chick-lit read. The book, like most in the genre, is all about a woman in her 30s who goes on a quest to find herself. It’s a tried and true story, one that makes the reader (usually female) feel good by the end of the journey. The adventure along the way is fun and witty, mixed in with a bit of regret and sentimentality.

Maggie Walsh has a normal life. She’s married, has a stable job, and doesn’t get into any trouble. Then the bottom falls out. Her husband...more

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Jul 31, 2011 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Marian Keyes is one of my favorite authors. At first glance her novels appear to be "chick-lit" but once you start reading them, you realize there is a thoughtful depth to them. Sometimes it takes well into the novel for the true subject to be revealed, but it it always entertaining, and most times, funny, on the way there.

This is an oldie but goodie I had in my shelves that I came across when I was waiting for a library book to come in. Ms. Keyes' novels always make me feel like a better person...more

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Oct 16, 2009 bookczuk rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, bookcrossing, sometimes-fluff-is-good, thank-you-charleston-county-library

(Slight spoiler in last paragraph, but not a biggie. Just stop reading when you hit the word "aplomb" if you don't want to find out a later-in-the-book revealed tidbit about Maggie and Garv.)

Light, fun read. I'm embarrassed to say that my reading of this author is so sporadic that I hadn't realized many of her main characters were sisters. I guess I just thought she liked to write about large Irish families stuffed full of girls.

Fun to see La-La land via the eyes of an Irish writer. I listened t...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Samantha Smith rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was not my favorite Marian Keyes book. I have read "Watermelon" and "Anybody Out There" and I liked these books waaaay more. I found "Angels" a bit boring. I skimmed several pages looking for anything interesting. Some of the parts were good but some parts I just couldn't stand. I didn't like the parts describing "Hollywood/LA Life". I haved lived in southern California for my entire life and I never hear any glamorous women using the phrase "eat my shorts". ummm ya right! This is the kind...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Lainy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Time Taken to Read - 6 days

Blurb From Goodreadss

After catching her husband having an affair and being fired from her job, Maggie Walsh suddenly finds her perfectly organized existence has become a perfect mess. She decides, for the first time in her life, to do something daring -- and flees to her best friend, Emily, in the faraway wonderland of Los Angeles. In this mecca of tanned, beautiful bodies, unsvelte, uncool Maggie is decidedly a fish out of water. Yet, overnight, she's mixing with film...more Time Taken to Read - 6 days

Blurb From Goodreadss

After catching her husband having an affair and being fired from her job, Maggie Walsh suddenly finds her perfectly organized existence has become a perfect mess. She decides, for the first time in her life, to do something daring -- and flees to her best friend, Emily, in the faraway wonderland of Los Angeles. In this mecca of tanned, beautiful bodies, unsvelte, uncool Maggie is decidedly a fish out of water. Yet, overnight, she's mixing with film folk, pitching scripts, even experimenting with sex -- and discovering that the end of a marriage is not the end of the world.

My Review

Maggie discover her husband is having an affair and as is always the way, things go from bad to worse when she is fired. Rejected, alone and upset she turns to her friend for support who happens to live in Los Angeles. Maggie leaves behind her troubles and decides to do something different and daring and embarks upon an adventure that makes her question everything she knows about herself.

I have read one of the Walsh tales before and from what I remember I really enjoyed it, this one was a mixed bag for me. Maggie was very annoying, she was a doormat in her response to her husbands betrayal, her encounters that followed after and even in some scenes with family members. You wanted to scream at her, well I did, get a back bone woman! Her character was fairly annoying and you just wanted her to do something, one of her relatives called her plain or vanilla yogurt and they had her bang to rights.

That said the book is enjoyable and very much chick lit. You follow Maggie to a strange place where everyone is thin, bleached, manicured and tanned to within an inch of their lives. We follow her journey of how she copes after finding her husband has betrayed her and now after years being safe and married she is free and single.

Some of the book is really funny, I love her family especially her mum and the fake tan part, reminded me of my mum and some of her antics. In between Maggie's outings and finding herself she slips back to the past and we slowly learn how her and Garv, her husband, got to be in the rut they ended up in.

I found some of the story slow going and a touch padded and other parts where very well done, an in between 3/5 for me. I have read this author before and I am sure I will pick her up again.

(less)

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Apr 25, 2012 Jan Castillo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Marian Keyes' style of writing needs getting used to. She writes in a very un-Sophie Kinsella way (which is what I'm used to). This is my first time to read a book by her and I'm impressed. She writes nonsense things with depths. I don't know if that makes any sense but I think, for this book, it does.

Okay.

Angels is the story of Margaret "Maggie" Walsh and her flight to Los Angeles after she found out about her husband Garv's affair with truffle woman. Maggie is probably one of my favorite ficti...more

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Aug 15, 2011 Julie Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another great read by Marian Keyes. I liked the first person narrative, and all of the funny bits about LA life. As usual, what's so great about these books is the character development, how characters grow and learn. These books are often much deeper & emotional than one might guess from the front covers.

A four for Marian Keyes is more like a five for anyone else. She is a master of the genre & I have very high expectations so if anyone else wrote this I'd probably give it a 5. But I mu...more

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Dec 31, 2010 Michele Minor rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is about Maggie Walsh, the one Walsh sister who appeared to be the normal Walsh sister though in this book she is let go from her dependable job and she leaves her husband after she suspects that he's been having an affair on her. After spending time with her parents who want her to reunite with her husband instead she goes to Los Angeles in order to visit her friend Emily who is a struggling screenwriter. During her visit she has the type of experiences that she felt that she had miss...more

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May 29, 2008 Annet rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well... chicklit is not on top of my list. Unless it is VERY good, like Bridget Jones, or I just need to enjoy myself and relax. I remember reading this one when I went on holiday and really needed to unwind from work stress. I do confirm I need to try another Marian Keyes book. She's not bad, it just isn't my top genre. Will be back with other Keyes reviews I'm sure. Three stars therefore.

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Aug 24, 2009 Jenny added it · review of another edition

Angels: a novel by marian Keyes is a great book for people who thinks that without their "partner", the world is nothing to them. Maggie Walsh is one of these people. Maggie in the beginning of the book was going through some hard times because one day she was walking home, she found her husband with some other women. She got really mad that their relationship ended up from being married to being single. THis divorce had such a huge impact on her that, she wasn't doing so well at her work place...more

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Aug 25, 2011 gille rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Angels is the third in the Walsh sisters series, but I read it last. I actually read Anybody Out There? first, not knowing it was a series. There were pros and cons to my badly ordered reading: I was totally hooked into the Walsh family by Anna's story, but since it's the last in the series, I already knew what would happen in the first three. Therefore, my experience with Watermelon, Rachel's Holiday, and Angels may not be typical.

Angels is the story of Maggie Walsh, the "plain vanilla yogurt a...more Angels is the third in the Walsh sisters series, but I read it last. I actually read Anybody Out There? first, not knowing it was a series. There were pros and cons to my badly ordered reading: I was totally hooked into the Walsh family by Anna's story, but since it's the last in the series, I already knew what would happen in the first three. Therefore, my experience with Watermelon, Rachel's Holiday, and Angels may not be typical.

Angels is the story of Maggie Walsh, the "plain vanilla yogurt at room temperature" sister. She's the good girl, she plays it safe and is the model Walsh sister. After finding out her husband is somehow involved with another woman, Maggie takes off to Los Angeles to spend time with her friend Emily and sort things out for herself. While in LA, Maggie experiences a host of adventures that she would have never done in her life before, and finds out some things about who she is and what she is like.

I have read the other reviews of Angels and, as with other books I've read, I find some of them to be a little bit unfair. I think of this series as a study in method writing - like method acting, the writer gets into the part of the character, and does not stray. So, while some of the reviews claim this book is boring and progresses slowly, I think that's part of it's personality. Part of *Maggie's* personality. The books are narrated, thus each would naturally take on the personality of the story teller. Watermelon is the story of Claire, the feisty sister and the book is told as if she is talking to you a mile a minute. Rachel's Holiday is about the addict sister, told in a confused, yet subdued manner that brings across Rachel's personality. Anybody Out There?, the story of Anna, is funny if not flaky and filled with psychics and other spiritual ideas, which suits Anna. It should only be, then, that Maggie's safe, boring personality shine through in her own story. Maybe nothing insanely exciting happens, but then that would be atypical of Maggie's life. I can see how if someone read this book without reading the others it could be seen as boring. I can also see someone reading all of them thinking it's boring. I think, however, that there is more to this story than the lack of crazy events and the fact that it's 400+ pages span only a few weeks.

One of the things I like best about Marian Keyes' Walsh sisters series is that each sister tells the story from her point-of-view and one can really see the differences in perception amongst them as well as the sibling rivalries and family dynamics. For example, although Claire if feisty and vocal about everything according to her sisters, by reading Watermelon one can see that she has insecurities and fears like any other human being. The same can be said for Maggie.. Although her sisters find her to be boring and they chastise her for being a goody-goody, one can see through her story that she never wanted to be such a goody-goody, rather she was almost railroaded into that position by always getting caught when she did something wrong. I could really identify with her character, as I never did anything wrong as a child and teenager because I'd been caught stealing when I was 5 and it made a strong impression on me. I've come to describe myself, in the words of Emily Giffin, "risk-averse". I think Maggie is simply misunderstood. Another thing we learn in this story is the true nature of Maggie's husband, Garv. When Maggie and Garv show up to bring Rachel back to Ireland in Rachel's Holiday, we learn that he is a jerk and that the sisters clearly despise him. At the time it was hard for me to understand, having read Anybody Out There? first, where Anna has a good relationship with Garv, but through Angels I learned who the true Paul Garvan was, as opposed to the version the sisters gave.

*SPOILERS*
Finally, I think it's interesting that I did not lose respect for Maggie when she took her husband back in the end. We learn that he didn't actually have the physical affair until after Maggie had left for LA, and that Maggie had been harboring emotions for a long ago love for the duration of their marriage. It hadn't been perfect to begin with, and their respective dalliances seem to be a sort of proving ground - Maggie took some risks for the first time and discovered that she had everything she ever wanted in her life. Garv had a tryst with another woman and ended up missing Maggie very much. I also found the abortion plot very important - Maggie blames herself for her miscarriages since she had the abortion when she was 17. This is a huge weight to bear and could have all sorts of effects on a marriage and childbearing thoughts. It makes Maggie's character more three-dimensional and puts a lot into perspective. This is truly a story of finding oneself, of living a life never before lived by a person, and finding that the life they chose was indeed the correct one. Although the story may progress slowly, what you leave with in the end is quite satisfying.

Overall, I would give this book 4 stars. I didn't adore it, but I liked it a lot. I really hope that Keyes writes the story of Helen - it's been a while since she wrote about the sisters! I'd also like to even see a book from the perspective of Mammy Walsh!(less)

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Aug 15, 2011 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, read-2011

Maggie, who narrates this book, has always appeared to be calm and well-behaved. She has a good job and is happily married... or so it seems. Except that something has gone wrong, and so she suddenly decides to leave her husband and fly out to the USA to see a close friend who lives in California.

Maggie gradually gets drawn into the strangely fake materialistic culture she finds herself in, learning the language of Hollywood, spending vast amounts of money on her appearance, and even experiment...more

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Feb 14, 2011 Trickey rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction

Why did I read this book? I read "Sushi for Beginners" and was disappointed. This book was supposed to be Keyes best. Why, why do I listen to public opinion? I ultimately always find myself an outlier. This book is for a very specific kind of woman, one that I'm not. The main character is decidedly more boring than the supporting characters and I really don't fathom a lot of her decision making. Finally, the big reveal at the end is based on conclusions any reader who pays attention would alread...more

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May 24, 2009 Hanny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I started reading this book, I didn't realize that it was the third book in the series of stories about the Walsh family sisters. I had already enjoyed reading "Is Anybody Out There" (the 4th book), so when I picked up Angels, and I realized that it was related to the other book, I was delighted. Angels tells the story of Maggie, the good sister, who loses her job and then separates from her husband, after suspecting that he is having an affair. She comes to Los Angeles to escape her troubl...more

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Womens Fiction > Chick Lit

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About Marian Keyes

Marian Keyes, born September 10, 1963, is a popular Irish writer, considered to be one of the original progenitors of "chick lit". Keyes' first novel, Watermelon, was published in Ireland in 1995. Since then she has published seven further novels and two collections of non-fiction, and has sold 15 million copies of her books in 30 languages.

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Trivia About Angels

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Quotes from Angels

“smarter than me. But here's the thing my life did get better. I made a decision to let go of my dreams, because they were killing me, and I stopped asking the impossible of myself. I changed my attitude and decided to focus on what I had rather than what i didn't have.” — 20 people liked it

“Political correctness is a minefield” — 7 people liked it

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avg rating	preview: Angels Goodreads rating: 3.65 (13251 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22722.Angels?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360250123l/22722.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22722.Angels?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Angels by Marian Keyes[/url]

Angels (Walsh Family #3)

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