Watermelon (Poolbeg Press 1995, ISBN 9781853716232) tells the bittersweet tale of Claire, whose husband James drops the bombshell that he is leaving her in favour of one of their London neighbours – the day after their first child is born.
The reader is taken on a journey of Claire’s pain and loneliness, as she decides to return home to her rather oddball family in Dublin, struggling as she is, coping with both a new baby and the loss of her husband to another woman. Back in the arms of her family, she begins to recover – so much so that another love interest is allowed to appear on the scene, in the guise of a young student, Adam. So, when James finally decides reconciliation is in order, he gets rather a shock!
A New Kind of Romance Genre
When Watermelon first appeared on the literary scene, it was greatly publicised in Ireland, in the press and on the TV. From this point, Marian Keyes became an international bestselling author. But what kind of story could it be categorised as? It certainly wasn’t romantic fiction, as tradition would describe it.
Everything about the characters and setting suggested something different to what had gone before. Suburban settings and a straightforward style of writing, combined with the less than perfect main protagonist, weighed down by the physical and emotional baggage she carries with her, made this novel something different – a category of its own, if all books have to have a category assigned to them.
A Well-Publicised Usurper - or a Better Book?
Thus, the chick-lit generation was born. And to follow Watermelon, came Helen Fielding and Bridget Jones’ Diary. At this point, it seems, Watermelon becomes lost and forgotten by the academics and columnists, who refer to the major changes in women’s fiction as virtually jumping from Jane Austen to the Brontës to Virginia Woolf, if you’re lucky, then, amazingly, to Helen Fielding. Where did Marian Keyes disappear to?
Could it possibly be to do with the hype and publicity which surrounded Bridget Jones’ Diary, and the innovative way in which the modern themes of an urban woman were dealt with through the use of diary format? Look at how famous the diary of Anne Frank eventually became – the format works!
Maybe the writing in Watermelon just was not as well-crafted for some as in Helen Fielding’s book. Take a look on Amazon and the range of viewpoints about Watermelon is incredible – from the total ecstasy of this new kind of writing by Marian Keyes, through to those who believe the plot is totally unconvincing and predictable, and the characters are either too bizarre or too boring to be believable.
In Defence of Watermelon
But let’s just think about this a moment. This is a story, written under the huge umbrella which is Romantic Fiction. Marian Keyes writes about both true to life, imperfect characters with whom the reader can identify, as well as introducing us to the more ludicrous members of Claire’s family, such as her sisters. Surely the idea behind these characters is to provide entertainment value. After all, this is why we buy books, isn’t it?
As far as the plot goes, then it seems that Maria Keyes is utilising a strategy which the icons of literature have used for centuries: that of romantic hope for the predictable happy ending. How many people reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, for example, want Elizabeth Bennett to end up with Mr Darcy? And what happens in the end, after the trials, tribulations and twists of plot – precisely the happy ending we al wish for. If Jane Austen could utilise this way of working, then what is wrong with chick-lit writers doing the same?
A dubiousness surrounds the possibility that Adam, a young student, would possibly fall for Claire, baby and all. Love comes in all sorts of guises, so why not this one? The author is writing a love story in which things happen as we would like them to happen. It is fiction, after all.
For Marian Keyes’ first novel, this is a wonderful attempt to break away from the more traditional romance, in terms of setting and modern theme. If readers do not like it, then that is their prerogative – not everyone likes everything they read. But the author certainly set in motion a phenomenon which has engulfed both publishers and female (and even some male) readers for over a decade.
The chick lit genre, however you wish to define it, does not appear to be fading. Marian Keyes should be proud to be the innovator, not merely the follower, of such a genre, which has encouraged many people to read romantic fiction, who would not otherwise have bothered.
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