Watermelon (1995) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

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• Claire Webster: The main subject of the book. She gets dumped in the hospital after having a baby by her husband, then spends the book trying to figure out how to move on.
• James: Claire's husband who left her the day she gave birth to their daughter for another woman.
• Kate: James and Claire's baby girl.
• Helen: Claire's youngest sister.
• Anna: Claire's sister.
• Adam: Claire's hot new love interest.
• Laura: Claire's friend
• George: James friend
• Denise: The woman for whom James left Claire.
• Judy: Claire's best friend
• Michael: James' friend
• Margaret: Claire's sister
• Julia: Add a description of this character.
• Rachel: Claire's sister
• Molly
• Jack: Claire's father
• Melissa

Quotes edit see section history

• “The landscape of the desert changes very gradually as little breezes lift grains of sand and move them, sometimes a few feet, sometimes miles and miles, so that at the end of the day, when the sun sets, the face of the desert is completely different from the landscape it had in the morning when the sun rose on it.”

  Claire

• “Luckily, Reality had come home unexpectedly and found Temporary Insanity roaming the corridors of my mind unchecked, going into rooms, opening cupboards, reading my letters, looking in my underwear drawer, that kind of thing. Reality had run and got Sanity. And after a tussle, they both had managed to throw out Temporary Insanity and slam the door in his face. Temporary Insanity now lay on the gravel in the driveway of my mind, panting and furious, shouting, “She invited me in, you know. She asked me in. She wanted methere.”Reality and Sanity were leaning out of an upstairs window, shouting, “Go on, get going. You’re not wanted around here. If you’re not gone in five minutes, we’ll call the Emotions Police.””

• “I no longer think that the best way to get over one man is to get under another!”

  Claire Walsh

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• “Get over it, and if you can’t get over it, get over talking about it.”

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• When happiness makes a guest appearance in one’s life, it’s important to make the most of it. It may not stay around for long and when it has gone wouldn’t it be terrible to think that all the time one could have been happy was wasted worrying about when that happiness would be taken away?

  Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers

• The landscape of the desert changes very gradually as little breezes lift grains of sand and move them, sometimes a few feet, sometimes miles and miles, so that at the end of the day, when the sun sets, the face of the desert is completely different from the landscape it had in the morning when the sun rose on it. In the same way, tiny little changes happened in me.

  Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers

• Because although there was little I could do about the huge hole, it was still within my power to empty an ashtray.

  Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers

• Luckily, Reality had come home unexpectedly and found Temporary Insanity roaming the corridors of my mind unchecked, going into rooms, opening cupboards, reading my letters, looking in my underwear drawer, that kind of thing. Reality had run and got Sanity. And after a tussle, they both had managed to throw out Temporary Insanity and slam the door in his face. Temporary Insanity now lay on the gravel in the driveway of my mind, panting and furious, shouting, “She invited me in, you know. She asked me in. She wanted me there.”

  Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers

• Sometimes, you meet a wonderful person, but it’s only for a brief instant. Maybe on vacation or on a train or maybe even in a bus line. And they touch your life for a moment, but in a special way. And instead of mourning because they can’t be with you for longer, or because you don’t get the chance to know them better, isn’t it better to be glad that you met them at all?

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• As someone once said—a miserable, sardonic, misanthropic someone—freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.

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• If you lose someone or something, you feel a loss, then after a while you fill in the hole in your life and the loss gradually gets smaller and smaller and eventually goes away. There’s a point to the pain. There’s a reason and a direction.

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• God! I hated this business of being grown-up. I hated having to make decisions where I didn’t know what was behind the door. I wanted a world where heroes and villains were clearly labeled. Where ominous music starts playing the minute the villain comes on-screen so you can’t possibly mistake him.

  Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers

• Funny. You want something so badly it hurts. And then you get it, but it needs so much restoration and renovation and knocking down of walls and rewiring of electricity and new plumbing put in that you think, fuck it, I don’t want it anymore. I’ll settle for something a lot smaller, with no garden, but at least it’s finished.

  Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• London
• Dublin
• Ireland
• Belfast
• Heathrow

First Sentence edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by Rachel's Holiday.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Marian Keyes (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PR6061.E88 W38 1995
• Dewey: 823.914

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Women's Fiction › Mothers & Children
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Women's Fiction › Divorce
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Women's Fiction › Single Women

More Books Like This edit see section history