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Rachel's Holiday
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Plot Summary of Rachel's Holiday
"Rachel lives the fast life in New York City -- lots of booze, men, and cocaine -- and she thinks she's as cool as they come. Her friends and parents are worried about her, so they send her to a rehabilitation clinic back home in Ireland. Rachel is not worried; she's sure that she'll meet plenty of movie stars and rock musicians on her holiday. Instead, she meets other people battling addictions that become dear friends as she learns how to be herself."
Jessica Marler, Resident Scholar

"Rachel Walsh is Irish by birth, but she has been living and working in New York City for the past eight years. When her sister Maggie and her brother in law arrive at her appartement, she is horrified to learn that it is because her best friend has called her family to tell them that she has a drug problem. Maggie and her husband plan to take her back home and put her in a rehab. To add indulat to injury, Rachel's boyfriend, Luke, seems to agree with all the others about her drug probles, and breaks up with her. Rachel returns to Ireland when she learns that she will be put in a rehab facility for the rich and famous. However, she soon discovers that The Cloisters is not the luxury spa that she was expecting. But she soon learns that she isn't who she thought she was either. On the road to recovery Rachel begins to learn a great deal about addiction, and herself."
fran laniado, Resident Scholar

"Rachel Walsh believes she leads a relatively normal life. She lives with her flat mate, thinks she's fat and occasionally does recreational drugs. However, according to Cloisters, the fancy rehabilitation clinic her family put their life savings into to send her to, she is a drug addict.
The story follows her through the trials of the clinic, and the journey to discover the truth about herself. She has group meetings with Sister Josephine, a hardened old lady who wants nothing more than to single her out and terrorise her. Her love life has disintegrated and she finds herself friendless and putting her mother at her wits end.

Spurned by her lover in New York, she sinks her teeth into a man who is also at Cloisters, Chris. Her attempts to snatch him away are thwarted by Misty, the writer who attends Cloisters regularly for the publicity.

The story flicks between the present and updating the reader with the past and how Rachel arrived at where she is today. She begins the journey to discovering the reason that she was admitted in the beginning, and how to change her life for the better.
"

Rachel, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Rachel's Holiday
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - humorous
Time/era of story - 1980's-1999
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Battle with a psychiatrist Yes
Druggie/Wino problems? - drugs

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - unemployed
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Nationality - Irish/McCourt
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - druggie/wino disease

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 2 (a little)
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast
Europe Yes
European country: - Ireland

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Rachel's Holiday
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Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby, Jr.
Snow in July by Heather Barbieri
Blinding Light by Paul Theroux


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Marian Keyes Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
fran laniado  

SCHOLARS:
Tanya  Jessica Marler  Rachel  Blerina Pepiu  Harriet Klausner  Alison  


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