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3.06 AVERAGE
3.06 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I hated this so much
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
medium-paced
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Some parts of the story were good but the concept was very try hard and conceited. All the characters felt flat and incredibly boring if you were to meet them in real life.
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Among Friends is a vapid book about vapid people behaving terribly—and getting away with it, as the wealthy so often do. The novel seems to aim for sharp social commentary but settles instead for cynicism without substance. Its characters are shallow, their actions reprehensible, and the narrative offers little in the way of accountability or reflection. Whatever critique it hopes to make about privilege or power is undermined by the fact that it reinforces the very dynamics it claims to expose.
The use of sexual assault—particularly involving a minor—as a plot device feels both gratuitous and irresponsible, especially when the outcome says nothing new: that the powerful can act with impunity, and the vulnerable are left to suffer. We don’t need a novel to tell us that; just look at the news. If the goal was to provoke discomfort or outrage, it succeeds—but offers nothing meaningful in return.
Yikes. The beginning of this book (the weekend upstate) is written in a manner that is so pretentious as to be almost unbearable. Then the middle portion from Anna's perspective is actually written with some sensitivity, only for that good work to be undone by a horrible ending. Are there some insights here? I suppose so. But not worth the unpleasant experience that the reader has to suffer through to glean them.
The writing style repulsed me. This reads like someone just picked random words out of a hat or just disjointed phrases.
Some examples of the absolutely bizarre sentences:
“They were standing in the kitchen, the women.”
“A basin sink, porcelain, deep enough to wash fruit.”
I could pick many more. There’s a strange structure to practically every sentence which dilutes any meaning.
I might have pushed on past the writing style but then came blatant misogyny.
In a conversation between the two wives in the story, we come to a point that seems to be the opposite of passing the bechdel test. Implying there’s nothing women could really have a conversation about if not a man.
“Yes, this man. They both knew him; about him they could speak.”
It’s so weird that these two wives supposedly long term friends through their husbands and with daughters of a similar age are struggling to come up with anything to talk about.
Also why the fuck is this woman proud about firing someone? And thinks first that might be a conversation topic before decided no, the only thing two women can talk about is men.
If that was bad enough we go to imply that the only purpose of women is children.
On the subject of her daughter, the one wife thinks, “because they existed, she made sense.”
And to continue the theme, why not go on and just say that women are stupid and not great at stem.
By immediately having the daughter say “I’m bad at math” when asked about school.
The daughters go on to have a conversation at school taking about you guessed it, boys.
I also think this going to be a story that turns close male friendship into a gay romance which I think is a harmful stereotype.
I didn’t get far in but this might be the worst thing I read this year.
Some examples of the absolutely bizarre sentences:
“They were standing in the kitchen, the women.”
“A basin sink, porcelain, deep enough to wash fruit.”
I could pick many more. There’s a strange structure to practically every sentence which dilutes any meaning.
I might have pushed on past the writing style but then came blatant misogyny.
In a conversation between the two wives in the story, we come to a point that seems to be the opposite of passing the bechdel test. Implying there’s nothing women could really have a conversation about if not a man.
“Yes, this man. They both knew him; about him they could speak.”
It’s so weird that these two wives supposedly long term friends through their husbands and with daughters of a similar age are struggling to come up with anything to talk about.
Also why the fuck is this woman proud about firing someone? And thinks first that might be a conversation topic before decided no, the only thing two women can talk about is men.
If that was bad enough we go to imply that the only purpose of women is children.
On the subject of her daughter, the one wife thinks, “because they existed, she made sense.”
And to continue the theme, why not go on and just say that women are stupid and not great at stem.
By immediately having the daughter say “I’m bad at math” when asked about school.
The daughters go on to have a conversation at school taking about you guessed it, boys.
I also think this going to be a story that turns close male friendship into a gay romance which I think is a harmful stereotype.
I didn’t get far in but this might be the worst thing I read this year.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated