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77 reviews for:
Friendshipping: The Art of Finding Friends, Being Friends, and Keeping Friends
Jenn Bane, Trin Garritano
3.81 AVERAGE
77 reviews for:
Friendshipping: The Art of Finding Friends, Being Friends, and Keeping Friends
Jenn Bane, Trin Garritano
3.81 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
funny
informative
fast-paced
Friendship as an adult is hard and heartbreaking so I am so grateful to the publisher for my advanced copy . I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. It focuses and has beautiful ideas on how to improve relationships and this beautifully illustrated guide offers tips,step by step guides on how to make small talk. After I was finished with this book I felt like I could have wonderful friendships . Highly recommend this book to EVERYONE and the cover is so gorgeous
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Inclusive and light-hearted, this self-help book surrounding friendships is catered perfectly to the Millennial audience. What Friendshipping: The Art of Finding Friends, Being Friends, and Keeping Friends lacks in depth, it makes up for in its uplifting and hopeful message. With practice, patience, and some self reflection, everyone can form meaningful friendships in adulthood.
Trin Pierse and Jenn Bane started off as co-workers who became friends. Their podcast (which has the same name as their book) is centered around promoting and nurturing adult relationships. It's natural that those who listen to the podcast will become interested in Friendshipping. As an individual who was unaware of Pierse and Bane's works before receiving a copy of the book through NetGalley, the book is also fine as a stand alone piece. Anyone who finds self-help books informative and useful (and are looking for new friendships) will likely find something useful or validating inside Friendshipping.
While reading, I appreciated the question answer approach to their friendship advice prompts, and also loved their message of inclusivity and acceptance. What holds this book back from a higher rating is because their information is broad but not very deep. Much of the advice boils down to simple suggestions, rather than any in depth guidance. This means a lot of the advice can come across to many readers as common sense. I would much rather have a book advocate for therapy and counseling to solve deeper rooted issues than pretend that they are capable of changing peoples' lives. This said, there were definitely parts of the book where I wondered what happens if someone is already doing everything they have suggested, but still feel left out.
Trin Pierse and Jenn Bane started off as co-workers who became friends. Their podcast (which has the same name as their book) is centered around promoting and nurturing adult relationships. It's natural that those who listen to the podcast will become interested in Friendshipping. As an individual who was unaware of Pierse and Bane's works before receiving a copy of the book through NetGalley, the book is also fine as a stand alone piece. Anyone who finds self-help books informative and useful (and are looking for new friendships) will likely find something useful or validating inside Friendshipping.
While reading, I appreciated the question answer approach to their friendship advice prompts, and also loved their message of inclusivity and acceptance. What holds this book back from a higher rating is because their information is broad but not very deep. Much of the advice boils down to simple suggestions, rather than any in depth guidance. This means a lot of the advice can come across to many readers as common sense. I would much rather have a book advocate for therapy and counseling to solve deeper rooted issues than pretend that they are capable of changing peoples' lives. This said, there were definitely parts of the book where I wondered what happens if someone is already doing everything they have suggested, but still feel left out.
Content Warnings
Minor: Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship
Content warnings are for the topics discussed, and not the book's poor handling of content. The content discussed in the book was inclusive and challenged harmful ideas and actions.
funny
informative
medium-paced
I gave this book 4 stars out of 5. Personally, for me, it wasn’t really “4” stars helpful but I recognize that for my younger self, it would’ve been a 4 star book. I am in my 50s now and have already internalized a lot of the lessons that were in this book so I don’t think I found it as helpful as it might’ve been for other people. But younger me could’ve really used this book. I also appreciate the very modern approach and thoughtful consideration of people’s pronouns, gender preference, etc. And encouraging the calling out of racist and bigoted behavior.
funny
informative
inspiring
I have listened to Jenn and Trin’s Friendshipping podcast for a couple of years now. I adore it, mostly for their amusing and endearing banter, but also for their compassionate takes on listener questions about doing friendship—I enjoy their emphasis on this idea that friendship is a verb, because I agree. So when I heard they had turned their podcast into a self-help book, I pre-ordered the hell out of it—and I was also fortunate enough to get to read it early thanks to Workman and NetGalley.
Friendshipping: The Art of Finding Friends, Being Friends, and Keeping Friends is a very straightforward book, divided into three parts per its subtitle. From its tone and overall language to its art design (by Jean Wei), the target audience is millennials—I suspect older generations will find Jenn and Trin’s brand of humour too youthful, whereas Gen Z and younger will look at them as “oldies.” This is a book for people of an age that is used to moving for work and school, to navigating the Internet but still holding it slightly at arm’s length, to embracing nerdiness as something that we still think is uncool (even though it is now mainstream). I’m not saying younger or older people wouldn’t benefit from this book, but it knows its niche and goes for it, which is probably for the best.
Indeed, I think this book will appeal to people who are looking for friends or friendship advice but who are skeptical of more polished, adult-looking self-help books. The chapters here are very conversational, with plenty of sidebars with practical tips. This isn’t a book I would recommend reading from start to finish—rather, you can dip into it for reference as and when you need help with various situations.
I love the inclusive nature of the book. There is a section dedicated to pronouns, for instance. They talk about healthy boundaries in friendships. They acknowledge that friendships are difficult work, sometimes, and that more often than not the issues in a friendship are the result of both parties, not just one. They talk about what to do if you are the toxic friend.
If I personally didn’t get that much out of this book on my initial read, it’s only because—and I am totally bragging here—I am very satisfied with my friendships at this point in my life. Indeed, for about the past 3 years, I feel like I have finally cultivated the types of healthy friendships and acquaintances an adult should have in her life: I have found close friends who support me and who let me support them; I am beginning to get more comfortable at making new acquaintances and expanding my circle ever so slightly. So I am lucky enough to report that I am happy, at least in that sense, and at least for now.
But friendship is something you do, not something you have indefinitely. I am sure I will face rocky moments of indecision, and when I do, this will be a good book to have on my shelf. Jenn and Trin’s wisdom comes from the fact that they don’t pretend to know it all—you will find practical advice in this book, tips for starting difficult conversations, that kind of thing, yes, but the majority of this book boils down to a single thesis: be kind to your friends and potential friends. And although I can’t remember if they say it in the book, perhaps the single best thing I have learned from Jenn and Trin’s podcast is that there is a difference between being nice and being kind. Sometimes in our attempts to be nice, to not ruffle feathers or make people upset, we do no kindness through dissembly. Sometimes telling an uncomfortable truth is kinder. Kindness is not always easy to figure out, just like friendship isn’t always easy to put into practice.
I think the best way you can decide if this book is for you is to listen to an episode of their podcast. The book is the podcast, just curated and then frozen in carbonite; the podcast is the book on a weekly release schedule with more discussion of snails and Animal Crossing. As I said at the beginning, I don’t think this book is for everyone, and that is ok and probably for the best—self-help books should target a niche. For some people, though, I suspect this book will give useful succour and guidance, and that pleases me.
Originally posted at Kara.Reviews.
Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Friendshipping is a book about (surprise surprise!) the art of friendship.
We learn about the psychological aspects of friendship, metathinking, how to find new friends when you're already in your mid twenties, how to stay friends (even when y'all have a dry spell) and when it's time to say goodbye to friends.
I loved this book more than I expected to.
The podcast style writing, which had a warm and confiding feel to it, made me laugh more than a handful of times.
And the cute illustrations gave the whole an additional sprinkle of glitter!
But this of course was not all fun and games.
The advice and examplary dos and don'ts were written very clearly and based off of many scientific facts and self experinces.
There was never a time, where the topic was spoken about too much or too little and was well rounded.
All in all, this book was very unique, since we don't see much about this topic being published as well as informative.
Highly recommend to anyone, who wants to know more about the aspects of friendship.
Friendshipping is a book about (surprise surprise!) the art of friendship.
We learn about the psychological aspects of friendship, metathinking, how to find new friends when you're already in your mid twenties, how to stay friends (even when y'all have a dry spell) and when it's time to say goodbye to friends.
I loved this book more than I expected to.
The podcast style writing, which had a warm and confiding feel to it, made me laugh more than a handful of times.
And the cute illustrations gave the whole an additional sprinkle of glitter!
But this of course was not all fun and games.
The advice and examplary dos and don'ts were written very clearly and based off of many scientific facts and self experinces.
There was never a time, where the topic was spoken about too much or too little and was well rounded.
All in all, this book was very unique, since we don't see much about this topic being published as well as informative.
Highly recommend to anyone, who wants to know more about the aspects of friendship.