Reviews with content warning for Hate crime - Best of Friends

Best of Friends is a novel of two halves. In the first half best friends Zahra and Maryam are 14 year olds living in Karachi. They were well-depicted both as teenage girls and as individuals characters, and I felt myself transported to their world. They shared typical teenage interests and experiences - boys, changing bodies, school and music - but their different class backgrounds contributed to different experiences and expectations. I appreciated the way Pakistani history at this time featured in the plot - particularly the belief and hope the election of Benazir Bhutto provided to teenage girls. The pivotal scene in this section, where a spontaneous decision put the girls in danger, was especially memorable. As an adult reader I knew the decision was a bad one but I could easily understand why it was made. Their fear and sense of helplessness as they realised their mistake was palpable, and sadly relatable.

The second part of the book occurs in Britain thirty years later. Both Zahra and Maryam have influential careers which see them interacting with the government, although their goals are very different. To me the strength of this section was not the portrayal of the women or their friendship, which often seemed a matter of history and habit more than genuine current connection. I felt there was a little too much telling instead of showing. I found the depictions of the behind-the-scenes machinations of the British political system, the way money was used to attempt to buy influence, and the use and abuse of social media to be more compelling, especially when it was combined with issues like race, Islamophobia, and immigration, and the impacts on one individual’s life was highlighted.

Overall I don’t think this is Shamsie’s strongest novel but I still enjoyed it, even if the aspects I enjoyed and found strongest differed in each section.

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saestrah's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A free advanced reading copy of this title was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review:

Best of Friends was a relatively easy to read book that I enjoyed from the start, and invites the reader into the world of Zahra and Maryam in Pakistan in the 1980s. Shamsie's writing draws the reader into their lives in an accessible way, and I picked up on each character's motivations quickly without feeling like I was force-fed; it felt much more fluid. The first part of the novel is set when Zahra and Maryam are teenage girls experiencing a taste of adulthood against a backdrop of political unrest, coming to a climax during the events of a party where Zahra and Maryam's decisions effect the rest of their futures. The second part of the novel is set 30 years later when Zahra and Maryam are both living in the UK, and despite the test of time and distance, are still best friends.
What I loved most about the novel is the strongest theme running through the text: that friendship can withstand the test of time and distance, and that a friendship can be the most important relationship in one's life, more than family, more than romantic love. Another aspect of this book that I loved was how fleshed out Zahra and Maryam were as characters. Though their narration styles were very similar and meant I often lost track of which character I was following, as characters they felt very real. Because we are given both characters' perspectives throughout the novel, it's easy to understand where both are coming from, even when they stand on opposite sides of a political or personal issue. This is a book about personal loyalties and values, especially when it comes to relating to other people with upbringings different from our own. I don't think I would reread it, but I'm definitely glad for it to have taken up space on my (digital) bookshelf.

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