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oliviawhitton's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed the writing style of the author, but I did not find any of the characters especially likeable or interesting. While they definitely had a few negative things happen to them out of their control, by and large the issues that befell everyone in this book were of their own doing, and it was annoying that they never tried that hard to improve their circumstances. There's only so much whining I can take from privileged, white NYC-dwellers, you know?
justinereinosa's review against another edition
3.0
It was enticing to a certain degree. The beginning and middle kept up a steady pace and interest. As it got closer to the end I started to question whether the loose ends I felt lingered would be tied up (some weren't).
I give it this, the people (save Sally) seemed like real people. They each had something that could be relatable and I didn't absolutely hate every single one of them.
Honestly, I enjoyed the story but not so much the characters.
I give it this, the people (save Sally) seemed like real people. They each had something that could be relatable and I didn't absolutely hate every single one of them.
Honestly, I enjoyed the story but not so much the characters.
katy_alice's review against another edition
2.0
It's HBO's 'Girls' without wit, or depth, or pathos... Which is saying something as 'Girls' is in my opinion often delivers those in short supply.
The thing that makes this book really difficult to enjoy is that the women in it are one dimensional narcissists who aren't interesting enough to be compelling.
The thing that makes this book really difficult to enjoy is that the women in it are one dimensional narcissists who aren't interesting enough to be compelling.
petersonline's review against another edition
4.0
Emily Gould spent the majority of her twenties in the middle of intense Internet backlash. She started out at the now-defunct blog Gawker, which led to a TV show appearance where Jimmy Kimmel told her she was "going to hell" for the creation of the Gawker Stalker Map, which allowed people to know where their favorite celebrities were in New York at any given time. It was a gross protection of celebrities, a strange defense of an attack on the rich and famous that Emily Gould was made out to be responsible for. Later on, she left Gawker and wrote a cover-piece about it in The New York Times Magazine, once again sparking backlash, but eventually landing a book deal for her first essay collection, "And The Heart Says Whatever." The essay collection flopped, and the Internet vitriol directed at Gould continued to pour in. She became known to her detractors as an oversharer, sometimes a navel gazer. However, to her fans, Emily Gould is a writer filled with a certain amount of New York coolness and charm, a self-awareness that feels alive whenever you read her. Emily Gould seems untouchable because she's always in on the joke.
Her novel Friendship, which also sparked backlash for the aforementioned reasons, but also backlash involving her friend Ruth Curry, who wasn't pleased about being the inspiration behind Bev, one of the characters in the novel. Curry and Gould are still best friends though, and are the co-owners of feminist publishing start-up Emily Books, an imprint of Coffee House Press that publishes "weird books by women." The books on the Emily Books imprint, like Temporary by Hilary Leichter and Problems by Jade Sharma, are fun, funky, and slightly off-kilter. Emily Gould's novels, however, are a bit more straightforward. Very little in her books could be considered off-kilter or weird.
Friendship is the story of Amy and Bev, two best friends living in New York who have just hit 30 and are at two different stages in life. Amy lives in a sunny one-bedroom and has an asshole-artist boyfriend who acts like your typical Art Man, Bev lives in an apartment with roommates. Amy works at Yidster, a blog that looks at contemporary issues through a "Jewish angle" (Amy, much like Gould, left her previous blogging job and became the target of lots of Internet vitriol), Bev is stuck in an endless temping swamp, working mindless and unfulfilling jobs.
Pretty early on in the book, Bev gets pregnant, and obvious complications ensue. There's not a lot I can say about this book without giving too much away, but the way Gould tracks this friendship and these women is extremely compelling. This is, as the title suggests, a deep portrayal of the ins and outs of friendship, and how being a good friend takes work. Gould's writing remains, like her other books, pretty simple throughout. Straightforward prose with cutting social observations scattered throughout. For a woman who once received death threats for being too judgmental on the internet, Friendship is a remarkably non-judgmental book.
Friendship falters in the sections where Gould's personality seems to fade. Sometimes the narration can feel stale, immobile. Friendship is narrated in the third person, and while that works for this story, it also makes some of the more emotional parts of the book feel less three-dimensional than they should. I was impressed, however, by how well Gould was able to weave this story together. There was a proper, not overindulgent use of backstory that added a lot to the story (unlike the needless backstory used by authors who write about similar topics, like J. Courtney Sullivan), and I appreciated how, in the end, it was clear who the better friend was, but Gould still gave you reasons to root for both Amy and Bev. Some may find that corny, but I felt it was necessary for a book that aimed to depict the nuances of a friendship.
I've enjoyed everything I've read of Emily Gould's, but this is easily her best book. A page-turner, but also a novel where the reader is guaranteed to see parts of themselves in both Amy and Bev. For a book that primarily seeks to write about friendship and its many trials and tribulations (a book that has definitely been done before by other authors, though none as strong or as down-to-earth as Gould), Friendship ultimately shines.
Her novel Friendship, which also sparked backlash for the aforementioned reasons, but also backlash involving her friend Ruth Curry, who wasn't pleased about being the inspiration behind Bev, one of the characters in the novel. Curry and Gould are still best friends though, and are the co-owners of feminist publishing start-up Emily Books, an imprint of Coffee House Press that publishes "weird books by women." The books on the Emily Books imprint, like Temporary by Hilary Leichter and Problems by Jade Sharma, are fun, funky, and slightly off-kilter. Emily Gould's novels, however, are a bit more straightforward. Very little in her books could be considered off-kilter or weird.
Friendship is the story of Amy and Bev, two best friends living in New York who have just hit 30 and are at two different stages in life. Amy lives in a sunny one-bedroom and has an asshole-artist boyfriend who acts like your typical Art Man, Bev lives in an apartment with roommates. Amy works at Yidster, a blog that looks at contemporary issues through a "Jewish angle" (Amy, much like Gould, left her previous blogging job and became the target of lots of Internet vitriol), Bev is stuck in an endless temping swamp, working mindless and unfulfilling jobs.
Pretty early on in the book, Bev gets pregnant, and obvious complications ensue. There's not a lot I can say about this book without giving too much away, but the way Gould tracks this friendship and these women is extremely compelling. This is, as the title suggests, a deep portrayal of the ins and outs of friendship, and how being a good friend takes work. Gould's writing remains, like her other books, pretty simple throughout. Straightforward prose with cutting social observations scattered throughout. For a woman who once received death threats for being too judgmental on the internet, Friendship is a remarkably non-judgmental book.
Friendship falters in the sections where Gould's personality seems to fade. Sometimes the narration can feel stale, immobile. Friendship is narrated in the third person, and while that works for this story, it also makes some of the more emotional parts of the book feel less three-dimensional than they should. I was impressed, however, by how well Gould was able to weave this story together. There was a proper, not overindulgent use of backstory that added a lot to the story (unlike the needless backstory used by authors who write about similar topics, like J. Courtney Sullivan), and I appreciated how, in the end, it was clear who the better friend was, but Gould still gave you reasons to root for both Amy and Bev. Some may find that corny, but I felt it was necessary for a book that aimed to depict the nuances of a friendship.
I've enjoyed everything I've read of Emily Gould's, but this is easily her best book. A page-turner, but also a novel where the reader is guaranteed to see parts of themselves in both Amy and Bev. For a book that primarily seeks to write about friendship and its many trials and tribulations (a book that has definitely been done before by other authors, though none as strong or as down-to-earth as Gould), Friendship ultimately shines.
sam_rockbrune's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. It follows two best friends in their late 20s/early 30s as they are forced to grow up. It also demonstrates the struggle of friendship when you have to make hard choices that will better your life over your friendship. This book also demonstrates that you don’t have to nor will you have it together typically right after you graduate – and may just continue to be screwing things up for a while. It was kind of depressing in a sense that at some point you need to grow up, stop dreaming and hoping and actually live in a reality where you do not achieve the cool lifestyle you wanted.
elysareadsitall's review against another edition
3.0
This story is definitely interesting. You follow two friends, who are both human disasters, and how their friendship changes as their lives progress. I was intrigued but not completely invested in the story. Since both characters were such a mess, it was hard to feel for them. They kept making poor choices and then getting angry at other people for not helping them out. I did like the exploration of friendship though.
amandanan's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable read. Like that it passes the Bechdel Test. Parts of it hit really close to home on an uncomfortable level, me being in somewhat of the same boat as Amy.
csquared85's review against another edition
3.0
I felt like this book was a little too slim. We see Amy and Bev hit different rough patches and learn to "grow up", but I didn't feel like I got to know either of them well enough to make it meaningful. They felt familiar to me, though, as they should: Amy, all clueless, thoughtless entitlement because she's been able to coast through life and Bev, so beaten down by so many years of not fitting in that she often sells herself short. Sally feels like an afterthought, a throwaway deus ex machina of a character. We don't spend anywhere near enough time with her to make her feel like anything other than a convenient plot point.
It's very realistic how their friendship evolves and warps with the changes in their circumstances. It happens to us all at this age, I think. Some people are hitting the fast track with marriage and babies and mortgages while others are stuck in neutral with low-paying jobs or crummy casual relationships or grad school (or all three), and when you're at a different stage in the game than your friend, you just don't fit together as well anymore. While you can deny that this shift is happening for a while, eventually you pull away (at least a little).
This book nails that queasy feeling of tugging the parachute cord to discover nothing happens: there's nothing else that can save you from free-fall but your own ingenuity. Some people fall harder than others and some people bounce back quicker, as Bev and Amy illustrate.
It's very realistic how their friendship evolves and warps with the changes in their circumstances. It happens to us all at this age, I think. Some people are hitting the fast track with marriage and babies and mortgages while others are stuck in neutral with low-paying jobs or crummy casual relationships or grad school (or all three), and when you're at a different stage in the game than your friend, you just don't fit together as well anymore. While you can deny that this shift is happening for a while, eventually you pull away (at least a little).
This book nails that queasy feeling of tugging the parachute cord to discover nothing happens: there's nothing else that can save you from free-fall but your own ingenuity. Some people fall harder than others and some people bounce back quicker, as Bev and Amy illustrate.
jlholowaty's review against another edition
2.0
Eh. Very mediocre story about friendship. Relatively underdeveloped and, at times, not all that realistic. Could have been much better.
colleenoakes's review against another edition
4.0
Your conversations with your girlfriends were NEVER this dicey. Meet Amy and Bev, two terrible people and even worse friends to each other. As they stumble their way through a life that is both ridiculously easy and terribly hard at the same time, we get to watch as they grow as individuals - and apart as friends. Emily Gould has obviously experienced both the decline of the adult female friendship and has experience working in the new world of content and blogs and - does this all even mean ANYTHING-ness. I loved Bev and loathed Amy by the books end, but its safe to say that I loved the book through and through. Anti-heriones are hard to do without the reader turning on the author, but I personally would love be Emily Gould's friend.