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ashleyhorning's review against another edition
I have mixed feelings about this book. I think that's because it is so misleading. The pleasent, purple cover and the happy font they used. Yes this book is about friendship but the entire time I was reading I kept thinking, "I would never" about my friends.
This book is less about life-long friends and is actually about two people who met at their first jobs, one slightly resenting the other before giving in and then refusing to support their friend as the course of life intervenes and their paths begin to go separate ways. For me, the characters were not only unlikeable but also unrelatable.
I will say it was nice to read about characters who were just approaching their thirties for once as I feel a lot of women's fiction (if you will) is mostly around the younger twenties crowd, those right out of college and trying to find themselves. As one who is herself approaching the 30 mark in the next couple of years reading this book made me feel almost better about myself, that my life wasn't in shambles like these two women.
I can't even touch on Sally and that whole plot line though. The apartments, the poor life choices, the men....
I will also say that prior to reading I was unaware of who the author was. Her name rang a bell but I thought I was thinking of Emily Giffin. And then when I was mid-novel and things really got rough I couldn't take it anymore and ending up getting on Goodreads to read reviews-something I always try to avoid until after I'm through with the book. It was only then I found out about Gould's past and then could understand the reason for Amy.
I cannot rate this book as I am still torn over what my final feelings are towards this book. Would I suggest my best friend read it? No.
This book is less about life-long friends and is actually about two people who met at their first jobs, one slightly resenting the other before giving in and then refusing to support their friend as the course of life intervenes and their paths begin to go separate ways. For me, the characters were not only unlikeable but also unrelatable.
I will say it was nice to read about characters who were just approaching their thirties for once as I feel a lot of women's fiction (if you will) is mostly around the younger twenties crowd, those right out of college and trying to find themselves. As one who is herself approaching the 30 mark in the next couple of years reading this book made me feel almost better about myself, that my life wasn't in shambles like these two women.
I can't even touch on Sally and that whole plot line though. The apartments, the poor life choices, the men....
I will also say that prior to reading I was unaware of who the author was. Her name rang a bell but I thought I was thinking of Emily Giffin. And then when I was mid-novel and things really got rough I couldn't take it anymore and ending up getting on Goodreads to read reviews-something I always try to avoid until after I'm through with the book. It was only then I found out about Gould's past and then could understand the reason for Amy.
I cannot rate this book as I am still torn over what my final feelings are towards this book. Would I suggest my best friend read it? No.
kfan's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this.
When I first heard about it I was like 'It's a book about 2 friends? In their 20s? Like, finding their way in life? How is that even going to be a book?"
But really right from the first chapter I was SUPER ON BOARD.
It is, like it says on the tin, about friendship. Not just about the ups and downs and breakups and reconnections we have with our friends as we make our way through life, although there's plenty of that, but also it's about how to learn to love yourself and your path through life. How to balance taking care of your needs while taking care of other people's, and figuring out what is your job and what is not your job, both literally and metaphorically.
There are 3 main characters, all women, and they have men in their lives to varying degrees, although the men all quickly fade into the background. And this is wonderful and great and just as it should be. And despite being a man I found so much to love, so much to identify with in this book, from the temping and the service jobs, to the quitting and walking out, to the knowing you should pick up the phone but not being able to, to the You don't get me or deserve me b/c of what I'm going through, to the wonder at the distances that grow between friendships, the sort of marveling at Wait, how the hell did you get all the way over there?
And it's sad and sweet and surprising but it's also SO funny, the writing is light but incredibly pointed, and the characterizations are so perfect, you can feel the weight of Amy & Bev's shared history so well.
Anyone comparing this to Lena Dunham, or Marie Calloway, or Miranda July: I don't get it and I don't see it. People who say the characters aren't likable, I also don't get it, although maybe I was too busy relating to stop and wonder about the implications of whether I would be a likable character. Probably not! Oh well!
When I first heard about it I was like 'It's a book about 2 friends? In their 20s? Like, finding their way in life? How is that even going to be a book?"
But really right from the first chapter I was SUPER ON BOARD.
It is, like it says on the tin, about friendship. Not just about the ups and downs and breakups and reconnections we have with our friends as we make our way through life, although there's plenty of that, but also it's about how to learn to love yourself and your path through life. How to balance taking care of your needs while taking care of other people's, and figuring out what is your job and what is not your job, both literally and metaphorically.
There are 3 main characters, all women, and they have men in their lives to varying degrees, although the men all quickly fade into the background. And this is wonderful and great and just as it should be. And despite being a man I found so much to love, so much to identify with in this book, from the temping and the service jobs, to the quitting and walking out, to the knowing you should pick up the phone but not being able to, to the You don't get me or deserve me b/c of what I'm going through, to the wonder at the distances that grow between friendships, the sort of marveling at Wait, how the hell did you get all the way over there?
And it's sad and sweet and surprising but it's also SO funny, the writing is light but incredibly pointed, and the characterizations are so perfect, you can feel the weight of Amy & Bev's shared history so well.
Anyone comparing this to Lena Dunham, or Marie Calloway, or Miranda July: I don't get it and I don't see it. People who say the characters aren't likable, I also don't get it, although maybe I was too busy relating to stop and wonder about the implications of whether I would be a likable character. Probably not! Oh well!
lindick's review against another edition
4.0
Definitely not perfect, but I'm so hungry for books that are about friendship at their hearts (instead of nominally about friendship but really about romance etc), and it did so many things right, that I mostly loved it.
The plot wasn't about what I thought it was going to be about, and the token fight between the friends seemed weirdly both to come from nowhere and also to be too serious to overcome (like maybe it revealed some fundamental deep-seeded problems in the friendship that couldn't be fixed? But I guess that's a difficult line to gauge, and it happens in rom-coms etc too, in the "must create a problem now for drama/plot reasons" part of the story), but I ended up not minding that as much as I thought I would. Also, I totally cried at the end. Bottom line, I want more books like this. I guess people are tired of media about girls being broke and in shambles and confused in their 20s in New York City but I'm not over that yet and might not be for quite a while.
The plot wasn't about what I thought it was going to be about, and the token fight between the friends seemed weirdly both to come from nowhere and also to be too serious to overcome (like maybe it revealed some fundamental deep-seeded problems in the friendship that couldn't be fixed? But I guess that's a difficult line to gauge, and it happens in rom-coms etc too, in the "must create a problem now for drama/plot reasons" part of the story), but I ended up not minding that as much as I thought I would. Also, I totally cried at the end. Bottom line, I want more books like this. I guess people are tired of media about girls being broke and in shambles and confused in their 20s in New York City but I'm not over that yet and might not be for quite a while.
sarahc1215's review against another edition
1.0
The gist of it: Amy and Bev are too early thirty-somethings trying to make it in new york. Amy comes from a background of wealth, flirted with internet fame and fell from glory into an overpriced apartment with an emotionally unavailable boyfriend. Bev comes from an uber religious family in the midwest, is struggling to make her student loan payments for an MFA program she didn't complete, lives with a bunch of disgusting roommates and goes from low-paying job to low-paying job while hoping to get her 'big break' as an author. Throw a one-night stand and a pregnancy into a mix, add an unlikely, infertile couple, and bam...you have one of the worst books I've ever read.
My reaction: Amy and Bev are both vapid and narcissistic. Even pregnancy and motherhood seem to be selfish acts--capstone projects for women, if you will, without much thought to the actual responsibility of caring for and rearing another human being. It's all about what the pregnancy/baby do for the women--instill wisdom, provide a healthy glow, etc.
My reaction: Amy and Bev are both vapid and narcissistic. Even pregnancy and motherhood seem to be selfish acts--capstone projects for women, if you will, without much thought to the actual responsibility of caring for and rearing another human being. It's all about what the pregnancy/baby do for the women--instill wisdom, provide a healthy glow, etc.
librarydosebykristy's review against another edition
3.0
I found this book when searching for an available audiobook to download and listen to on my drive to work. I didn't expect to like it all! I thought the story was good and felt very much like a first novel. It was a well done and throughful depiction of two modern women, living in New York City, on the cusp of turning 30. Both of them are struggling to make their lives work and both face setbacks. The audio narrator was a strange choice for this particular book, but I liked the story. It's timely and relevant.
thchainz's review against another edition
2.0
meh. lots of this book was too much of a weird millennial fantasy to me for me to like it. so many of my friends and myself are living lives like bev without a fairy godmother situation that it makes the book annoying and not enjoyable for me. amy is totally unlikeable too but less sad, just spoiled. i def should have skipped this one.
christine_queenofbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Bingeable "beach read" that's not too superficial or predictable.
kristengbaker's review against another edition
3.0
I was really enjoying this book until roughly the halfway point. I could relate to both Amy and Bev, even though our experiences were different. Then suddenly it felt like the book took a turn that made no sense. The whole situation with Jason and Sally was bizarre.