Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Women sometimes view other women as luckier, more privileged, more stable, better dressed, prettier. Women’s friendship can be tricky with this blend of admiration and resentment as Friends and Strangers explores.
There is a scene early on at a women’s book club that told me I would enjoy this book. The character, Elizabeth, is privately judgy and publicly demure, trying to like this situation when she’s out of sync.
The two central characters are Elizabeth, a writer and new mother, and Sam, her college-student nanny and an artist. Each are at a point where they feel isolated and misunderstood, and they form an instant bond. Elizabeth and her husband have left their hip Brooklyn existence for a small college town upstate; Sam’s boyfriend is 12 years older, lives in a London, and wants her to marry him and live his dream in a country cottage.
As the women develop more perspective on each other, the friendship wavers. Elizabeth doesn’t seem to care about how much she spends, which Sam finds thrilling then alienating. Sam, a scholarship student, has ties with the Hispanic women she works w in the college cafeteria and must budget carefully to avoid seeming working class at a private college; she tries to balance the varied friendships and to seem at home in all places. Elizabeth comes to see how young and inexperienced Sam is, and finds it hard to watch her make bad choices; this beats dealing with her own problems.
Class is a driving issue here as I’d the nature of friendship and trust. The pace is just right—good mix of introspection and action.
There is a scene early on at a women’s book club that told me I would enjoy this book. The character, Elizabeth, is privately judgy and publicly demure, trying to like this situation when she’s out of sync.
The two central characters are Elizabeth, a writer and new mother, and Sam, her college-student nanny and an artist. Each are at a point where they feel isolated and misunderstood, and they form an instant bond. Elizabeth and her husband have left their hip Brooklyn existence for a small college town upstate; Sam’s boyfriend is 12 years older, lives in a London, and wants her to marry him and live his dream in a country cottage.
As the women develop more perspective on each other, the friendship wavers. Elizabeth doesn’t seem to care about how much she spends, which Sam finds thrilling then alienating. Sam, a scholarship student, has ties with the Hispanic women she works w in the college cafeteria and must budget carefully to avoid seeming working class at a private college; she tries to balance the varied friendships and to seem at home in all places. Elizabeth comes to see how young and inexperienced Sam is, and finds it hard to watch her make bad choices; this beats dealing with her own problems.
Class is a driving issue here as I’d the nature of friendship and trust. The pace is just right—good mix of introspection and action.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked how Sullivan approached the subject of class difference -- not just as defined by dollars and cents, but as defined by the presence of choices. Education gives us choices. I spend my days surrounded by lawyers -- some of us have 7 and 8 figure incomes as partners in large law firms, some of us have spent our careers in government so we are getting by, some of us (like me) work in higher ed so we are broke :) But we still hang out together, take trips together (where i get to stay at their beach and mountain houses), and basically do the same things with our spare time. We have choices and we have similar standards, values and tastes. Class distinctions are more subtle than merely looking at income, and Sullivan explores this. Not deeply, but she goes there, and most things I read do not. I was particularly pleased with the relationship between Sam and the cafeteria workers at the college (Smith I assume.) This was not just a book about relationships between parents and nannies (which gets written about a lot) but about those with post-high school educations from elite institutions vs. state colleges vs. those none or with community college degrees. Its about the divide between those who live in large cities and those that live far outside of them, between those who work in jobs they want and those that have to work at whatever is available to feed themselves and those under their care. Structurally I felt the resolution, or really the lack of resolution, of this story was well done, as was the fairly subtle nod to how we grow and learn about ourselves and others with the passage of time. (Sullivan also really nailed the overeducated mommy facebook page conversation and the personalities of the usual suspects thereon. )
There were also things that I thought were not well handled. I won't go through a list of complaints, but a lot of my problems with the book come down to me being frustrated beyond belief with Elisabeth as a character. For someone who over-analyzed everything, it was frustrating that she did not seem to ever give a moment's thought to her own actions for most of the book. Her actions just did not feel realistic for that character for most of the story. Maybe we were just supposed to see someone who, though likeable on short acquaintance, lied and manipulated people to get whatever she wanted and judged harshly everyone but herself, but I don't think that is what Sullivan intended. In the end I felt that Sullivan fell down on drawing Elisabeth and since she is our shepherd through the story everything suffered as a result.
This was a really flawed book that still has a lot to recommend it. I am glad i spent time with it.
There were also things that I thought were not well handled. I won't go through a list of complaints, but a lot of my problems with the book come down to me being frustrated beyond belief with Elisabeth as a character. For someone who over-analyzed everything, it was frustrating that she did not seem to ever give a moment's thought to her own actions for most of the book. Her actions just did not feel realistic for that character for most of the story. Maybe we were just supposed to see someone who, though likeable on short acquaintance, lied and manipulated people to get whatever she wanted and judged harshly everyone but herself, but I don't think that is what Sullivan intended. In the end I felt that Sullivan fell down on drawing Elisabeth and since she is our shepherd through the story everything suffered as a result.
This was a really flawed book that still has a lot to recommend it. I am glad i spent time with it.
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book should have been very boring, but the writing and character development were okay so I was able to get into it.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
same premise as such a fun age but possibly more woke
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While this book is relatable, I could not get into it. It reads like a boring diary or blog, with long info-dumping paragraphs and tangents. Lots of “telling” instead of “showing” through dialogue and action.
A somewhat successful author hires a college student as a part-time nanny and their relationship develops into more friendly territory, even though both women aren't clear of the boundaries. This book explores issues of motherhood, friendship, ambition, but it was ultimately pretty boring to me. I would have made it a DNF, but a friend had told me about a betrayal and I was curious----it wasn't worth the time and effort.