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A review by theresidentbookworm
Bass Ackwards and Belly Up by Sarah Fain, Elizabeth Craft
5.0
I had a huge hole in my heart (and my library) after I read the fourth (and at the time final) book of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I really loved the Sisterhood. Okay, I still love the Sisterhood. Still, I needed something else to comfort me, and so I picked up Bass Ackwards and Belly Up mostly because I heard it described as a grown-up Sisterhood.
Bass Ackwards and Belly Up is a lot like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants on the surface: four longtime best friends (which means four points of view), coming of age plotline, great friendships, etc. What sets Bass Ackwards apart, however, is its realism. The Sisterhood always felt to me like the idealized level of friendship, the ones I wished I had, the kind we always see in movies and books. Most friends don't have magic jeans or a trip to Greece to bond after we go to college. Real friendship doesn't really look like the Sisterhood. It looks more like Bass Ackwards and Belly Up. Harper, Sophie, Kate, and Becca are best friends, but they have their differences. Sometimes they're closer to certain people in the group than others. Sometimes they don't tell each other the stuff they should. Sometimes they surprise each other. Bass Ackwards depicts longterm friendships as they actually are: wonderful and complicated and funny and supportive. You have to work to maintain them in college, and you figure out which ones are important. I've had the same three best friends (aka the fam) for years, and so Bass Ackwards always feel authentic to me.
Bass Ackwards and Belly Up is a great book about friendship, but it is a fantastic book about college and becoming an adult. I identify so much with Bass Ackwards now in ways that I couldn't at sixteen. Harper Waddle and I especially have a scary amount in common. I've experienced a lot of the same things, and I understand why she did what she did. It was dumb and a little selfish, but I understand why she was embarrassed and afraid. There's this awful stigma around people who don't get into the right college or don't go or drop out, and it's utter crap. Bass Ackwards shows all the difficulties of "adulting" as I like to call it. I kind of feel like I'm playing at it most of the time, and Bass Ackwards perfectly captures the feeling.
I love Bass Ackwards and Belly Up almost as much as I love the Sisterhood. That's epic love right there. Recommended!
Bass Ackwards and Belly Up is a lot like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants on the surface: four longtime best friends (which means four points of view), coming of age plotline, great friendships, etc. What sets Bass Ackwards apart, however, is its realism. The Sisterhood always felt to me like the idealized level of friendship, the ones I wished I had, the kind we always see in movies and books. Most friends don't have magic jeans or a trip to Greece to bond after we go to college. Real friendship doesn't really look like the Sisterhood. It looks more like Bass Ackwards and Belly Up. Harper, Sophie, Kate, and Becca are best friends, but they have their differences. Sometimes they're closer to certain people in the group than others. Sometimes they don't tell each other the stuff they should. Sometimes they surprise each other. Bass Ackwards depicts longterm friendships as they actually are: wonderful and complicated and funny and supportive. You have to work to maintain them in college, and you figure out which ones are important. I've had the same three best friends (aka the fam) for years, and so Bass Ackwards always feel authentic to me.
Bass Ackwards and Belly Up is a great book about friendship, but it is a fantastic book about college and becoming an adult. I identify so much with Bass Ackwards now in ways that I couldn't at sixteen. Harper Waddle and I especially have a scary amount in common. I've experienced a lot of the same things, and I understand why she did what she did. It was dumb and a little selfish, but I understand why she was embarrassed and afraid. There's this awful stigma around people who don't get into the right college or don't go or drop out, and it's utter crap. Bass Ackwards shows all the difficulties of "adulting" as I like to call it. I kind of feel like I'm playing at it most of the time, and Bass Ackwards perfectly captures the feeling.
I love Bass Ackwards and Belly Up almost as much as I love the Sisterhood. That's epic love right there. Recommended!