| Title | : | Best Friends Forever |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0743294297 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780743294294 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 368 |
| Publication | : | First published July 14, 2009 |
| Awards | : | Goodreads Choice Award Chick Lit (2009) |
Best Friends Forever Reviews
-
First, let me say that I am all for having a category of books that is good to read on the beach. Not everything I read needs to be deeply meaningful. But this book pushed the limits of what I am willing to tolerate, even if it's hot as hell outside, and I'm just looking for something easy.
The underlying storyline here is so rich -- there's a childhood friendship between two girls that went awry. Weiner has the opportunity to dig deeply into this kind of ultimate betrayal, but instead, she chooses to turn the book into a caper. Unrealistic police action. Easy bank robbery. Thelma and Louise on the loose.
I'm thinking that the author couldn't make up her mind about what kind of book she wanted to write, and she became trapped somewhere between silly and serious. I love Weiner's narrative voice, and I think she has become established enough to shake herself free from the limitations of the chick-lit genre. -
Okay, guys, you know I love me some Jennifer Weiner. I have gone to bat for her before, and I probably will again. HOWEVER. This one’s a stinker.
The plot, such as it is, is that Addie Downs opens her door one night and finds her best friend from high school standing there, covered in blood. Turns out that at their fifteenth reunion, Valerie ran over the guy who raped her during their school days, and then left him outside, naked and bleeding in the middle of a Chicago November.
Strong start and then…suckfest.
The book hinges on everyone having problems. Here, I’ll give you some convenient lists.
Addie’s family had the following problems:
Mother was fat, died of cancer.
Father had PTSD, died of aneurism.
Brother got into a car accident at fifteen, sustained a traumatic brain injury, and was permanently disabled.
Addie had binge eating disorder and topped out at 350 pounds.
Val’s family had the following problems:
Father didn’t want her, abdicated all responsibility for her.
Mother didn’t want her, kept her, exposed her to all sorts of horrible things, including a would-be stepfather who was also a would-be child molester.
High school acquaintance raped her.
All very sad, but of course there’s the requisite moment where Addie (our narrator) realizes that maybe, Valerie’s life was not as glamorous as she thought!
No shit.
Okay, so here were my major issues with this book. First off, Addie’s brother’s injury is played for pathos, and it’s not even his pathos—it’s Addie’s and the rest of the family’s. Addie keeps talking about how he had all these dreams and was so athletic and now he’s having seizures and drooling, and it’s SO PAINFUL to watch knowing what he used to be. And it’s just like, how do you think he feels? WE DON’T KNOW. Because he’s just a device to make us feel sorrier for Addie.
Also, okay. Yes, there are people with compulsive over-eating disorder out there—I am one of them—and yes, some of these people are extremely overweight. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, and I’m not saying that those stories don’t need to be told. But the problem is, most depictions of fat people in English-language literature are of people with compulsive overeating issues, and that is not terribly representative. Also? It feeds into (ha!) a lot of negative stereotypes about fat people: that we’re out of control, mindless consumers, that we’d be thin if we’d only try harder, etc. One of the things that I always respected about Jennifer Weiner is that she didn’t play into any of that: up until this point, her overweight characters have always been relatively healthy, just…overweight. Best Friends Forever is still not a conventional, “She lost weight and everything was GREAT!” story, but there are enough similarities to make me feel really, really unhappy and disappointed.
Finally, Weiner had to know that she would be inviting comparisons to Judy Blume’s Summer Sisters (The books have the following in common: a devil-may-care mother, a neglected child of privilege, an outcast best friend, and a WELL-KNOWN SEASIDE VACATION SPOT ON THE EASTERN SEABOARD). And oh, the comparisons are NOT favorable. Blume doesn’t give her two “sisters”—Vix and Caitlin—equal narrative weight: Caitlin is a bit of a mystery, and that’s the point. But Caitlin is still a fully realized character in a way that Val, her Best Friends Forever doppelganger, is not. Weiner has a bit of a problem about randomly inserting “best friend” characters into her books and then not developing them at all—usually this isn’t too much of an issue, but she did the same thing with Valerie, and it just doesn’t fly. When the book is called Best Friends Forever, you cannot have one of the best friends be a fucking cardboard cutout! I understand that Best Friends Forever is not Summer Sisters and that Weiner had a different narrative goal than Blume did, but FOR SERIOUS, that shit was just ridiculous.
Recommended for: If you’re a die-hard fan, go for it. Otherwise, skip it. -
I wanted something mindless for the summer but this wasn't even "so bad it's good" it was just...bad. For one thing it was impossible to feel for ANY of the characters. There was Addie, who garnered some sympathy points for having spent her teen years obese and having had a recent break-up with a boyfriend...but wait! That man wasn't even her boyfriend but a married man that she slept with and continuously referred to as her boyfriend. Nope. Then there's the cop, Jordan, who is investigating the crime that makes up the novel's plot. We're supposed to want Addie to get together with the creep who treats his wife poorly after her multiple miscarriages, masturbates to children's programming, constantly has an inner-monologue about his co-worker's ass, and breaks into Addie's house-because it's love at first sight!!!!- to sniff her clothing? Plus this is the guy who is easily convinced that her brain-damaged brother is the one who committed the crime because some random person says the brother stole stuff from lockers in high school? And don't even get me started on the stupid crime plot line. A horrible rape occurs so Valerie hits the guy with her car then runs away to Key West with Addie? And then we watch as Valerie takes advantage of Addie, spends all her money, and acts as if nothing happened and of course they're Bffs again because this is mindless chick lit!!! Oh and did I mention that Valerie ALSO has an affair with someone? What is with the author and affairs? THREE characters have them in this book!
Possibly the worst part is the fact that Valerie's rape is blown over when the rapist prays his sin away with a born-again Christian and turns himself in to the police station. Please, how belittling can you get?
Overall an unbelievable, nonsensical book that made me feel no connection to any of the characters. But it's okay because in the end Addie has a baby (from her older married "boyfriend") and ends up with the creepy cop. A baby and a man, just like any woman needs, of course! -
Oh my God, this was horrible. Jennifer Weiner, what happened? Your first two books were pretty good (chick-litty, but good) and then you give us this drivel?
I'm not sure if she had a one-day deadline and churned this thing out in a coffee-and-Bailey'-fueled all-nighter, but this was utter ridiculousness. Not believeable at all, not interesting at all, poorly sketched and redundant characters.
Down-on-her-luck, lonely, self-depricating fat girl! Vivacious, bubbly, irresponsible friend as her foil! Zany capers! Irrational discoveries! Men who say "we make sense together, you know that" the third time they meet someone! Yadda, yadda, yadda.
Holy hell. This made my previous three horrible reads (Swan Thieves, In the Kitchen and The Unnamed) look like highbrow literature. And for that, I'm grateful, I suppose. I guess it can always get worse.
***Also, as a TV meteorologist I must say that I am dismayed, annoyed, pissed off at the characterization of TV Talent and meteorology in this book. Hello! Valerie is NOT A METEOROLOGIST. Stop calling her one. We do not "read the weather". We do not deliver the weather from atop mechanical bulls. And most weatherpeople don't have their eye on the news anchor position and consider weather to be a "means to an end". There is no way this woman would have gotten a chief met job at a Top 5 station. I really wish Weiner had done a teensy bit of research. I'm still pissed about it.*** -
I looked forward to Jennifer Weiner's latest novel, Best Friends Forever: A Novel. I've enjoyed her previous books and I naively thought I'd like anything she writes. I was wrong.
The book's structure is nothing short of awkward. Weiner tells the story from a few characters' points of view, but there is nothing signifying the change except for a new chapter number. But, a new chapter doesn't always signify a new point of view. I had to backtrack several times to get my bearings on where I was in the story and it jolted me out of the novel's flow.
Addie Downs, the main character, is a giant cliche, pun intended. Did her last name really have to be Downs? As in Downs Syndrome? Very creative taunt for her high school classmates to chant... I was hoping for something more original. Why did both of her parents have to die and her brother be in assisted living all before she hit 20? Too tragic, even for chick lit.
Addie's best friend Val. Where do I begin? I couldn't help but think that she had a severe mental imbalance and needed treatment. I didn't think it was funny to have a comedic relief character who furthered the plot into a mess of implausibility to also suffer from a mental disease or defect. I found it mildly insulting for those out there who do suffer from a mental disorder.
Dan Swansea. I doubt that his encounter with Val and Holy Merry would transform him into a respectable and decent human being who knows right from wrong, even with the flashback to the defining moment in Dan's relationship with his mother where she tells him that she's given up on him. (really? Holy Merry? Again... where is the originality? I understand that the author has creative license in character naming, but setting up your characters' names to perpetuate the stereotypes you are having them play is just a little too much for me.)
Police Chief Jordan. Now there's a winner. Masturbating to a children's show at night and saving the suburbs by day! And what was the deal with that Key West trip? Police work at its worst... It was incredibly unbelievable.
Needless to say, I couldn't believe (not even for a second) that this story was plausible. Unfortunately for me, it read like a train wreck and I just couldn't look away. At least I can move onto something with more substance now. -
A better title for this one might have been Only Friend Ever. If that sounds depressing, well, at least it prepares you for the dark side of this book.
Adelaide Downs, the main character, really has only ever had one friend, but something happened between her and this friend during their senior year of high school. The phrase "ruined my life" gets thrown around a lot but the exact event doesn't get explained for quite a while.
I really think I'd have liked this book more if Addie had had more friends in her life up to the point where the book starts (late in the evening after a high school reunion that Addie doesn't attend). Addie doesn't even have a dog! The least the author could have done was give her a dog.
Although Addie is close to her parents and brother, tragic things have already happened to all three of them when the book starts.
Reading this, I really missed Jennifer Weiner's usual main characters, who may not have the bodies they want but who seem like they'd be more fun to know and are definitely more fun to read about. -
I hate to say it but I'm so disappointed in this book. The characters aren't well developed and Weiner tries to pack too much plot into the book. It felt like too much was explained, rather than shown to us. I didn't like the Valerie character and didn't think she redeemed herself - she just came off as unlikable and you wonder why Addie let her back into her life. I also disliked the ending - it felt thrown together, like a cop out and was way too cutesy. I've long been a fan of Weiner's work but I wish I hadn't spent the money on this book - definitely not worth it.
-
Another one I abandoned because I didn't really care what happened (or had happened) to any of the characters. Addie came across as such a whiny loser, very negative and depressing, spent her life dwelling on the past and the Big Mysterious Tragedy that had separated her from her high school friend Valerie (with whom she seemed rather unhealthily obsessed) instead of getting on with life and making new friends. At the same time she was so self-absorbed and focussed on all the things that had gone wrong in her life that she was completely incapable of realising that Val hadn't exactly had a happy life either - because oh, she's thin and pretty, everything must be perfect for her, not like pooor meeeee, people at school called me faaat, waaah. Etc.
The bits about her past were at least realistic - the 'present' section with her and Val going off on some loopy quest for revenge in the middle of the night was just preposturous. The whole thing was just an obvious time filler and frequently made no sense. "What's that, Val, you show up on my doorstep one night after 15 years's silence and an unnamed betrayal, claiming to have hit some guy with your car? Sure, I'll come with you and look for him. Well look at that, he's not where you left him. Let's search the house of a guy he used to be friends with in high school, he's sure to be there. Oh, he's not there? Oh, well, why don't you seduce a pastor in your car?" This is not an exaggeration.
The writing also seemed very repetitive, for instance in the section where (*spoiler*) John has the car accident and is brain damaged she spent about an hour saying "he was not brother I grew up with, he was not the same, he was not really *John* anymore" in two hundred different ways. Well, DER! Maybe it was just because I was listening to it on audiobook which makes for a much slower reading pace. -
It took me a long time to finish reading this book. I kept picking it up, reading a bit, and then putting it down. For a while, I wasn't sure why. The situation was compelling enough, the characters were relatable, there were mysteries to unfold as each page turned. It has all the makings of a good book.
But I finally figured out the problem: The characters, at least for me, were TOO relatable. Addie's character, in particular, often made me felt like someone had plundered my private thoughts and insecurities and printed them out on the page. It's good to be able to relate to the character, to put yourself in her place, but when it's unavoidable, it becomes uncomfortable. Addie is not a perfect person; she's deeply flawed, and you see her for all the good and the bad and everything in between. She's real... but she's too real. At times it's downright painful to read about her, because you just sit there nodding your head and agreeing with everything.
The friendship between Addie and Val is equally painful, for anyone who's ever had a "best friend." Again, it's all too easy to identify with Addie being the awkward, overweight, unpopular best friend of the perfect, beautiful, popular girl. And since the story is told from Addie's point of view, you naturally sympathize with her, and don't really see what Val's been through. She is harder to relate to, harder to sympathize with, and harder to like. In fact, far too often, you're left shaking your head at her stupidity or laughing at her crazy ideas and antics. In fact, for a book titled "Best Friends Forever," the lack of a viewpoint for both friends is a somewhat troubling flaw. There are two sides of the story, and we didn't really get enough of Val's to understand why she did what she did.
Jordan's character was interesting in his sad way. He was even more closed-off, more pathetic, more lonely than Addie, and it was only natural that they would eventually find each other. And you want both of them to find happiness. The trouble is that so much time is spent on filling out the backstory, and going on the "run" with Val, that they really didn't get much time to build a relationship before the book ended. I would have liked to have seen more of the connection between them, which was impossible given the plot. Yes, it was about the friendship between Addie and Val, not about her possible relationship with the hot but pathetically lonely divorced police chief, but still... so much time was spent describing how lonely Jordan was that it would have been nice to see him connecting a little more with the equally lonely Addie. Instead, he spent more time thinking about the Nighty-Night Lady than Addie.
Despite all of this, and despite the fact that the "on the run" plot didn't really go anywhere, it was an entertaining read once I got into it. I did eventually reach a point where I couldn't put it down and I finished the rest of the book in two days. And I was left smiling at the hopeful ending, wondering what would become of these characters once Addie's baby was born. I particularly liked Dan Swansea's plot line, in which he was rescued by Holy Mary Armbruster, found religion, and confessed to his crime from so long ago. I found myself hoping that, as miserable and useless a human being as he was, he turned his life around and made up for the crimes he had committed when he was younger.
Overall, I liked the book, even though it upset me at times. It does give a sense of hope that even the most hopeless cases can be turned around, and that we can rise up like phoenixes from the ashes of our own shattered lives. -
Best Friends Forever-Jennifer Weiner- I wasn’t especially fond of this book while reading it, and the more I thought about it after I finished the less I liked it. The book follows two stories, one in the present day and the other is the tale of our characters growing up. On the surface it’s a funny little romp and a look into growing up in a small town. However, you start to dig just a little and it becomes this very ugly book. The main message is that fat people can never be happy unless they loose weight. And once they do then they will find love and all the people who hurt them in high school will get what’s coming to them. Ugly ugly ugly message. Add in a secondary message that if you are fat and have children (like the narrator’s mother) then you will mess them up for life and probably give your daughter an eating disorder, binge eating in this case.
There are other things about the book I disliked, but at this point I just want to wash the book out of my brain and move on.
And what I’m really frustrated about is that I know this about her books. They have always left that bad taste in my mouth after I finish them, and yet I keep going back for more. -
I admit that I typically hide my reading of Jennifer Weiner books because I am sure I will be mocked. By whom I am not sure but never-the-less the fear is there.
But then I read an article on npr (
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...) just before I went to 1/2 Price Books and I felt proud to buy some Chick Lit and fight the man.
So the book is ok. I read it quickly, I enjoyed it. Enough said. Weiner follows a similar patter with most of books a self-proclaimed "chubby" woman deals with some form personal drama whether it be from family or friends. There is typically an unexpected love interest and the book ends on a happier note but not necessarily perfect. I am not sure that this is my favorite Weiner book but there were definitely some moments when she reminded me a Tom Perrota (which I mean as a compliment).
I'll probably keep reading some Weiner and I may even admit to some other "chick lit" reads that I have hidden on my bookshelf. Go Chick Lit! -
Do you ever feel like you should like an author or book just because everyone else does? It's been three years since I read a Jennifer Weiner book, and Best Friends Forever reminded me exactly why.I know there are people out there that buy everything she writes, but after my second experience with a chick-lit book that lacked any real imagination or characters I could relate to, it'll probably be longer than three years before I pick up another one. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of chick-lit. And romance. And novels about best friends. This book should have been right up my alley, but it just wasn't.
In Best Friends Forever, Addie and Valerie were best friends all through their childhood until a big incident their senior year of high school that left them not speaking to each other. Until one day after the high school reunion Val ends up on Addie's doorstep and asks for her help. The book follows their weekend long adventure as they try to figure out what happened the night of the reunion and when they do, how to avoid the consequences. Add in a couple of other strange characters (e.g., Holy Mary, a member of a religious cult) and you have your story.
I felt the characters in the book were extremely one-dimensional. Val was the blond, irresponsible one that just wanted to have fun. Addie was the sidekick, the girl who was always left behind even when trying to do the right thing. The book was also way too predictable for me but who knows, maybe I'm a good guesser. I read it quickly, not because I wanted to find out what happened to these best friends but because I wanted to move onto another book. -
The story is about two best friends who grow apart due to some high school drama and then reconnect many years later. The premise is interesting but everything else is abysmal. The story is tired, the humor is tired (and sadly embarrassing) the characters are super tired (and boring) and the dialogue is just really bad and unrealistic. The only thing I really wanted out of this book once I started reading it was for it to end and end fast.
The reason I picked up this book was the good reviews I read about it here on Amazon. Big mistake. I normally pick my books after reading positive reviews in the LA Times, NY Times or the New Yorker. Or if someone whose taste I trust suggests a good book. I don't pick books at random otherwise. Well, this was a lesson learned, for sure.
My biggest problem with the book was that it was boring. I didn't feel for the characters and the way they interacted with each other was just simply unrealistic. The author tries to be funny and she succeeds at times but mostly her writing sounds like something you would hear in a really bad remake of a John Hughes movie.
Please don't waste your time with such drivel. There are way too many better books out there that are worth your time and money. -
When Valerie Adler moves in across the road from Addie Downs when they’re nine-years-old, Addie believes they’ll be best friends forever. However as they grow up and move into their teenage years, a shocking betrayal broke the two friends apart. Fifteen years later Valerie arrives on Addie’s doorstep covered in blood after attending their school reunion, worried that she’s killed someone. In a desperate bid to stop the police finding out what she did Valerie convinces Addie to go on a road trip to Florida. The two head off but there could be trouble ahead as Chief of Police Jordan is on their tale and desperate to find out exactly what happened that night of the school reunion.
Best Friends Forever is Jennifer Weiner’s seventh book but is only the first I’ve read of hers. I’ve read a bunch of rave reviews for her books but I’ve never gotten around to picking one up – until now. I know she has an incredibly loyal fanbase because of her wit, her humour and most of all, the fact that her heroines are all larger ladies than usual chick lit heroines. That was a big plus for me as I enjoy heroines that differ from the norm.
The book opens on the night of the reunion and is told from the point of view of Dan Swansea and at first, it’s hard to understand what’s really going on – I could tell that whoever it was that had Dan naked in a parking lot obviously didn’t like him but for reasons we don’t learn of until later in the book it didn’t seem to make any sense. It was an intriguing opening to the book and I was desperate to know what had happened. Addie Downs narrates most of the book, including the flashbacks to her and Valerie’s childhood. However the book does deviate to the point of view of Jordan Novick, Pleasant Ridge’s chief of police as well as sporadic insights from Dan’s point of view. It was a peculiar way for the book to be written. I didn’t really see what Dan and Jordan added to the book, I personally would have preferred having the entire book narrated by Addie.
As far as the characters go, the only character I could stand was Addie. She was sweet, she was kind and unfortunately, she was a bit of a pushover. Valerie’s betrayal may not seem too bad to some people but I could see how much it hurt Addie. So it surprised me how easily she let Valerie back into her life. Valerie could have been a fantastic character but she just seemed far too self-centered to be a likeable or sympathetic character. She waltzed back into Addie’s life with no explanation and no real apology and expected Addie would just let her back into her life. The fact that she did made it all the worse, of course. As for the men in the book I just couldn’t warm to Jordan Novick, he seemed utterly unlikeable and his “relationship” with Addie seemed forced and rather unnatural. Addie deserved someone 100 times better than Jordan and I didn’t want them to get together, not at all. As for Dan Swansea, he was a complete and utter jerk. That’s all I’m going to say about him, he doesn’t deserve any more words about him.
Not only did I have a problem with the narrators of the book and the fact I didn’t really warm to any of the characters, I found the plot to be completely and utterly unbelievable. I can suspend my belief when needed, as I’ve said multiple times, but with some books it’s just so ridiculous that it’s hard to do suspend belief. The whole crime factor to the book was so wrong I wanted to scream. To start any kind of investigation into a crime I think you need a little bit more than a belt and a little blood. But no, Jordan Novick launches a full investigation and is determined to find out just why there was blood in a parking lot. Then he goes into Addie’s house after she’s gone on her road trip with no warrant or anything and searches the place. In any crime novel that would make anything he found in court inadmissable. I also found the attempted robbery laughable and utterly ridiculous. I’m sure it should have made me laugh but I just felt myself cringing at the absurdity of it all. When I’m reading a book I like a little realism and Best Friends Forever really lacked that.
The one thing I think the book did excel at were the flashbacks to Addie and Valerie’s childhood, they were incredibly well written and I hugely enjoyed all of the flashback chapters. Jennifer Weiner is very good at building up her characters past and that was a real plus for me. However although Jennifer Weiner is good at crafting a story, I hated the fact that Addie only found love after she’d lost a whole bunch of weight. It reminded me of Jemima J by Jane Green and since I hated the book and didn’t even finish it, it’s probably not a great comparison for me to liken it to. I hate it when a book sends out the motto that you’ll only find love if you’re thin.
When I was reading reviews of Best Friends Forever, everyone seemed to liken it to Thelma & Louise. I know the gist of the film but have never seen it myself so I don’t know how accurate the comparison is. The book could have been so much more and while I liked Addie and enjoyed the flashbacks, the rest of the book didn’t really work for me. What could have been a fun road trip turned into a hybrid of crime novel/chick lit book – two genres that generally don’t seem to mesh together. -
Enjoyable, like all of Jennifer Weiner's books, but I didn't love it the way I loved Good in Bed and Goodnight Nobody. The plot was fun and kept me reading, but ultimately the characters sort of let me down.
Addie Downs, the ever-suffering main character, is a strange combination of self-loathing shut-in and fun modern woman. After being ostracized in high school and losing both her parents, she gains vast amounts of weight and avoids leaving her house - for years. She rather predictably goes on a diet and becomes a socially-acceptable bmi, and at least Weiner (who usually avoids cliches like these) doesn't suddenly give Addie a perfect life - though it's close.
But Addie isn't the one who bugged me. Her erstwhile best friend, Valerie Adler, starts off as a weird, out-of-place kid with a seriously messed-up home life (and the fact that Addie completely misses that fact is one thing that really annoyed me about her character). When she's re-introduced as an adult, she's vapid, thoughtless, dangerously impulsive and kind of stupid. And it's funny, sort of, but more often than not I found myself just staring at the page thinking how is this person a functional member of society? She runs a guy down with her car. She makes out with people to get things and avoid consequences. She goes on the lam and tries to rob a bank with a tampon case. She pulls an actual gun on a police officer. Normal people do not do these things. Sure, one could argue that her childhood experiences turned her into a sociopath...but she's not written as a sociopath. She's written as cute-but-flawed, one of those skinny girls whose life isn't that great after all. Quirky. (Except one of those quirks might kill you in your sleep.)
Ultimately what I'd have liked from this book was a little more realism. A little more delving into various psyches, a little more dealing with consequences. I'd have liked Addie to be less pathetic and Valerie to be less psychotic. I'd like them to be people I could relate to rather than caricatures. I'd like to buy it when they said they'd be best friends forever. -
Here's a life tip. Don't run into the library just before it closes and grab an audio book off the shelf for a car trip. Because you might just end up with this book. I'm chalking this one up to a lack of time and low blood sugar. Now there is chick lit and there is chick lit. If The Secret Life of Bees is at one end of the spectrum, this book is within sight of the other end. The story is weak and predictable. I don't think that it's a good sign when an event occurs in the novel and I would yell out what will happen later in the book based on the information that I just received. And later find out that I was correct. Depressing.
Okay, two girls meet when they are nine years old and become best friends. Then one of the girls is popular in high school and the other isn't. In fact, the unpopular girl is extremely overweight and is a social isolate. You can see where this is going. Fast forward 15 years and it's time for the high school reunion and the two best friends haven't seen each other or spoken since high school. One is the weather girl on the local Fox news station and the other has lost weight, still has no friends. and paints illustrations for greeting cards. The weather girl shows up at her former friend's house late at night with a story that she needs help because she MIGHT have killed one of their classmates at the reunion. And will her former friend help? And all of this information is uncovered in the first 35 pages.
The rest of the book unfolds through flashbacks helping us to understand how both women reached this point and outlining their response to this latest, bonding adventure. Predictable, predictable, predictable. I wanted to enjoy this book--just couldn't. -
It's as simple as this: I adore this book!
Ms. Weiner definitely knows how to pack a plot full of surprises and turns that you didn't see coming. As I read Best Friends Forever, there was constantly several questions in my head. Such as "What happened in high school that hurt Addie and Val's friendship?" or " Would Val and Addie overcome their struggles and become friends again?" All these questions lead to me to race through this sweet and addicting read in less then one day!
Addie was a character that I loved and was rooting for the whole time. Since, she was a sweet an funny girl who just need to find where she wanted to be in life. Also, I loved how she took care of her brother, Jon, and didn't just run away from him after the accident. Val, on the other hand was a bit hard to like. Because, as you continued to read Best Friends Forever, you began to find out some things that didn't make her look like that great of a person. Though, as the story went on and I began to like her a bit more, I started to understand her actions. Leaving me to come to a good place with her by the end. Last but not least, I adored Jordan. He was a loyal and great guy who had a heart of gold in hiding. Throughout, I was hoping that he would come to his senses and admit his feelings for Addie.
Overall, Best Friends Forever is a book that I can say nothing but fantastic things about. I look forward to reading Jennifer's previous books as well as her future ones.
Grade: A+
Side Note: While this novel is aimed towards adults, it still has a crossover appeal because of the flashbacks of Addie and Val's teen years. -
Jennifer, what has happened? You used to write wonderful books...like "In Her Shoes"...and then you write "Certain Girls" and now "Best Friends Forever". I really wanted to like "BFF", I really did, but I just didn't think it ever got above the average rating. The story seemed so random and most of the characters were not developed in a way that made them understandable or likeable. Addie was a great character but she was also the only complete character...it was like the author only figured out bits and pieces of the other characters and figured that was enough. But, it wasn't. I mean Val was all over the map...I couldn't figure out of she was just totally stupid, scatterbrained, experiencing problems from past drug use, or what. She was annoying and flippant. There were parts that were beautifully written. Primarily these parts were chapters about Addie, her family, her past, and her quest to be happy with herself...almost all other sections just missed the mark. The decent chapters are what pushed this to a 3 star review, without them I probably would have given it 1 star. I'm willing to give this author one more chance, but if that's a flop, too I think I'll give up.
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I have read just about everything this author has published and have really enjoyed her work. This one was pretty good. The things I liked: the humor, the character Addie and the emotional account of a heavy person dealing with addiction to sweets and how they manage to stop the binges and get their weight under control. The things I didn’t like: I thought some of the story line was far-fetched, almost like a fairy tale. I thought the resolution was weak and there were some parts in the middle of the book that really dragged for me. I thought the ending, where Addie finds out she is pregnant by her married boyfriend that recently left her but she decides to keep the baby, was a bit unrealistic. I also thought the way Jordan falls for Addie and immediately knows she is the one was a bit hokie. Still, I flew through this book like I have with her others. Even if it wasn’t her best, I still think Weiner is one of the best authors of Chick Lit.
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Well, I finished this book back in Sept of 2009 but I think a review of a book as good as this one is better late than never. I really enjoyed this book as I have past Jennifer Weiner novels. This has a way of bringing the characters alive on the page and making you feel like you're there in the experience with each turn of the page.
I loved the friendship between Addie and Valerie. It shows that no matter how flawed two people are they have a complex love for each other. I would highly recommend this novel. Some might just say it's chick lit which it is, but I say it's a deeper exploration of female friendships and family dynamics that keeps you guessing to the very last page. -
I feel like the only person in the world who thinks Jennifer Weiner is just ok. Basically, I find her protagonists to be pathetic. Couldn't a full-figured heroine be a heroine and not a perpetual victim? Just one time? Besides being totally far-fetched and starring the usual overweight pathetic girl, the secondary plot was a disturbing love story. Who wants to see the main character wind up with a drunk stalker who may or may not be a sexual deviant? Not I. Skip this and head right to Sophie Kinsella's new one for your chick lit fill.
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3.5 Stars. I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t groundbreaking at all, but I liked the characters and the dynamic between them. They were all flawed and very realistic. The story was interesting and I was engaged the whole time. Good one!
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I am a huge fan of Jennifer Weiner, so despite being less than impressed by her most recent release before this one (Certain Girls), I was wholeheartedly looking forward to this book.
I would characterize Jennifer Weiner's books as women coming of age stories as opposed to the term "chick lit," which, to me, implies vapid characters and contrived plotlines. Weiner’s characters are generally well rounded and jump off the page as she thoroughly explores the less-than-feel-good, but humor-infused, feelings of loneliness, friendship, the search for love, the struggles of mothers and daughters, and the misery of being fat in a thin girl's world.
Of course, there is warmth and friendship as well, with some snark thrown in for good measure. I absolutely loved accompanying heroine Addie Downs on her journey, but I found her best friend, neglected-tomboy-turned-manicured-weather-girl Valerie, to be one dimensional. Though, without giving too much away, she is somewhat redeemed by the end. And the police chief, Jordan, is great mix of the tragic and comic heroes. The exploration of this male character was a successful departure for Weiner that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I wish I could have given this book 3 1/2 stars, but alas, Goodreads only allows us to rate in wholes. At first I gave it the full 4, but I amended that when I realized that the extra half-star was more a reflection of my Weiner love (heh) than the merits of her latest work.
For anyone who has not read Jennifer Weiner before, I recommend starting off with her earlier works: Good In Bed, In Her Shoes, Little Earthquakes and Goodnight Nobody are all fabulous. This latest one is worth the read, but probably is not the best showcase of Weiner's talent for the uninitiated. -
This book was ok. The characters were mostly believable, and the scenes from the girls' childhoods were detailed and well written. But, there were a few annoying, outlandishly over-done scenes that, without, would have made the book more believable.
*Slight Spoiers*: The whole bit about Jordan, the chief of police, being after these girls with only flimsy details, no evidence, and his 'hunch' was totally unrealistic, as were several of his actions. I was actually annoyed by his character overall, and didn't think his perspective, or role in this story, needed to be as large as it was. (Who cares about the police office being decorated for Christmas, or that he ate pot-pies alone at home?!?)
The romance at the end was forced and hurried: all of a sudden, the characters were together without more than a short encounter before-hand. It was unnecessary, really.
Though much of the book was about Abby growing up and maturing, she was still the same weak girl as before- giving in to every one of Val's whims, and falling for the first guy to give her attention. Blah. She began and ended this book as spineless. and man-dependent. Double blah.
Oh, and the 'happily-ever-after' end was totally corny. -
Ho preso questo libro dallo scaffale in cui si trovava senza dare nemmeno uno sguardo veloce alla trama, e subito mi sono fiondata alla cassa.
Inizio a leggerlo lo stesso pomeriggio e penso che potrebbe essere stato un ottimo acquisto.
La storia nel complesso, infatti, è carina. I temi trattati dalla Weiner sono veramente toccanti e ben descritti (forse anche troppo! - aggiungerei), e sebbene l'inizio non fosse dei migliori, al termine della lettura tutto è stato rivalutato.
Solo, sembra un po' strano il totale cambiamento comportamentale di Val rispetto ai tempi dell'infanzia, in cui tutto lasciava presagire al fatto che non avrebbe mai e poi mai seguito le orme della madre civettuola. -
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER was the last of four books that I read during a two-week stay on Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas. And what a delightful storyline it is! A straight shooter, I especially appreciate the way the author, Jennifer Weiner, unabashedly tackles body image issues. A book that stirs emotions, I experienced anger, laughter, and tears.
