Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Girl Friends

Holly is fast becoming my favourite author for ‘feminist’ contemporary fiction. I also loved Pretending and really want to read her other adult book (I think it’s How Do You Like Me Now?).

Girl Friends follows two timelines of friendship, conflict, mental health and society. We get a view into the culture of being a teenager in the early 2000’s (about a decade before my time as a ‘98 baby), with some intense scenes highlighting how normalised sexual assault and coercion was for teenage girls. Contrast this with the modern day where we see the effects of exposure to this in the main character (who is also struggling with feelings over never been ‘chosen’ by one of those boys anyway). She is trying to be a ‘good’ feminist and mental health professional while also struggling with internalised feelings of competition with other women as a result of her teenage years.

It has a lot of themes in common with Pretending, particularly with the same message of other women not being our enemy or competition.

The writing style is very engaging, combining hard scenes with sometimes amusing internal dialogue. Holly has an amazing way of writing the most relatable female characters and you feel like she can see into your head.

The only part of this I wasn’t keen on is that

I feel like Jessica’s habit of stealing boyfriends was a bit too exaggerated to then just be blamed on the culture and sexual coercion she grew up with.

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I have not stopped thinking about this book since I finished it. It’s one of the most complex portrayals of female friendship that I’ve read, going beyond the (by now) rote descriptions of jealousy and insecurity to present a protagonist who is near-paralysed by her relationship to the male gaze.

The book is split between the characters’ adult lives and their teenage friendship in the early 2000s. Bourne’s background as a YA writer lends real strength to the teenage passages, with Fern seeming to grow organically from her environment, one in which the boys dictate girls’ reputations and ultimately self-worth.

Early on, Fern resigns herself to playing the frumpy sidekick to Jessica’s archetypal “cool girl”. As a reader, you feel her pain at the same time as rolling your eyes at her self-absorption, her inability to see beyond her own negative self-image. This continues even into adulthood - I didn’t find her very “likeable”, but GOD did I find her interesting, realistic, and easy to empathise with.

My only minor disappointment was that despite its deep understanding of Fern, the book appeared to buy into the myth of the cool girl a bit when it came to Jessica. While Bourne expertly signposted other women characters’ vulnerabilities even when Fern couldn’t see them herself, and she did ultimately pull back the curtain on Jessica’s apparent perfection, Jessica was still painted as innately worldly even as a teenager. It made her feel like a bit of a straw man at times.

But tbh, even the things I liked less about this book just make me want everyone to read it more. I want to discuss this book with every woman I know!! Especially my best friend since my teens (Katy, if you’re reading this, book club????)

👯 Read if you liked Idol by Louise O'Neill, Expectation by Anna Hope, or Saltwater by Jessica Andrews. Also if you were a teenager in the 00s - this is a deeply Millennial book.

🚫 Avoid if you want a critique of gender dynamics that doesn't flatten into "men are trash" feminism - at times, I felt like the themes of the book dead-ended at "women innately understand each other, men are almost always cruel".

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