A review by kbaird
Friendship by Emily Gould
5.0
I had high hopes for this novel and they did not disappoint. Friendship revolves around two friends, Amy and Bev. Amy is working girl on the way up in her career. Bev does not have a career. She is caught in between jobs and relies on Amy for morale support. Amy seems to have everything together, the job, the apartment, and the boyfriend. Bev almost has nothing. Bev and Amy take a job house sitting out in some remote part of New York and it changes everything. This trip sets things in motion for the girls- whether they know it or not. The house owner, Sally, imagines that she becomes friends with these girls and desperately wants them to be her real friends. Sally invites the girls back a few weeks later and things start to change. Before the second time to Sally's, Bev has taken some temp jobs and goes on a date with someone she met at the temp office. She ends up having sex with him (that she doesn't remember) and winds up pregnant. Amy is still with her boyfriend but wants to progress the relationship and her boyfriend is not so motivated to do so. Amy's landlord keeps raising her rent and Amy wonders if she and her boyfriend should just move in together. Amy and Bev take the weekend at Sally's to try and sell Bev's baby to Sally and her husband (Bev cannot seem to go through with the abortion) and for Amy to figure out her relationship status. Bev doesn't seem to want to sell her baby after talking with Sally; Sally wants to help out with the baby financially and physically. Bev decides to keep her baby for herself. Sally's husband finds his way to Amy's room on the last night and sleeps with Amy. Amy doesn't stop him. Amy is now more confused.
The girls return back to the city and their friendship takes a toll. Amy still doesn't want Bev to keep the baby and doesn't see why Bev wants to. Amy can't seem to break up with her boyfriend and be honest with him. She also gets evicted from her apartment. Amy quits her cushy job at a blog and winds up with nothing. She moves into an attic room and can't find a new job. Bev is still without a real job and becoming more pregnant. Bev runs into an old teacher from when she tried (and quit) grad school and gets her in touch with a friend of hers. Bev gets a retail job at a boutique baby store and gets her life back on track. Amy can't get anything going for her. She runs out of money and in an act of desperation, asks Bev for money. Bev is saving everything for the baby and tells her no. Amy can't believe Bev let her down and she has no other options. Amy moves out of NYC and back to her parents in DC. She gets a major reality check and humbles herself in the process. She finally finds a food service job and starts to put her life back together. Sally has fully entered Bev's life and divorced her cheating husband. She moved to the city and became Bev's new support when Amy abandoned her. Bev looks into getting back into grad school and get her writing going again. She wants a better life for herself and is making it happen.
I thought this was an honest look at female friendships. Bev and Amy are great friends and once the shoe is on the other foot for Amy, she can't handle it. She doesn't like that Bev has become more successful than her. Bev got her life on track when Amy's started to fall apart. Bev wanted to change her life and she did. Amy was too afraid to and only did so when she had no other option. I felt that I could relate to these friends and know how hard it is to pull yourself up when you have nothing. Amy fixed herself and her outlook on life and finally reached out to Bev in the end to say she was sorry. Sometimes in life, your friends never come to that realization and that friendship is gone forever. I'm glad Amy apologized to Bev and started to work on their friendship again. Friendship gets harder as you get older, but the ones that are worth it will always find a way to come back together, no matter how long they are apart.
The girls return back to the city and their friendship takes a toll. Amy still doesn't want Bev to keep the baby and doesn't see why Bev wants to. Amy can't seem to break up with her boyfriend and be honest with him. She also gets evicted from her apartment. Amy quits her cushy job at a blog and winds up with nothing. She moves into an attic room and can't find a new job. Bev is still without a real job and becoming more pregnant. Bev runs into an old teacher from when she tried (and quit) grad school and gets her in touch with a friend of hers. Bev gets a retail job at a boutique baby store and gets her life back on track. Amy can't get anything going for her. She runs out of money and in an act of desperation, asks Bev for money. Bev is saving everything for the baby and tells her no. Amy can't believe Bev let her down and she has no other options. Amy moves out of NYC and back to her parents in DC. She gets a major reality check and humbles herself in the process. She finally finds a food service job and starts to put her life back together. Sally has fully entered Bev's life and divorced her cheating husband. She moved to the city and became Bev's new support when Amy abandoned her. Bev looks into getting back into grad school and get her writing going again. She wants a better life for herself and is making it happen.
I thought this was an honest look at female friendships. Bev and Amy are great friends and once the shoe is on the other foot for Amy, she can't handle it. She doesn't like that Bev has become more successful than her. Bev got her life on track when Amy's started to fall apart. Bev wanted to change her life and she did. Amy was too afraid to and only did so when she had no other option. I felt that I could relate to these friends and know how hard it is to pull yourself up when you have nothing. Amy fixed herself and her outlook on life and finally reached out to Bev in the end to say she was sorry. Sometimes in life, your friends never come to that realization and that friendship is gone forever. I'm glad Amy apologized to Bev and started to work on their friendship again. Friendship gets harder as you get older, but the ones that are worth it will always find a way to come back together, no matter how long they are apart.