I bought this book ages ago because the plot seemed intriguing. Two friends Gina and Laurence and their respective families and how they cope with the breaking down of marriage and a love that blossoms from it. Well that's kind of how it was described on the jacket sleeve.Only when I started it it became confusing and muddled. The book was told from just about everyone's point of view at some point in time and only one set of characters was intriguing and that was Gina's 80 something mom, Vi and her friend/lover Dan. Those are the only two characters in the whole novel that you could like.Gina came off as shrill and selfish and whiny, the typical poor woman who's husband has left her.Laurence was wishy washy and most of his kids are just blah, except for Gus, who is sweet.Hillary, Laurence's wife is the typical frustrated wife, working to hard, and getting little satisfaction.Sophy was a bratYou don't really get a lot of story on Gina's soon to be ex-husband Fergus, except that he changed his name before they were married and is now living with another many, Tony, but he's not gay or in love with Tony. (Tony is in love with him) ARGH!The hardest part of the novel to take is the love affair that comes between Gina and Laurence. It simply seems that we turn a page to find a new chapter and these two characters shacked up together.WTF? I mean it was destiny as far as the story telling goes, but there was really nothing that led up to it.But it gets better...no really it doesn't it gets worse. Then both characters have to come to grips with Hillary, Laurence's wife and how their relationship will change the lives of both sets of children. The only problem is neither character really does that.Gina panics when Sophy runs to London to her father...and that's about the only maternal thing we see in her.It took me forever to read this and when I was done I was truly glad to be away from the book. I had to check Amazon to see what other people had thought of it and I was really happy to see that I wasn't the only person that felt so "meh" about the book, though there were many that claimed they loved it. I sadly can't count myself as one of them.This is not a romance, its an interwoven tale of characters bound by the friendship of Gina and Laurence, though you never quite understand that friendship or many of the other relationships in this book. (except for Vi and Dan)For me, this book was a total waste of my time.
Not my favorite Joanna Trollope novel, because too many of the main characters are too unsympathetic. I admire Trollope's refusal to people her books with the sort of "pictures of perfection" that made Jane Austen feel so sick when she came across them in the course of her own reading; but if everyone's the moral equivalent of a cheap candy bar (not always bad, but sure to turn into an icky mess under the slightest heat or pressure), I start to question why I'm bothering to read.I did appreciate learning that there's a place in the world where people say they're "as cross as a bag of cats." That's a keeper.I was a little baffled by Trollope's description of strawberries "served the American way...with lemon juice, sugar, and sour cream." That may be an American way -- I'm guessing this is a Southern dish -- but it can't be the American way if I've lived in America all my life and never even heard of it, let alone tried it. Specifically, I live in a part of America whose 12-month growing season gives us higher strawberry yields per acre than any other growing area, not that I want to brag or anything. (Oh, of course I want to brag. It's fun. Go ahead and try it. I don't mind.)Not that the whole book's about strawberries, or that my whole review should be. This being a Joanna Trollope novel, there's lots of British food and lots of very civilized people trying awfully hard to find happiness if that would be quite all right with everyone. There's also a bittersweet ending -- Trollope's endings are always at least half happy, but rarely more than half. And there's wistful wisdom sprinkled throughout, such as:Perhaps it was better not to think of that evening, because the trouble about things going wrong was that they then soured the memory of things that had gone right before.Boy, do they.
What do You think about The Best Of Friends (2002)?
My beloved Joanna Trollope is back in my good graces now that I have read this novel. The tone, the pace and the content are perfect, the characters are well drawn and I was left feeling really satisfied at the end, which is often not the case.What happens when childhood friends of the opposite sex marry others, raise families which become close, and then one of the spouses leaves? There is great support until a line is crossed and the woman who has lost her spouse decides she needs to feel loved again, and what better person to choose than the man she has known forever? But he has a wonderful wife and a good life. And yet, he, too, becomes caught up in the headiness of a secret love. And so it goes, with fallout to the children, the grandmother, to careers and everyone who is connected to these 2 families. I had hoped it would end a certain way, and it did. No one portrays the British middle class with such astuteness as Trollope. I was disappointed in her newest novel, "The Soldier's Wife" so was thrilled to discover this old gem from 1995, which is still completely current today, because people and emotions do not change. Only things change. Read this one! It's though provoking and a pleasure to read.
—Dana
This is the first book I have read by Joanna Trollope. I can't say for certain that it will be my last. I originally gave the book three stars, thinking I wanted to give it two, but I would give it three since I actually read the whole book without speed reading to the end like I do with most books. Since my review is a few days after I finished it I also think of it with fresh eyes. It was an interesting story, with characters of all ages, genders, types, so that there were many different perspectives on what was happening with the story. The book reminded me of Peerless Flats by Esther Freud.
—Hazel
I really wanted to like this book more then the two stars I am giving it. It started out slow for me, but I had hoped that the characters would have developed more. I liked the storyline- two friends from childhood, now into adult world, reconsidering their relationship with each other- and wondering if it is something more. However, I thought it was so dramatic at parts- almost like a bad soap show- that the point or message of the book was lost. As much as the characters were involved with each other- I still felt at the end of the novel, I really didn't know ANY of them and wondered did they get ANYTHING from each other? I wanted more from the relationship of Laurence and Gina then just the physical realtionship that I read about- I saw no proof that a substantial relationship was ever there-even as children...I wanted more from the relationship of Hilary and and Laurence- the ending, "i am coming home" "okay, lets work on it."...seriously, it doesn't work like that in the real world- there were nothing to show that their marriage was real or worth to fix- I wanted more out of the Fergus character..I felt nothing towards him. Did Sophy learn anything by the end of the chapter? I am frustrated...i became interested in Vi- thought she was the only character with some depth- but then I was disappointed that her character sort of flatlined. I guess I am disappointed. It wasn't a terrible book- I just struggled to get through it and felt left down.
—Marie
