The Girls From Ames: A Story Of Women And A Forty-Year Friendship (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
Definitely a chick book! I enjoyed the concept, but the actual reading of it found me struggling to remember who was who. Since I am 20 years older than these gals...some of their experiences just didn't resonate with my growing up. I enjoyed the first half more than the last and think it could have. Been compressed without losing much! The inquiry in to female relationships and , especially, long term female relations is the most interesting part of the book. Using ethnographic methodology, Jeffrey Zaslow writes about a large group of women maintaining their friendship over forty years. The book isn't a story. Instead it highlights personal accounts of events in the individual and group life of these particular women. Could I relate to their friendship? Yes and no. Their bonding years of friendship became an exclusive teenage clique that I never would have wanted to join. I guess it reminds me too much of the Tri-Hi-Y groups in my high school. The girls from Ames also felt that the friendships made as an adult were not as deep. I can say that this is not true for me. My meaningful, long-term women friends were developed after high school. I think the book can generate a lot of discussion in our book club as we compare our own long-term women friendships. Friends come and go in our lives as our situation changes. We may not have spoken to some of them in a long time; but I know who will be there for me when I call.
What do You think about The Girls From Ames: A Story Of Women And A Forty-Year Friendship (2009)?
Boring... Couldn't get past page 39. Felt like I was reading a teeny bopper book
—alicia
It's nice. It did not give me any really memorable moments however.
—Sindhu
A good story of friendship and real life
—javichavi
