We Hope You Like This Song: An Overly Honest Story About Friendship, Death, And Mix Tapes (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
We read this book for book club and it was an excellent read. It was like sitting down with a dear friend and reliving memories. It was endearing and hopeful while also sharing a strong message about being brave enough to step aside your comfort zone and not leaving things unsaid. I laughed and cried and immediately wanted to spend as much time as possible with my very best friends. Read it, love it, and follow Bree on Facebook. This book could have benefited from having a better editor. I think there was some interesting observations (a friendship not getting to "grow up" when a friend dies too young/moving forward after you lose a loved one/the idea of outgrowing friends) and some funny bits but the story and writing were all over the place. I also believe she used too many devices (wedding planning, 52 resolutions, music, flashbacks...) to move the plot along but none of them were very well fleshed-out or just seemed really random. (The Happiness Project and How I Planned Your Wedding come to mind in terms of memoirs using wedding planning and resolutions as plot devices.)Aside: I found it strange that she didn't use more content from the blog she and her sister wrote especially since she referenced Julie & Julia as pseudo-inspiration. I also felt like this was more of a story of Bree moving forward and finding her friends and love post-Shelly, not a memoir of Shelly. (And this is totally okay just not what I expected from the title, summary, recommendations.) For instance, a whole narrative and sub-narrative/aside have NOTHING to do with Shelly, (going to the Unemployment Office with the inserted tangent about hitting a girl in the crosswalk) but have to do with the stress Bree was dealing with ahead of her wedding. But all that aside, Bree's love for Shelly is clear and her loss was strongly conveyed in the book.
What do You think about We Hope You Like This Song: An Overly Honest Story About Friendship, Death, And Mix Tapes (2012)?
Laugh out loud and cry moments all combined in this can't put down book!
—aph101
I love this book. Made me laugh, cry, and everything in between!!
—Enmg94
