Bookends

I finished my re-read of this a few days ago, just didn't have the energy to post a review. I think the main issue I had was that the re-read was a bit of a bust. Probably because this wasn't as chick-lit as I was hoping. There are some serious issues here (discussion of HIV and AIDS) but also there is some mean-girling crap that goes on that just didn't fit the characters who were supposed to be adults in their 30s. The main character of Cath just reads as a doormat throughout this book and I just wanted her to be stronger and push back on people more. The ending was okayish, just not great.

"Bookends" has Cath and her best friend Si dealing with being unlucky in love. Living in London they seem to be going through the motions of show more things. Cath refuses to try her hand at love again after having her heart broken and Si is desperate to meet Mr. Right even though the men he is usually with are terrible.

Cath and Si have boring, but familiar get togethers with their college friends Josh and Lucy and things seem to be carrying along fine until a woman (Portia) from their college days pops up again.

Most of the book is Cath thinking about Portia and how Portia supposedly held them all together until she broke up their friend group. What gets me though is that when we readers finally get a glimpse of Portia, she's not all that Cath (or Green) makes her out to be. There is no there there, and I wanted there to be better development of her.

Cath stumbles upon a love interest that wasn't that interesting and Si ends up with a shocking new way of life after a betrayal. The book just ends up taking too many things on and not doing them well.

If the above isn't enough, we also have Cath trying to open a bookstore.

The writing is typical older Green (when she wrote her chick lit books taking place in London). This just doesn't read or feel like chick lit. The flow is okay, though going back to past and present was a bit much.

I guess I was just put out by the whole lesson to be learned about real friends that people who should be old enough should already know at this point. show less

This one was quite a surprise. I bought it because it was cheap, and I liked teh title. It's a very good book with surprisingly deep issues towards the end. I liked the fact that the main story wasn't a romance, but how to succeed in your dream business once you dare to make the move. It's about friendships, and how they can put strains on your own personal life. And about worshipping a childhood diva. It's fantastic, and enjoyable by people who don't 'do' chick lit normally.

I liked the whole idea of a novel centered around opening a bookstore/cafe and going for your dreams, but I didn't feel that aspect was central enough, or full enough of suspense and conflict. The good aspects of the book makes me wish I could rate this a tad higher, but it couldn't hold me to the end. I felt I had read this book dozens of times before. This was better written than most chicklit (which isn't high praise), with a heroine that was relatable--not size 0, not born with a silver spoon and not too-stupid-to-live. I did enjoy the English setting and voice.

Though this is narrated first person by Catherine Warner, this had an unusually ensemble feel to it, since it's about five friends: Catherine herself, Portia, Simon and Josh show more who she met in university, and Josh's wife Lucy who is her business partner. Actually, that may have been one of the weaknesses, that the first person voice wasn't the best way to tell the story of this group of friends. And too often--which is also too often a danger of a weak first person--too much is told, not shown, sometimes dragging, sometimes running through events without developing so that pacing was also a problem.

Not a problem you tend to notice much because it's really a quick read. A good light airplane/beach read if you're drawn to chicklit, but nothing here makes me want to try more of the author. If many chicklits are tired soap operas, this was far too much of a cliche sitcom. show less

I really wanted to like this book as a little summer read, and while I loved the London setting, the story just fell short. The characters we pure stereotypes (i.e. A very neat gay man with promiscuous past, an overweight 30 yo that has not had a boyfriend in years, the beautiful stuck up woman with a great career but no love). Additionally, all of the story lines of the characters were predictable. To make this review short, it could have been so much better.

The lives of 5 friends over the period of a decade or so. One friend is dropped from the group and becomes a television writer then reenters their lives years later.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. I found the characters engaging - and the story well written. However I found some elements of the plot really too drawn out. I feel like there was an extraneous 100 pages there. There are several plots going on at once - which is great fun - but one of the main ones was so easy to see where it was going I was so frustrated it took so long to reveal. Honestly it seemed to just snail crawl towards its destination.

The book is remarkably dated - in sort of a fun way. At one point there is a paragraph long discussion comparing characters show more in the book to those in Ellen Degeneres' long departed sitcom and I had to wrack my memory to remember anything about that show.

All in all a good read - nice to take on a beach vacation or something like that - but IMHO could have used a stiff edit. show less

I picked up this book thinking that I wouldn't like it because it just isn't my kind of book....... but it got me and it got me good. I couldn't put this book down until I finished it! It's about good friends who would do anything for each other and it's about that fear of relationships or rather the fear of being hurt. It's about pursuing dreams and finding love and living through things too diffucult to think about. I loved it!

This one was quite a surprise. I bought it because it was cheap, and I liked teh title. It's a very good book with surprisingly deep issues towards the end. I liked the fact that the main story wasn't a romance, but how to succeed in your dream business once you dare to make the move. It's about friendships, and how they can put strains on your own personal life. And about worshipping a childhood diva. It's fantastic, and enjoyable by people who don't 'do' chick lit normally.