"Addie, please." More tears dripped down her cheeks. "Don't be so hard."
"Oh, please," I muttered...and that was as far as I got. 'You broke my heart' were the words that had risen to my mouth, but I couldn't say them. That was what you said to a boyfriend, a lover, not your best friend. She'd laugh. And I'd had enough of being laughed at. I'd worked hard to get to a place where it didn't happen anymore, where I didn't move through life like a walking target, where it was just me and my paints and brushes and my big empty bed every night. "You weren't a good friend," I said instead.
"Oh, please," I muttered...and that was as far as I got. 'You broke my heart' were the words that had risen to my mouth, but I couldn't say them. That was what you said to a boyfriend, a lover, not your best friend. She'd laugh. And I'd had enough of being laughed at. I'd worked hard to get to a place where it didn't happen anymore, where I didn't move through life like a walking target, where it was just me and my paints and brushes and my big empty bed every night. "You weren't a good friend," I said instead.
I did such a back and forth between loving and hating this book while I was reading it. I think in the end I like it. I don't love it. I still hate parts of it and a little bit of how Weiner wrote both the main female characters but as the book goes on you start to understand why she does.
I think maybe why I had such a hard time with this book for most of it is that I see myself in Addie. Maybe a little too much on some levels and that's uncomfortable. But especially and for the purpose of this in the way she handles friendships. This friendship with her best friend since childhood Valerie.
As a child Addie feels shy awkward and socially not able to put herself out there. And then she has a girl move in across the street; Val who for all her own reasons and issues is looking for a friend just as much as Addie is so they bond quickly and fiercely. The thing is as time goes on and they grow up and things change.... everything seems (to Addie) become easier for Val and while they remain best friends they grow apart and Addie feels left behind.
I think maybe why I had such a hard time with this book for most of it is that I see myself in Addie. Maybe a little too much on some levels and that's uncomfortable. But especially and for the purpose of this in the way she handles friendships. This friendship with her best friend since childhood Valerie.
As a child Addie feels shy awkward and socially not able to put herself out there. And then she has a girl move in across the street; Val who for all her own reasons and issues is looking for a friend just as much as Addie is so they bond quickly and fiercely. The thing is as time goes on and they grow up and things change.... everything seems (to Addie) become easier for Val and while they remain best friends they grow apart and Addie feels left behind.
I know that feeling. I had my own "Val" growing up. We were quickly best friends and while we remained friends for years there came a time when I knew and felt like her "back up" best friend for whatever reason.
This is how Addie spends much of high school. And then senior year everything completely falls apart for the two of them and their friendship when something happens to Val. Val would rather forget and just move in. Addie though speaks the truth, thinking she's doing what's best for her best friend. Because of that one night and both their choices afterwards they don't speak for more then fifteen years.
The book is the story of what brings them back together and full circle from that night all those years earlier. It's an up and down cycle for me of weather these two should even be friends again for most of the book. Again though that could be me and my feelings. So I have to give it to Weiner for writing a story that as angry as it made me in spots is definitely realistic (most of the time....) to what it takes to bring two friends back together.
The book is funny and sad (very sad in spots; the whole first part was utterly depressing to me. It gets better though) and touching. There are parts that seem a bit out of left field and even seem out of character for the women later on in the book but I can overlook them for the most part.
I gave this 3 stars on good reads.
Currently reading: Relatively Famous by Heather C. Leigh.
The book is funny and sad (very sad in spots; the whole first part was utterly depressing to me. It gets better though) and touching. There are parts that seem a bit out of left field and even seem out of character for the women later on in the book but I can overlook them for the most part.
I gave this 3 stars on good reads.
Currently reading: Relatively Famous by Heather C. Leigh.
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