Can We Still Be Friends

by Alexandra Shulman

Can We Still Be Friends is t
he debut novel by Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue .
It's the summer of 1983 and best friends, Salome, Annie and Kendra have left university to embark on adulthood. Three very different girls with very different paths ahead.
- Sal, the aspiring journalist whose personal demons threaten to destroy everything she has achieved.
- Annie, the capable domestic beauty, convinced that marriage will give her everything she wants.
- Kendra, the daughter of chic, liberal parents who, searching for her own identity, encounters a life she never expected.
As they navigate the decade of ra-ra skirts and shoulder pads, Duran Duran and Margaret Thatcher, they discover that the future is what happens to you, not what you plan.
Their interwoven tale captures brilliantly what it is to learn the exhilarating and painful truths about love, work, family and the ties of friendship.
'Wonderfully evokes that ping-pong between trivial and tremendous so characteristic of the Eighties . . . great on atmosphere . . . An engaging debut, alive with human sympathy' Wendy Holden, Daily Mail
'Warm and entertaining . . . captures the excitement of being young and glamorous at a time when the sky really did seem to be the limit' Kate Saunders, The Times
'Shulman has a terrific eye for the small yet telling detail' Observer Magazine
Alexandra Shulman has edited British Vogue since 1992. She is a contributor to The Times , Daily Mail, Guardian and Daily Telegraph and lives in London. Can We Still Be Friends is her first novel.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Book Club

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Deeps · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book extremely hard to get into. The first half of this book is incredibly boring and just a waste of words. Although the book does eventually start to get a little more interesting it wasn't enough to really hold my attention. There was no depth to this book but it probably didn't help with the author raising one or two new issues each chapter in the second half of the book. Ultimately nothing happened in the first half of this book and too much happened in second half. I believe this is one of those times where the phrase 'don't quit your day job' should stand for something. This is another case of a fashion editor thinking that writing and editing fashion magazines, means that they'll be good at writing books, let's be real, this is no 'Devil's wear Prada'.

[Ozma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. I even paid extra on Amazon for it to order it from abroad. It has a beautiful binding, and the author is a British fashion magazine editor. I so wanted to like it. It had all the components to be a book I would like, but I found I didn't care about the characters and that it was a slog to get through. I think if I read it when I was not pregnant, and my brain was not being flooded with hormones, perhaps I would have liked it a little bit. But it failed to hold my attention. It did help me to realize that it's best to try to read books that I actually enjoy. I had always tried to push through books, but I think the author, who seems like a wonderful woman, would agree that life is too short. I appreciate what the author was trying to do, and it probably succeeded for other readers. I also very much identified with the author's statement in a column I read of hers in a magazine that her great life's desire was to write a novel. She took time off and wrote this book. I respect and appreciate that, but the book itself didn't strike anything within me.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like it because there were parts that were outstanding but the plot floundered.

[Angharad]

I finished it because this is my last Book Club book and I was determined that I would. Unfortunately I think I've lost hours of my life. I was so BORED. And I only liked one character (Kendra). Really, pretty much everyone else was VERY unlikeable or just dull. And no one, NO ONE should ever describe somebody's body as "pneumatic". I nearly threw the damn thing across the room.

Events were introduced and then never concluded or properly explained. Were we ever supposed to find out what happened to Sal's mother? Or did I miss that?

It quite possibly is an accurate reflection of people in London in the 1980s but I came away with the overwhelming feeling that pretty everyone was like the AWFUL 80s businessmen from A Bit of Fry and Laurie. 'People' say that millennials are self absorbed, but I don't think we're any more self absorbed than most of the characters in this book. Most of whom didn't really seem to experience a lot of character growth.

I found myself spending a lot of time flicking back to the covers to try and understand HOW the reviewers came to the conclusions they did. I've decided that they must all have been journalists in the 1980s and this was a GLORIOUS reflection of their lives. And I'm left feeling slightly sick. (I think the Daily Mail read a completely different book)

There were also a lot of clumsy sentences that reminded me of my own writing as a teenager, which I found quite jarring. If only I cared enough to go and find some examples of them....

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book at the National Portrait Gallery in London where they had this whole vogue section as an exhibition was going to open.
I'm glad I picked this one up even though it's not a favourite.
At first I didn't quite understand the switching of points of view as it's not very clear and you just jump from one character to another... I think it could've been done more smoothly.
The end of the book for was not that great, I didn't feel like the story tied into anything.
Otherwise the story was enjoyable and i'm giving it 3 stars (hesitating between 3 and 3.5).
Voilà

[Claire · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not enjoy this at all. I read the first two chapters and was not engaged in the characters, their story or the author's writing style. Instead of pushing through a bad read, I just returned it to the library.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shows that 20 years later being young in London is just as thankless and simultaneously rewarding, great first novel from editor of UK Vogue.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing particularly special about this book. I didn't hate it, but I can't pick out anything that I really enjoyed about it either.

[Amanda Penley · Rating 3 out of 5]

not my usual type and found it a little slow but was alright

[Terri-Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't care about any of the characters, that's always a red flag for me when reading.

The characters lacked depth, their "troubles" seem to rectify themselves instantly. There was just cliche after cliche.

Definitely won't be reading again.

[Joanna Shore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the writing difficult for some reason at the beginning, its not how I would write and not in the style of books I usually read. Once I got past that though the story was easy to read and enjoyable. A little predictable in parts but overall an interesting look at how people change post uni and whether their friendships are as solid as they thought they were. Not a bad book but nothing special

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very little i can say about this book, I didnt particularly enjoy it, nor can i pick out much criticism either, It was a bit underwhelming.I detested the character of Kendra,I found her self pitying and sulky, while sals character was basically a drunk and nothing else, the back cover said she was fighting her personal demons but other than her drinking a lot she seemed to not have very much going on...

[Mya · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars of chick lit. Tried to be more serious than some other chick lit I've read (not quite as fluffy) and it was an easy read from a style perspective. The characters did start to irritate me towards the end and they were each a cliché in some way. Also, they were all different but all beautiful. I don't know; it just seemed to be trying to be something it wasn't. All that said, I don't regret reading the book and would probably read the author again if I was in that mood.

[Stefanie Grace Haigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really difficult to get into... But it's actually quite a nice story of 3 friends by the end. Hang in there, but I have to say that I expected a bit more from the editor of Vogue to be honest. It's well written, I just think the plot could have been better. Disappointed but glad I finished it. It's for my book club so expect a review up on my blog www.stefaniegrace.com soon!

[Donna · Rating 1 out of 5]

utter tripe.
okay yes I read the whole thing. determined to finish a book. but oh gosh this was meant to be about friendship but it was all so far fetched yuppie 80s rubbish. all the girls had too much money / time / alcohol / fancy jobs. it's wasn't really enough. rubbish. awful chick lit done badly!

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was there!

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

gave up as struggled to get into it

[Miz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up. Sorry.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would never have read this but it was a bookclub book. DIRE. Not even good chick lit. Characters not believable, or even likable. Pah!

[Danielle Matte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long, parfois ennuyant, facile a prevoir. Rien d'original.

[Sophie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was painfully dull. To save anyone the bother of reading: nothing happens to three boring people.