Friendship

by Rose Tremain

What is the secret to true friendship? Is it really love’s quieter relation or something stronger and more profound? And where does the line between the two lie? Rose Tremain looks at two unlikely lifelong friendships, which – though tested – prove unbreakable. Thought-provoking and life-affirming, this is at once an examination and a celebration of friendship in all its glorious complexity.

Selected from the books Restoration and The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain

VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.

A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human

Also in the Vintage Minis series:
Love by Jeanette Winterson
Language by Xiaolu Guo
Desire by Haruki Murakami
Freedom by Margaret Atwood

Genres: Fiction

144 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published September 25, 2018

About the author

Dame Rose Tremain is an acclaimed English novelist and short story writer, celebrated for her distinctive approach to historical fiction and her focus on characters who exist on the margins of society. Educated at the Sorbonne and the University of East Anglia, where she later taught creative writing and served as Chancellor, Tremain has produced a rich body of work spanning novels, short stories, plays, and memoir. Influenced by writers such as William Golding and Gabriel García Márquez, her narratives often blend psychological depth with lyrical prose.
Among her many honors, she has received the Whitbread Award for Music and Silence, the Orange Prize for The Road Home, and the National Jewish Book Award for The Gustav Sonata. She was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Restoration and has been recognized multiple times by the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. In 2020, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to literature. Tremain lives in Norfolk and continues to write, with her recent novel Absolutely and Forever shortlisted for the 2024 Walter Scott Prize.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5/5
Habe was ganz anderes erwartet war aber trotzdem gut
Hätte gerne auch eine Geschichte über Freundschaft zwischen Frauen gehabt und nicht nur über Männer aber naja

[Inez Gallagher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically a series of excerpts from other books but nice excerpts from other books

[Bea(triz) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's point with this book is to show the power of love in a friendship.
For some reason she decides to present this idea through two stories where the friendship lies between men (which in my opinion is more than valid, but perhaps a bit of diversity would have been nice), and it is indeed what we perceive in the fist excerpt, Restoration, but I think it loses its main point in the second, The Gustav Sonata, simply due to the fact that, even though this story never goes beyond their friendship, what lies beneath, at least for one of them, seems to me like a never fulfilled romantic love, which would null the author's point of separating the two in the first place.

[Little Beyza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Friendship... Stronger than love sometimes. And very hard to see the line between them.

[Hestia Istiviani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read in English but this review is written in Bahasa Indonesia

"It was the absence of these tender expressions of friendship and affection that had plunged me into such despair and sent me scrabbling about in the darkness once more, in search of my lost Redeemer, however cruel He might turn out to be."

Nama Rose Tremain memang terdengar asing bagiku. Aku belum pernah sekalipun membaca karyanya. Dan cuplikan dari Vintage Minis ini sedikit banyak memeberikan gambaran mengenai tulisan Tremain. Terutama dalam konsep friendship alias persahabatan.

Buku ini terdiri dari dua cuplikan yang masing-masing diambil dari tulisan Tremain: Restoration dan The Gustav Sonata. Keduanya memberikan gambaran persahabatan yang berbeda. Misalnya dalam Restoration, diceritakan tentang persahabatan orang dewasa yang cukup kompleks. Sedikit banyak mempertaruhkan kepercayaan. Sedangkan pada The Gustav Sonata, diperlihatkan mengenai persahabatan yang sudah terbentuk antara dua individu berkat pertemanan sedari kecil.

Sayangnya, aku belum merasa cocok dengan tulisan Tremain, padahal aku sudah cukup tertarik dengan tema yang diusung Vintage Minis. Aku sempat berekspektasi bahwa isinya mengenai manisnya kehidupan yang dipenuhi oleh cinta kasih pertemanan. Ternyata itu hanya pikiran utopisku semata. Tremain menyuguhkan sebaliknya: kebenaran tentang persahabatan yang terkadang memang pahit dan mempertaruhkan hal-hal yang kita pegang teguh sebagai nilai.

Tetapi mungkin itulah yang memang dibahas oleh Tremain bahwa di dunia ini tidak ada pertemanan yang mulus. Sebagaimana manusia, ketika bertumbuh pun akan mengalami perubahan. Tidak ada yang sama dalam kehidupan manusia.

"...madness is not a static thing but, just as all things in the world are changeful, so is madness and, like them, may change for the better or for the worse."

[Andre W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Closer to a three but I did enjoy it. Two stories about friendship (?) that push certain boundaries - especially in the second story. But I was into it.

I read that the first story was an excerpt of another book and I must say I do enjoy being thrown into a story like this, having to piece together everything on the go.

The interspersed erotic moments were a bit surprising wherever they came up but not necessarily unfitting.

[Param · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gifted to me by a friend, this book tells us two distinct stories of friendships each of which end in a flavor or tragedy and melancholy. I think the author actually does want to make the point that friendship is indeed love's less intense sibling with the second story. I'm not sure how I feel about that really, but it is a train of thought to explore.

[Claire (find me on Storygraph) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was a lovely gift from a friend. Two stories - both about friendship between two men. The second was much more readable than the first, but I enjoyed parts of the first story too. Somehow it seems like these were shortened versions of full books written by the author? Interesting peeks into these stories, though.

[Bléu · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5

[Zachary Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish there was commentary on top of the excerpts. Didn’t like the first half as much as the second.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ A beautiful reminder of Rose Tremain’s writing and true friendship

[Jaiya Badhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just read a book where they put snippets of other books in and then just labeled it.

[Istiningdyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wrap-Up review