Best Friends

by Thomas Berger

Since childhood, Sam Grandy and Roy Courtright have been best friends. They grew up in the same prosperous community, went to the same prep school, and later entered the same university. After Sam's father died, Roy's father looked after him. At one point Sam dated Roy's sister, Robin. As best friends, they share a close and loving bond, often stronger than the relationships other men share with their girlfriends, siblings, or wives.

But in the twenty years since their friendship began, their fundamental differences have become more apparent and their relationship has grown strained. More and more often they realize they are opposites -- one a womanizer, the other a devoted husband; one careless with money, the other frugal; one independent, the other needy. Do these differences threaten their friendship -- or are the dissimilarities what make it possible? Can they escape the ties of their past, or are they intrinsically bound until death? When Sam's health begins to falter, he draws Roy into his life again -- and into a chain of deceit, sex, delusion, death, and love such as only a best friend could.

Thomas Berger has enthralled millions of readers for almost fifty years with his psychologically complex, sharp-sighted storytelling. With exquisite wit and insidious wisdom, Best Friends weaves a powerful tale about friendship -- and the complex loyalties involved.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Contemporary, Literature

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Thomas Louis Berger was an American novelist, probably best known for his picaresque novel Little Big Man, which was adapted into a film by Arthur Penn. Berger explored and manipulated many genres of fiction throughout his career, including the crime novel, the hard-boiled detective story, science fiction, the utopian novel, plus re-workings of classical mythology, Arthurian legend, and the survival adventure.

Berger's use of humor and his often biting wit led many reviewers to refer to him as a satirist or "comic" novelist, though he rejected that classification.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book wasn’t all that great. It was about a middle aged man with too much money who lacks morals and has sex with anybody. He falls in love with his best friend’s wife and they have an affair and then he decides he wants to commit suicide. I didn’t see the point in this book. I got it from the library because the back said it was funny, but it really wasn’t.

[Candice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frenemies: the male version. Berger did a good job showing the complexities of friendships formed during childhood and maintained for life. Two stars for plot, four stars for characterization = three stars. This is not an "and they all lived happily ever after" kind of book, but that doesn't make the story any less entertaining. Oh, and high-end classic cars. Lots of them.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining enough read. Yet, ugh! Two male characters that I cared not to know, fictional or not.

[John McDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sam is married to Kristen. Roy is best friends with Sam. Roy notes that, in their years of friendship, Kristen does not seem too interested in being friends with her husband's best friend Roy. All that changed one night when Roy, essentially a handsome, good-looking vintage car salesman, expresses his keen romantic interest in Kristen who later reciprocates after Sam has a heart attack. The rest is sex, remorse, a lie that leads to a confession of Kristen and Roy's tryst, and a planned suicide that never happens. The dialogue is almost unending and at times, so trite as to force rolled eyes, the end almost predictable. But the author somehow thinks we'll be left agog at the twists in the story, but I, for one, was not.

The author is well known. He wrote Little Big Man, one of the great stories written during my lifetime. I was disappointed and, worse yet, bored by Berger's effort here.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit - I was less than impressed. Berger's style was consistent with his other novel I read, "Meeting Evil," and it's just not compelling to me. His narration is fluid but thin; he seems to comment from 30,000 feet and his characters seem slightly lifeless and their motivations unclear. I actually thought the plot of this novel was intriguing and really wish it had been pulled off better. It was an extremely quick read, though, and if you're curious, it wouldn't take long to satisfy your curiosity.

[Torimac · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've run out of time and must return it to the library. The dialect of the narration is difficult for me, too dry... stilted? But the story itself is intriguing. Well, actually, part of me suspects the story may be boring in the end, but the way it is being told is intriguing me. I have to confess though, I am skipping some paragraphs after the lead sentence, and only coming back when I think I missed something key to the story line. Actually, I've skipped about every other page so far....

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is one I randomly chose off the library shelves. Turns out I really liked it, and more than how much I liked the story, I liked the way Berger writes. Happy to have stumbled upon it.

[Geno McKenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book and am interested in other novels by T Berger. Very slow start by the characters became a little more interesting toward the middle of the story.

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

You shouldn't label people you know, especially "best friend", which the author used to much to refer to Sam and Roy. I got it; they were as close as brothers. This book was annoying.

[Marty D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't get into the style. Boring.

[Tyrone Swanson · Rating 1 out of 5]

"You have lovely Asian eyes."

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic. Berger's combination of John Cheever and Henry James. A perfect novel.

[Suzanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book full of selfish people.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read in 2011.
Mediocre.

[Monique · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay so finished another one and eh..cant say it was good or bad it just was..It told the story of two "best friends" and I use the term loosely and their lives together over the next twenty years as basically their entire relationship is dissected and you wonder if they ever really liked each other at all...The guys Roy and Sam have been in similar situations and in trouble together since youth and as they grow older and into themselves--Sam gets married but still spends irresponsibly, has the same annoying obnoxious jokes and sarcasm towards Roy and Roy remains kinda passive letting Sam always get his way, frugal but well off financially and a sort of hopeless bachelor..The differences between the two are further illuminated throughout the book as Sam is overweight and unhealthy while Roy keeps in great shape is one of the biggest comparisons in the two that shape their lives as Sam is hospitalized with heart failure and then starts the story of the relationship between Roy and Sam's wife as well as a host of other side plots and situations that really had nothing to do with anything...I admit I do like a book about nothing for real but people however this book alluded to more things that never were explained and hyped things up and let them drop lifelessly so for that I didn't like it..for example what in the world was all that end talk of Sam and Roy's father and why wasn't that fleshed out a whole lot more it just seemed thrown in and useless..Could have been a better book but alas I just didn't like any character--Sam seemed rude and overbearing, Roy was just passive aggressive and meek and Kristin seemed cold and confused..didn't hate but have read better...next!

[Aaron Martz · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book just barely over 200 pages, Berger crams in maximum melodrama. Sudden tragic deaths, love affairs, betrayals, accusations. He does it in his usual eloquent manner; Hearing one of his books read aloud would make a piece of classical music. Unfortunately, Best Friends is soapy and uninteresting. What begins as the examination of the friendship between two otherwise polar opposite individuals - one a fat, wasteful sloth, the other a fit, spartan go-getter - becomes a predictable decent into adultery and revenge of sorts. The only thing that kept me reading was its brevity and Berger's writing style, and an occasional description of an exotic car I could only hope to own one day. Otherwise, it is one of Berger's more forgettable works, of which there aren't many.

[Swan Bender · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book details this relationship between the best friends, Sam and Roy, and I was immediately wary of defining their relationship in any positive note. I believe competiveness can work well in a relationship but theirs was beyond being competitive and into something more hateful.
Kristin, Roy and Sam were not involved in a love triangle in the end but a hate triangle; using each other to get to the other. I left this book with a bad taste in my mouth, partly because I wanted a physical action book and this was one of psychological play which Berger can do well with but not what I was looking for.

[Bill FromPA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Previous: The Return of Little Big Man
Next: Adventures of the Artificial Woman

[Shari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Best Friends (June)
The story of Sam and Roger and their 20 year supposed friendship. The book doesn’t really say nice things about either man or their values. Roger starts an affair with Sam’s wife while Sam is in the hospital with heart failure. I read it to read it but did not enjoy it.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is entertaining enough but I found the characters pretty shallow. It was sort of fun to learn a bit about antique cars and I loved the descriptions of food, being a foodie! Probably an okay "beach" book.

[Sue Kozlowski · Rating 1 out of 5]

Author wrote many books. Not sure if I liked it. Sam and Roy are best friends. Kristin, Sam's wife, sleeps with Roy. The book jacket said the author is such a good writer. I think he jumps all over the place. The writing is not smooth or realistic.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not Berger's best. A very long setup with a less than impressive punchline.

[Kamon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was predictable

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written. Only disappointing part was the end - a few too many holes left open.

[Marguerite Hargreaves · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not believable, very disappointing, mercifully short.

[Libbet · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. Not a single sympathetic character.

[Moshe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've gotten this book twice now from the library. Maybe the cover photo caught my attention??

Started and didn't like it much either time.

[MEO · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best character development. A light read at best