Thick and Thin

by Sarah Harte

What happens when your best friend becomes your worst enemy?

As students, Marianne Dillon and Clare McMahon become instant and unlikely friends. Marianne is spoilt, brazen and irreverent; Clare hardworking, modest and shy. But somehow they bring out the best in each other.

Marianne's generosity and Clare's steadfastness are the glue of a friendship that sees them through twenty-five years of love and loss, successes and disappointments, marriage and motherhood. The secret of their friendship, they believe, is that they are complete opposites.

But when a life-altering crisis hits their relationship – a crisis that involves their husbands, children and indeed the lives they have created – the crack that was there all along tears them apart.

Each must face catastrophe without the support of the best friend she would always turn to. Is it possible that a relationship that was so central to their lives was built on sand? And can they rescue something from the wreckage?

Genres: Fiction

Audiobook

First published May 1, 2012

Reviews

[Kay M · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF@22%

Thank God I got this book from the library, otherwise if I'd spent money on buying it then I'd be disappointed right now.

I read the first five chapters and seriously I just couldn't get into the story. I felt that the main characters were too flat for my taste and I found myself not connecting with them emotionally. If Marianne existed in real life I don't think I would get on with her due to her lifestyle. She likes to take hard drugs a lot, have meaningless affairs and comes across as shallow in my opinion. Not only that, but I don't think she truly cares about herself as a person. On the other hand I can tolerate Claire because she's the shy and quiet type and she's a rather insecure person due to a few reasons. However she can be too prudish, a trait that I find slightly off putting.

To be honest I didn't care for the rest of the characters. None of them interested me at all. Marianne's and Claire's friends weren't exactly that interesting and all they seemed to do is to gossip about things/people and get stoned half the time. I particularly hated Dervla due to her judgemental and obnoxious personality. What made me want to punch her in the face was when she said she doesn't believe that homosexuality is a 'legitimate lifestyle option.' As a straight person I found that comment to be tactless and narrow minded.

The reason why I felt that I was unable to connect with the characters is the writing. There was no emotional depth and every event just happened one after the other with no buildup or tension. Everything just flew by and that's what stopped me from actually caring about Marianne and Claire as people. It's like when Marianne got an abortion and the unborn child's father declaring he wasn't going to leave his wife for her, I didn't feel any sort of pangs towards her situation. And you know something? That surprises me because I don't consider myself a heartless person.

There were some things I did like about the book, especially the modern setting in Ireland during the late 80s/early 90s. I appreciate Sarah Harte for capturing cultural references as well as highlighting political/social issues that Ireland was facing at the time. The religious aspect was well described seeing that Ireland is a Catholic country.

It's a shame that Thick and Thin failed to capture and hold my attention. I just hope that my next book is better.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book as part of first-reads. I had to fight to keep reading for the first half of the book but found the second half more engaging. I liked the topics she addressed and the way she handled them as part of the character development. However, I found the book hard to follow at times as it jumped between the past and present without clear delineations.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book as it doesn't seem to be held together well. Clare and Marianne's friendship isn't developed until the second half of the book and their characters seem thin for the first half as well.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel a bit guilty really liking this book, but I did even if the characters, particularly the mainly two dimensional men, were not quite believable. I enjoyed how it addressed contemporary issues and how one can hold contradictory views about those various issues, and how much our views can be shaped by our own experience.

I was thoroughly engrossed by the story and it definitely fell into the category of 'unputdownable' for me. I would read another Sarah Harte.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't get into the book at all after 100 pages so left it

[Lesley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only got almost half way through this book, it's so dull! I don't often give up but life's too short for boring books!

[Doreen Dooley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very hard going book for me, it started off interesting and I was keen to see where Clare and Marianne would go and how their friendship would develop. But then it seem to get very long and wishy washy with the characters personality and how either seemed weak and over keen or slutty and overbearing. I did feel like given up half way through but stuck with it, as the next stage in their lives progressed there where some interesting areas which I feel needed more depth that would have given the book the injection boost it needed.

[Mary Frances · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. Read 70%. Started it on a whim but the characters are to thin that it feels misogynist. It’s just two caricatures of mothers by the end. One is so hateful, just cannot get into it. I wanted to finish to see if the pro-Catholic church bias was consistent all the way through but, no, I couldn’t do it.

[Isobel Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This took about 50 pages to really hook me in but then I really enjoyed it. I liked, then disliked, the leading characters in turn and ended up loving them both. This story is of a friendship between very different women that lasts for years and is tested to the absolute limit by circumstances. Highly recommended.

[Bigbear Woolliscroft · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book excels at complex characterisation. If you like characters, that will not be easily transparent, you are in for a treat, event though the plot line itself is 'snippet of lives' rather than a clear arc of trajectory. Still, glad I tried it.

[Carol Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first page put me off this book and I nearly stopped reading at that point but I persevered and it did get better. I enjoyed this story of friendship, with all its highs and lows, set in Dublin.

[Shelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't stop reading this book like you can't stop eating cheese pops.
The characters were not really credible and got on my nerves and yet I continued to gobble it up.Mystifying.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shame there aren't half stars as it's really 2.5/5 for me. I agree with other reviews - I almost gave up on this book but it improved halfway through