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Friends Like These
From bestselling, award-winning author Meg Rosoff comes a gritty, intoxicating novel about a summer of unforgettable of independence, lies, love and the inevitable loss of innocence. Sharp and irresistible, it's perfect for fans of Judy Blume's Summer Sisters and Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend .
New York City. Summer 1983. A summer internship in New York was meant to be everything Beth wanted. But from the moment she arrives in the city she feels wrong hair, terrible clothes, defective smile, too obviously a virgin. Sharing a hot, cockroach-filled apartment with a couple falling out of love completes the dream picture. Then she meets her fellow ambitious out-of-towner Dan, preppy rich boy Oliver, and Edie — a beautiful, brittle, magnetic, instant best friend. Irresistible people are like gravity. You can’t help being pulled towards them — can you?
New York City. Summer 1983. A summer internship in New York was meant to be everything Beth wanted. But from the moment she arrives in the city she feels wrong hair, terrible clothes, defective smile, too obviously a virgin. Sharing a hot, cockroach-filled apartment with a couple falling out of love completes the dream picture. Then she meets her fellow ambitious out-of-towner Dan, preppy rich boy Oliver, and Edie — a beautiful, brittle, magnetic, instant best friend. Irresistible people are like gravity. You can’t help being pulled towards them — can you?
320 pages, Paperback
First published May 31, 2022
71 people are currently reading
6545 people want to read
About the author
Meg Rosoff
46 books1,167 followersMeg Rosoff was born in Boston and had three or four careers in publishing and advertising before she moved to London in 1989, where she lives now with her husband and daughter. Formerly a Young Adult author, Meg has earned numerous prizes including the highest American and British honors for YA fiction: the Michael L. Printz Award and the Carnegie Medal.
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August 7, 2024
“Remember this time and place, she thought. New York City, June 1983. This is where it starts.
Already her life felt like a miracle.”
Tempering is a process of applying heat to steel to remove excess hardness and in turn make it more flexible and able to withstand greater pressure without breaking. This feels very metaphorical for bildungsromans, such as Meg Rosoff’s Friends Like These where being forged in heat is literally the sweltering city summer and the pressures of fraught friendships. Young and naive, Beth moves to New York City in 1983 to take an internship at a newspaper—if this is a coming-of-age NYC story you should probably cue this song for maximum experience, you are welcome fellow Swifties—and is quickly tumbling in the chaos of harsh city living from caustic roommates in a rundown apartment to a nightlife that ‘sounds like an insurrection’ where the pleasures are equally measured out with peril. Enter Edie with her personality like a gravitational force that pulls Beth in for an immediate close friendship that will change the orbit of her formative years forever. There’s a blurb that implies this is like a YA intro to Elena Ferrante and while that seems a loose connection it’s also not wrong. A slow-burn YA narrative that still reads at a blistering pace, this is a gritty and intense look at growing up in a hurry with the pressures of sex, drugs and a toxic friendship pulling Beth into adulthood as the AIDs epidemic is a growing menance advancing on the horizon.
‘She liked being part of something dirty and dangerous.’
To be honest, I didn’t realize this way a YA novel when I snagged it and I’m glad I did because this was quite the gripping, gritty read. Very cinematic in its execution, the novel meanders through drinks and debauchery while piecing together a portrait of a single summer that will change Beth from the optimistically naive teenager to a world-weary woman who can handle life without needing a friend to guide her. I’ve had friendships like this, and I think your late teens and early 20s often provide the right catalyst of intensely felt burgeoning emotions that open the door for sudden and very close friendships that often burn out as quickly as they begin. It seems only natural that Beth would quickly become an accessory for Edie, an Upper West Side native with streetsmart and keys to all the pleasures New York has to offer a young woman willing to be plunged into a wild ride of life. Yet we quickly see how toxic Edie can be, perhaps quicker than Beth though even once she begins to recognize it, she is so caught in her orbit it is hard to break free.
Because that’s how people like Edie operate and while the side characters here are rather flat, Edie is a dynamic character that feels very true to life. She separates Beth from everyone else, pulling her under her complete control of what Beth should do or who she should see. She makes Beth put in a lot of emotional labor to the friendship and while she love-bombs her at times, her actions show quite a callus indifference at other times. It is classic manipulation and Beth has to learn the hard way while simultaneously caterwauling through drunken nights, drugs, and potentially ill-advised sexual encounters. ‘Be nice to everyone,’ Edie advises, ‘you never know who might come in handy,’ and Rosoff very effectively depicts the ways people can transform themselves into whoever they need to be in a given situation in order to manipulate others. Not that Edie is doing great herself and her mental health struggles often engulf Beth in their maelstrom.
Dangerous relationships don’t just stop at friendships here, however. ‘Beth was the understudy in Dawn and Tom’s disaster of a relationship,’ we are told, though we see her sneak into a starring role, and meanwhile Edie is having an affair with a married man who’s wife is pregnant (Edie stops taking her birth control without telling him), and suddenly innocent Beth is caught in emotional tangles of rather volatile relationships. Its a very classic dangerous coming-of-age narrative, with all these young people being pulled around by their hormones and impulses living high-intensity lives by day being thrust into night lives full of alcohol, drugs, and sex. Nobody is getting out alive without some scars.
I found the Edie and Beth dynamic to be quite engaging on issues of class as well, while also exploring aspects of Jewish identity which they both share. Beth is naive but very perspective, which helps her survive, but is from a lower-income upbringing raised by two holocaust survivors and she bears that history. Edie, however, comes from money but has a neurotic, overbearing mother and a high-profile NYC therapist (it seems to sort of play on two very different stereotypes of Jewish people). There is a scene early on where Beth notices a hot dog vendor has the tattoo of his time in a concentration camp and is appalled to consider how someone could survive such a horrific genocide and wind up in poverty selling hot dogs, while meanwhile the city is run by those who never faced anything close to that and hide behind the comforts of their money.
'Arriving in New York for the first time was like wearing a sign that said CHEAT ME.'
This is represented too in the city where Beth quickly notices the grimness of the low-income districts. The novel does give a rather unkind, stereotypical look at big city poverty areas full of needles, prostitutes, sex offenders and muggers, but we also see how this is an image reinforced by the wealthy to keep these people down and out of “polite society.” Law enforcement is quick to police these people but couldn’t care less when it comes to helping (Beth goes to the police when Edie goes missing and they don’t give a flat fuck). If you shift the public image from thinking of these people as economically oppressed to being a nest of criminals, nobody will have to feel guilt for letting them rot in poverty and poor living conditions while enjoying their excess privileges. This plays into the AIDs crisis which is always lurking in the background, slowly circling closer to engulf people in Beth’s life as the novel progresses. By looking at it as only affecting “degenerates,” nobody talked about it and brushed it off until it was a huge epidemic. The silence around it turned deadly. Though perhaps Rosoff’s depiction of NYC leans a bit towards stereotyping it as criminal in a way it doesn’t just establish a very gritty atmosphere but it nudges us towards thinking about why this is and the thematic relationship to the health crisis.
“And what have I learned? she asked herself.
That no one friend could give you everything.
That complex friends came with complex agendas.
That liars tell the best stories.”
I quite enjoy Friends Like These and found this to be an intense, fast read that threw some great punches. Her writing is sharp and you can really feel the summer heat emitting from these pages. She writes summer so effectively that, though I also read this in a single sitting on a hot summer day, I would have wanted a cool drink to accompany my read even if I had read it during a winter blizzard. A crisp and engaging coming-of-age story with a rather depressed and tragic lesson being learned—Beth certainly leaves the story without the starry-eyed optimism with which she enters it—this was a really effective character study and gripping tale. In a way, it feels like Sally Rooney for a teen audience and while I suspect this won’t be all that especially engaging with the target audience I did find it well constructed. And while this is aimed at a YA audience but equally effective for adult readers, Friends Like These is a great summer coming-of-age read.
3.5/5
Already her life felt like a miracle.”
Tempering is a process of applying heat to steel to remove excess hardness and in turn make it more flexible and able to withstand greater pressure without breaking. This feels very metaphorical for bildungsromans, such as Meg Rosoff’s Friends Like These where being forged in heat is literally the sweltering city summer and the pressures of fraught friendships. Young and naive, Beth moves to New York City in 1983 to take an internship at a newspaper—if this is a coming-of-age NYC story you should probably cue this song for maximum experience, you are welcome fellow Swifties—and is quickly tumbling in the chaos of harsh city living from caustic roommates in a rundown apartment to a nightlife that ‘sounds like an insurrection’ where the pleasures are equally measured out with peril. Enter Edie with her personality like a gravitational force that pulls Beth in for an immediate close friendship that will change the orbit of her formative years forever. There’s a blurb that implies this is like a YA intro to Elena Ferrante and while that seems a loose connection it’s also not wrong. A slow-burn YA narrative that still reads at a blistering pace, this is a gritty and intense look at growing up in a hurry with the pressures of sex, drugs and a toxic friendship pulling Beth into adulthood as the AIDs epidemic is a growing menance advancing on the horizon.
‘She liked being part of something dirty and dangerous.’
To be honest, I didn’t realize this way a YA novel when I snagged it and I’m glad I did because this was quite the gripping, gritty read. Very cinematic in its execution, the novel meanders through drinks and debauchery while piecing together a portrait of a single summer that will change Beth from the optimistically naive teenager to a world-weary woman who can handle life without needing a friend to guide her. I’ve had friendships like this, and I think your late teens and early 20s often provide the right catalyst of intensely felt burgeoning emotions that open the door for sudden and very close friendships that often burn out as quickly as they begin. It seems only natural that Beth would quickly become an accessory for Edie, an Upper West Side native with streetsmart and keys to all the pleasures New York has to offer a young woman willing to be plunged into a wild ride of life. Yet we quickly see how toxic Edie can be, perhaps quicker than Beth though even once she begins to recognize it, she is so caught in her orbit it is hard to break free.
Because that’s how people like Edie operate and while the side characters here are rather flat, Edie is a dynamic character that feels very true to life. She separates Beth from everyone else, pulling her under her complete control of what Beth should do or who she should see. She makes Beth put in a lot of emotional labor to the friendship and while she love-bombs her at times, her actions show quite a callus indifference at other times. It is classic manipulation and Beth has to learn the hard way while simultaneously caterwauling through drunken nights, drugs, and potentially ill-advised sexual encounters. ‘Be nice to everyone,’ Edie advises, ‘you never know who might come in handy,’ and Rosoff very effectively depicts the ways people can transform themselves into whoever they need to be in a given situation in order to manipulate others. Not that Edie is doing great herself and her mental health struggles often engulf Beth in their maelstrom.
Dangerous relationships don’t just stop at friendships here, however. ‘Beth was the understudy in Dawn and Tom’s disaster of a relationship,’ we are told, though we see her sneak into a starring role, and meanwhile Edie is having an affair with a married man who’s wife is pregnant (Edie stops taking her birth control without telling him), and suddenly innocent Beth is caught in emotional tangles of rather volatile relationships. Its a very classic dangerous coming-of-age narrative, with all these young people being pulled around by their hormones and impulses living high-intensity lives by day being thrust into night lives full of alcohol, drugs, and sex. Nobody is getting out alive without some scars.
I found the Edie and Beth dynamic to be quite engaging on issues of class as well, while also exploring aspects of Jewish identity which they both share. Beth is naive but very perspective, which helps her survive, but is from a lower-income upbringing raised by two holocaust survivors and she bears that history. Edie, however, comes from money but has a neurotic, overbearing mother and a high-profile NYC therapist (it seems to sort of play on two very different stereotypes of Jewish people). There is a scene early on where Beth notices a hot dog vendor has the tattoo of his time in a concentration camp and is appalled to consider how someone could survive such a horrific genocide and wind up in poverty selling hot dogs, while meanwhile the city is run by those who never faced anything close to that and hide behind the comforts of their money.
'Arriving in New York for the first time was like wearing a sign that said CHEAT ME.'
This is represented too in the city where Beth quickly notices the grimness of the low-income districts. The novel does give a rather unkind, stereotypical look at big city poverty areas full of needles, prostitutes, sex offenders and muggers, but we also see how this is an image reinforced by the wealthy to keep these people down and out of “polite society.” Law enforcement is quick to police these people but couldn’t care less when it comes to helping (Beth goes to the police when Edie goes missing and they don’t give a flat fuck). If you shift the public image from thinking of these people as economically oppressed to being a nest of criminals, nobody will have to feel guilt for letting them rot in poverty and poor living conditions while enjoying their excess privileges. This plays into the AIDs crisis which is always lurking in the background, slowly circling closer to engulf people in Beth’s life as the novel progresses. By looking at it as only affecting “degenerates,” nobody talked about it and brushed it off until it was a huge epidemic. The silence around it turned deadly. Though perhaps Rosoff’s depiction of NYC leans a bit towards stereotyping it as criminal in a way it doesn’t just establish a very gritty atmosphere but it nudges us towards thinking about why this is and the thematic relationship to the health crisis.
“And what have I learned? she asked herself.
That no one friend could give you everything.
That complex friends came with complex agendas.
That liars tell the best stories.”
I quite enjoy Friends Like These and found this to be an intense, fast read that threw some great punches. Her writing is sharp and you can really feel the summer heat emitting from these pages. She writes summer so effectively that, though I also read this in a single sitting on a hot summer day, I would have wanted a cool drink to accompany my read even if I had read it during a winter blizzard. A crisp and engaging coming-of-age story with a rather depressed and tragic lesson being learned—Beth certainly leaves the story without the starry-eyed optimism with which she enters it—this was a really effective character study and gripping tale. In a way, it feels like Sally Rooney for a teen audience and while I suspect this won’t be all that especially engaging with the target audience I did find it well constructed. And while this is aimed at a YA audience but equally effective for adult readers, Friends Like These is a great summer coming-of-age read.
3.5/5
May 13, 2022
Award winning Meg Rosoff beautifully written and atmospheric novella is set in the early 1980s and pays homage to the melting pot that is New York City amidst the Aids crisis. The 18 year old uncool, unfashionable and suburban Beth has won a prestigious internship at a newspaper, along with another out of towner, the overly ambitious, ruthless Dan and the more privileged Native New Yorkers, the effortlessly poised, preppy Oliver and the forceful, opinionated and remarkably knowledgeable Edie. Sharing a tiny cockroach infested slum apartment in a unbearably sweltering city, Beth is set to familiarise herself with the numerous sides to the glory that is the Big Apple, the cacophony of sounds, the seedier aspects, its crime, its crazy dementedness, the vast inequalities and its culture, such as the Met. She learns of the complicated intricacies of what lies behind a daily newspaper, the systems and the multitude of journalists and staff that run it.
At the heart of the narrative is the intense, thrilling and exciting friendship that Beth forges, falling under the spell of the dominating, charismatic and volatile Edie, who tells her they will be avoiding Oliver and Dan, despite Beth being drawn to Oliver's easy personality. It is going to be a time of a succession of eye opening firsts in this momentous summer, both blinding and illuminating, such as constantly getting drunk, taking drugs, having sex, living with Edie in her parents upmarket apartment, and being held at gunpoint whilst being mugged by an apologetic perpetrator. Initially Beth's relationship with Edie is intoxicating, opening doors that would otherwise be closed to her, Edie's mother and bohemian grandmother ask her to take care of Edie, a task that is to become increasingly impossible.
Beth ends her time in New York feeling emotionally mugged as she feels the sharp end of a toxic friendship where she had ignored the cheerful microaggressions, the truth of what Edie actually thought of her, the instability and the utter selfishness. However, the revelations of the real scale of deceptions and lies floor her, Beth was completely unaware and unable to see who was in front of her, an understanding that will prohibit any possibility of the continuation of their friendship. Beth proves to be a remarkably resilient woman, responding with maturity to her New York experiences, both positive and negative, it will be a summer to remember as she goes on to study in Chicago. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
At the heart of the narrative is the intense, thrilling and exciting friendship that Beth forges, falling under the spell of the dominating, charismatic and volatile Edie, who tells her they will be avoiding Oliver and Dan, despite Beth being drawn to Oliver's easy personality. It is going to be a time of a succession of eye opening firsts in this momentous summer, both blinding and illuminating, such as constantly getting drunk, taking drugs, having sex, living with Edie in her parents upmarket apartment, and being held at gunpoint whilst being mugged by an apologetic perpetrator. Initially Beth's relationship with Edie is intoxicating, opening doors that would otherwise be closed to her, Edie's mother and bohemian grandmother ask her to take care of Edie, a task that is to become increasingly impossible.
Beth ends her time in New York feeling emotionally mugged as she feels the sharp end of a toxic friendship where she had ignored the cheerful microaggressions, the truth of what Edie actually thought of her, the instability and the utter selfishness. However, the revelations of the real scale of deceptions and lies floor her, Beth was completely unaware and unable to see who was in front of her, an understanding that will prohibit any possibility of the continuation of their friendship. Beth proves to be a remarkably resilient woman, responding with maturity to her New York experiences, both positive and negative, it will be a summer to remember as she goes on to study in Chicago. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
February 28, 2023
“Arriving in New York for the first time was like wearing a sign that said CHEAT ME.”
“What you see, she thought, is not what you get. What you see is what you see.”
Rosoff’s novel, set in 1983, focuses on eighteen-year-old Beth, who comes to New York City after being selected for a prestigious summer internship at a large daily newspaper. Three other young people—preppy WASPish Oliver; ambitious “New Wave” Dan; and beautiful, unstable Edie Gale—have also won positions. Beth, the child of traumatized Holocaust survivors, is a dull sparrow compared to the worldly, stylish, and moneyed Edie, who is a different kind of Jew—one of the neurotic New York variety. Beth is flattered when Edie takes to her, tries to give her a makeover, and just generally shows her the way at both the newspaper and in the big city.
Rosoff’s narrative initially moves at quite a clip. There’s lots of snappy dialogue, some of it laugh-out-loud funny. However, the story becomes increasingly dark. Edie is a troubled, self-centred drama queen—and a nymphomaniac to boot. She’s been in therapy with Dr. Liebermann for years, but she hasn’t moved beyond blaming her psychological dysfunction on her harsh, controlling shrew of a mother. Beth learns all of this and more when she becomes feverishly, deliriously ill and Edie extracts her from the squalid apartment in Greenwich Village she’s sharing with a miserable young couple. Edie’s parents are away in the Hamptons for the summer and Beth is invited to live with her in rent-free, spacious, air-conditioned luxury. There’s a catch or two, of course. Beth is expected to be Edie’s audience and, over time, her minder. As her brilliant friend spirals out of control, Beth finds that her living arrangements and indeed her involvement with Edie are unmanageable.
This is a coming-of-age novel for mature young adults that is preceded by a warning about sexual content. There’s also a lot of drinking and drug use, and the AIDs epidemic looms menacingly in the background. The virus is no longer limited to young gay men; it’s beginning to affect women unaware of their partners’ secret histories. The newspaper where Beth interns has recently hired two additional obituary writers, as the arts and creative communities are being decimated.
I found it puzzling that Beth was able to consume alcohol, often to great excess, at New York drinking establishments. She is, after all, barely eighteen. Edie is apparently of legal drinking age, nineteen, but we’re told several times that her appearance is childlike. At no point is either girl asked for ID. Perhaps this is par for the course in what is depicted as a dirty, chaotic, cut-throat city. Rosoff intimates that no one here much cares about anyone else. Bystanders and the police certainly don’t.
Rosoff’s novel is propulsive, and I see her target audience being rewarded by it. Characterization is generally strong, even if I wasn’t entirely convinced by some of Beth’s actions, reactions, and decisions. The novel also takes too long to conclude and is a bit preachy about all the things Beth has supposedly learned. At the same time, it is true that in almost every life there really are brief, intense periods when a person is shaken up by a cascade of events. It can take months or years to reassemble oneself from the pieces that remain. For Beth, “What had begun as treachery had morphed into something else. She has been through fire and was stronger for it. Forged in the flame of a New York summer.”
A thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with a free advanced review digital copy of Rosoff’s book.
Rating: a solid 3.5
“What you see, she thought, is not what you get. What you see is what you see.”
Rosoff’s novel, set in 1983, focuses on eighteen-year-old Beth, who comes to New York City after being selected for a prestigious summer internship at a large daily newspaper. Three other young people—preppy WASPish Oliver; ambitious “New Wave” Dan; and beautiful, unstable Edie Gale—have also won positions. Beth, the child of traumatized Holocaust survivors, is a dull sparrow compared to the worldly, stylish, and moneyed Edie, who is a different kind of Jew—one of the neurotic New York variety. Beth is flattered when Edie takes to her, tries to give her a makeover, and just generally shows her the way at both the newspaper and in the big city.
Rosoff’s narrative initially moves at quite a clip. There’s lots of snappy dialogue, some of it laugh-out-loud funny. However, the story becomes increasingly dark. Edie is a troubled, self-centred drama queen—and a nymphomaniac to boot. She’s been in therapy with Dr. Liebermann for years, but she hasn’t moved beyond blaming her psychological dysfunction on her harsh, controlling shrew of a mother. Beth learns all of this and more when she becomes feverishly, deliriously ill and Edie extracts her from the squalid apartment in Greenwich Village she’s sharing with a miserable young couple. Edie’s parents are away in the Hamptons for the summer and Beth is invited to live with her in rent-free, spacious, air-conditioned luxury. There’s a catch or two, of course. Beth is expected to be Edie’s audience and, over time, her minder. As her brilliant friend spirals out of control, Beth finds that her living arrangements and indeed her involvement with Edie are unmanageable.
This is a coming-of-age novel for mature young adults that is preceded by a warning about sexual content. There’s also a lot of drinking and drug use, and the AIDs epidemic looms menacingly in the background. The virus is no longer limited to young gay men; it’s beginning to affect women unaware of their partners’ secret histories. The newspaper where Beth interns has recently hired two additional obituary writers, as the arts and creative communities are being decimated.
I found it puzzling that Beth was able to consume alcohol, often to great excess, at New York drinking establishments. She is, after all, barely eighteen. Edie is apparently of legal drinking age, nineteen, but we’re told several times that her appearance is childlike. At no point is either girl asked for ID. Perhaps this is par for the course in what is depicted as a dirty, chaotic, cut-throat city. Rosoff intimates that no one here much cares about anyone else. Bystanders and the police certainly don’t.
Rosoff’s novel is propulsive, and I see her target audience being rewarded by it. Characterization is generally strong, even if I wasn’t entirely convinced by some of Beth’s actions, reactions, and decisions. The novel also takes too long to conclude and is a bit preachy about all the things Beth has supposedly learned. At the same time, it is true that in almost every life there really are brief, intense periods when a person is shaken up by a cascade of events. It can take months or years to reassemble oneself from the pieces that remain. For Beth, “What had begun as treachery had morphed into something else. She has been through fire and was stronger for it. Forged in the flame of a New York summer.”
A thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with a free advanced review digital copy of Rosoff’s book.
Rating: a solid 3.5
June 1, 2023
I read this because I had some friends like these.
December 3, 2023
3 Stars for Friends Like These (audiobook) Meg Rosoff read by Amy Handelman.
It’s fun getting a little taste of what it’s like living in New York.
It’s fun getting a little taste of what it’s like living in New York.
July 4, 2022
I loved Rosoff's previous novel, The Great Godden, finding it to be a transporting but literary summer read -- something I find hard to find! So I was intrigued when I heard the author had another loosely YA summer based book coming out, and thought a book set in NYC in the 80s about teens working in the field of journalism would be just the ticket.
So it's with a heavy heart that I report that this was slow moving, featured cliched characters and failed to hold my interest. I didn't buy Edie and Beth's friendship, and thought Beth sounded more like someone in her mid 20s than a teenager. Some of the descriptive writing was good, and 80s NYC felt well evoked, but I wouldn't rush to recommend this novel.
Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
So it's with a heavy heart that I report that this was slow moving, featured cliched characters and failed to hold my interest. I didn't buy Edie and Beth's friendship, and thought Beth sounded more like someone in her mid 20s than a teenager. Some of the descriptive writing was good, and 80s NYC felt well evoked, but I wouldn't rush to recommend this novel.
Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
July 17, 2023
My Rating: 3.75/5
In this YA/coming-of-age novel, you could feel the determination of the main character, Beth, trying to make a mark for herself in early 1980's NYC. The book felt messy, unstructured, and gritty - but all in a good way - as to me, it echoed Beth's new life in the city and how she was feeling about navigating this new world of work, friendships, relationships, drugs, sex, and the AIDS epidemic.
The story follows Beth's attempts to "figure it all out", while peppering in the struggles of being young and naive. This book had the feel of a lot of those early 90's movies where not a lot happens, yet everything happens (think 'Reality Bites'). I definitely appreciated the author's writing.
In this YA/coming-of-age novel, you could feel the determination of the main character, Beth, trying to make a mark for herself in early 1980's NYC. The book felt messy, unstructured, and gritty - but all in a good way - as to me, it echoed Beth's new life in the city and how she was feeling about navigating this new world of work, friendships, relationships, drugs, sex, and the AIDS epidemic.
The story follows Beth's attempts to "figure it all out", while peppering in the struggles of being young and naive. This book had the feel of a lot of those early 90's movies where not a lot happens, yet everything happens (think 'Reality Bites'). I definitely appreciated the author's writing.
August 28, 2023
it's quick, it's banal, it's simple. it's definitely a book alright, though i can't say that i will remember it long after this.
the atmosphere was nowhere because it did not even feel like the 80's. there was no indication of the year it was set in aside from the occasional mentions of WW2 and the AIDS crisis. the characters weren't special and i found their motivations lacking. there was barely any closure for the ending and i felt a little frustrated because after reading all that i did not feel like it ended well. the writing was simple and it made reading this very easy. the plot was rudimentary and intriguing for some reason but i can't say any of it was especially good.
it's a normal book is all. nothing special. also, don't ever compare Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend because that is setting this novel up for high expectations, which i feel i was a victim of. but then again, that's on me because no book that comped Ferrante has ever lived up to them.
the atmosphere was nowhere because it did not even feel like the 80's. there was no indication of the year it was set in aside from the occasional mentions of WW2 and the AIDS crisis. the characters weren't special and i found their motivations lacking. there was barely any closure for the ending and i felt a little frustrated because after reading all that i did not feel like it ended well. the writing was simple and it made reading this very easy. the plot was rudimentary and intriguing for some reason but i can't say any of it was especially good.
it's a normal book is all. nothing special. also, don't ever compare Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend because that is setting this novel up for high expectations, which i feel i was a victim of. but then again, that's on me because no book that comped Ferrante has ever lived up to them.
June 28, 2022
It’s the 1980s and New York is buzzing, melting, scared, exciting and complicated. The death toll is rising, with AIDS and crime sweeping through the city–nothing feels fixed in place. Having gained recognition for breaking the story of her local high school’s discriminatory admissions practices, uncool 18-year-old Beth is spending the summer before college interning at a prestigious newspaper.
Amongst her fellow interns is Edie, a wealthy Jewish New Yorker from a journalist family. She insists the women in her family are cursed to treat others badly, namely their own children. Immediately Edie sweeps Beth up in the glamour of the city only accessed with status. Before long she has rescued Beth from her roach-infested sublet, and instructed her who to talk to and what to wear. This friendship becomes all-consuming, and Beth’s feelings grow more complex as she begins to both rely on and take care of Edie.
My major issue is one that is not exclusive to this novel, in fact, I am noticing it more and more, and believe to be a response to the popularity of booktok; novels are being marketed to fans of specific trendy tropes. In this case, I think the blurb was trying to appeal to the dark academia/ found family/ complicated friendship group – a la the Secret History. This is not a dark academia, ragtag ensemble story. I am unclear on who the ‘friends’ of the title refer to, the interns mentioned in the blurb are minor characters who barely interact in a meaningful way with the protagonist. Whilst it may sell a book, it is misleading and a disservice to the author.
This novel is very light on plot like the Great Godden, which I don’t mind. However ‘mercury rising and deceit mounting up, betrayal lies just around the corner. Who needs enemies … when you have friends like these?’ promises drama that is never lived up to. The blurb honestly feels like a misrepresentation of a plot that is more of a languid, feverish exploration of self through a new city. This is an introspective journey of Beth learning to trust herself and her instincts, more than it is one rich with betrayal and deceit.
I have to say though, Rosoff writes summer like no other, it is visceral and suffocating, a sensual quality to her writing of heat and sweat and closeness. I truly could see and feel the New York Beth was discovering, alongside her. The precipice of adulthood, moments brimming with possibility and life are captured so succinctly through her sparse writing.
By far the most interesting aspect of this novel was Beth and Edie’s friendship as Jewish women from very different socio-economic backgrounds.
For Edie, her Jewishness is often a source of humour and flippant comments; her being placed in therapy early on, her controlling mother and neuroses. This is not in itself bad, but it is inaccessible and foreign mindset to Beth. Her working-class family carry a trauma-induced silence in order to survive the devastation of the holocaust. Whilst Edie proudly flaunts her artist grandmother, Beth is haunted by the knowledge of the majority of her family, including all of her grandparents, being gassed to death in concentration camps. Yet Edie regards Beth as barely Jewish, even shows disdain for Beth’s hesitancy at eating pork. Whilst affronted by these comments the pain runs too deep for Beth to discuss casually. This novel explores privilege in many forms, and I found this dichotomy between characters regarding class, ethnicity and religion especially interesting.
I really enjoyed Beth as a protagonist, she’s smart and funny, but open and naive in a way makes her experiences believable. Rosoff’s protagonists always feel so wholly themselves, not as if she’s trying to write a hero or moral compass but just a person experiencing life. Multiple traumatic events happen to Beth, and it’s true we don’t really see the repercussions but honestly, I found this kind of refreshing. Sometimes things happen to you when you’re young and you have no choice but to keep moving on. The events are not treated lightly or glossed over, I found this aspect realistic.
I do just want to acknowledge strange line regarding gender and genitals–I’m not sure what it was getting at as genderqueerness is never explored, it made me slightly uncomfortable so yeah idk.
If you enjoyed the Great Godden and appreciate Meg Rossof’s writing then I think you’ll enjoy this, if you’re picking this up based on the blurb I think you’ll probably be disappointed. I’ll always read whatever she writes :—)
*this review is of an ARC
Amongst her fellow interns is Edie, a wealthy Jewish New Yorker from a journalist family. She insists the women in her family are cursed to treat others badly, namely their own children. Immediately Edie sweeps Beth up in the glamour of the city only accessed with status. Before long she has rescued Beth from her roach-infested sublet, and instructed her who to talk to and what to wear. This friendship becomes all-consuming, and Beth’s feelings grow more complex as she begins to both rely on and take care of Edie.
My major issue is one that is not exclusive to this novel, in fact, I am noticing it more and more, and believe to be a response to the popularity of booktok; novels are being marketed to fans of specific trendy tropes. In this case, I think the blurb was trying to appeal to the dark academia/ found family/ complicated friendship group – a la the Secret History. This is not a dark academia, ragtag ensemble story. I am unclear on who the ‘friends’ of the title refer to, the interns mentioned in the blurb are minor characters who barely interact in a meaningful way with the protagonist. Whilst it may sell a book, it is misleading and a disservice to the author.
This novel is very light on plot like the Great Godden, which I don’t mind. However ‘mercury rising and deceit mounting up, betrayal lies just around the corner. Who needs enemies … when you have friends like these?’ promises drama that is never lived up to. The blurb honestly feels like a misrepresentation of a plot that is more of a languid, feverish exploration of self through a new city. This is an introspective journey of Beth learning to trust herself and her instincts, more than it is one rich with betrayal and deceit.
I have to say though, Rosoff writes summer like no other, it is visceral and suffocating, a sensual quality to her writing of heat and sweat and closeness. I truly could see and feel the New York Beth was discovering, alongside her. The precipice of adulthood, moments brimming with possibility and life are captured so succinctly through her sparse writing.
By far the most interesting aspect of this novel was Beth and Edie’s friendship as Jewish women from very different socio-economic backgrounds.
For Edie, her Jewishness is often a source of humour and flippant comments; her being placed in therapy early on, her controlling mother and neuroses. This is not in itself bad, but it is inaccessible and foreign mindset to Beth. Her working-class family carry a trauma-induced silence in order to survive the devastation of the holocaust. Whilst Edie proudly flaunts her artist grandmother, Beth is haunted by the knowledge of the majority of her family, including all of her grandparents, being gassed to death in concentration camps. Yet Edie regards Beth as barely Jewish, even shows disdain for Beth’s hesitancy at eating pork. Whilst affronted by these comments the pain runs too deep for Beth to discuss casually. This novel explores privilege in many forms, and I found this dichotomy between characters regarding class, ethnicity and religion especially interesting.
I really enjoyed Beth as a protagonist, she’s smart and funny, but open and naive in a way makes her experiences believable. Rosoff’s protagonists always feel so wholly themselves, not as if she’s trying to write a hero or moral compass but just a person experiencing life. Multiple traumatic events happen to Beth, and it’s true we don’t really see the repercussions but honestly, I found this kind of refreshing. Sometimes things happen to you when you’re young and you have no choice but to keep moving on. The events are not treated lightly or glossed over, I found this aspect realistic.
I do just want to acknowledge strange line regarding gender and genitals–I’m not sure what it was getting at as genderqueerness is never explored, it made me slightly uncomfortable so yeah idk.
If you enjoyed the Great Godden and appreciate Meg Rossof’s writing then I think you’ll enjoy this, if you’re picking this up based on the blurb I think you’ll probably be disappointed. I’ll always read whatever she writes :—)
*this review is of an ARC
May 13, 2022
A coming of age story of 18 year old Beth, who went to intern for the summer in a newspaper office in 1980's NYC, where a toxic friendship shapes her summer experience. A wonderfully descriptive novel and Beth is a great character, with great depth and insightful humour. Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.
December 27, 2022
I didn’t realise when I bought this one that it was a YA release. Honestly, I didn’t even pick up on that while reading it. To me, it read as a really decent coming of age story and it wasn’t until preparing the review and reading about it on the publisher’s website that I noted the YA audience. This is probably a good thing because I don’t read YA as a habit anymore. It’s rare that they don’t feel like a YA novel. In terms of this one, I would say it’s more older YA, than younger, perhaps more like a new adult audience as that’s the age of the characters and there’s a fair bit of sex and drug taking going on.
‘Most of this information she had gleaned from overheard conversations. Her parents rarely spoke of loss. Beth often wondered if they spoke to each other on the subject. She sometimes felt as if she had inherited the gross accumulation of her parents’ silence, the weight of an immeasurable, unacknowledged horror planted within her like the seed of some hungry vine.’
There are some great themes to unpack from this one and it clips along at a good pace too. Beth is a child of Holocaust survivors, spreading her wings in New York for the summer working as an intern at a paper between finishing high school and beginning college. She’s from a small town, so the learning curve is a steep one and she arrives in NY all wide-eyed and impressionable – ripe for taking advantage of.
‘She thought about herself, how even when he was forcing himself on her, she was mostly worried about waking Edie, as if being polite were somehow more important than – whatever.’
New York in the early 1980s comes to life with the issues that would have been prevalent in the day taking centre stage: the high crime rates, the emergence of Aids and the terror of the unknown that accompanied the initial waves, sexism in the workplace, rape culture. A New York summer and the way the city exists within those long roasting months; the abovementioned issues; the characters and their newly adult lives playing out within this micro-universe – all of this combined into a highly charged read that was literally dripping with atmosphere.
‘She knew what would happen now. Edie would hang off her arm, seduce her with compliments and kisses and jokes, and she’d feel churlish about being angry. Maybe she was too sensitive to brush off Edie’s flashes of cheerful aggression. It probably meant nothing, but they annoyed her.’
Above all though, this is a story about friendship, the good ones and the toxic ones. It’s a uniquely female story in that it depicts the sort of friendship many women can look back on and recognise. The toxic ones characterised by a specific sort of gaslighting that builds one person up whilst keeping the other one firmly in their place. The author demonstrated the lifespan of Beth and Edie’s friendship so perfectly, from the first giddy meeting right through to the toxic end. I finished up really admiring Beth and feeling a sense of satisfaction in her choices and where she was headed. I’m keen now to read more by this author.
Highly recommended – and not just for YA audiences!
Book 19 in my 22 in 2022 challenge.
‘Most of this information she had gleaned from overheard conversations. Her parents rarely spoke of loss. Beth often wondered if they spoke to each other on the subject. She sometimes felt as if she had inherited the gross accumulation of her parents’ silence, the weight of an immeasurable, unacknowledged horror planted within her like the seed of some hungry vine.’
There are some great themes to unpack from this one and it clips along at a good pace too. Beth is a child of Holocaust survivors, spreading her wings in New York for the summer working as an intern at a paper between finishing high school and beginning college. She’s from a small town, so the learning curve is a steep one and she arrives in NY all wide-eyed and impressionable – ripe for taking advantage of.
‘She thought about herself, how even when he was forcing himself on her, she was mostly worried about waking Edie, as if being polite were somehow more important than – whatever.’
New York in the early 1980s comes to life with the issues that would have been prevalent in the day taking centre stage: the high crime rates, the emergence of Aids and the terror of the unknown that accompanied the initial waves, sexism in the workplace, rape culture. A New York summer and the way the city exists within those long roasting months; the abovementioned issues; the characters and their newly adult lives playing out within this micro-universe – all of this combined into a highly charged read that was literally dripping with atmosphere.
‘She knew what would happen now. Edie would hang off her arm, seduce her with compliments and kisses and jokes, and she’d feel churlish about being angry. Maybe she was too sensitive to brush off Edie’s flashes of cheerful aggression. It probably meant nothing, but they annoyed her.’
Above all though, this is a story about friendship, the good ones and the toxic ones. It’s a uniquely female story in that it depicts the sort of friendship many women can look back on and recognise. The toxic ones characterised by a specific sort of gaslighting that builds one person up whilst keeping the other one firmly in their place. The author demonstrated the lifespan of Beth and Edie’s friendship so perfectly, from the first giddy meeting right through to the toxic end. I finished up really admiring Beth and feeling a sense of satisfaction in her choices and where she was headed. I’m keen now to read more by this author.
Highly recommended – and not just for YA audiences!
Book 19 in my 22 in 2022 challenge.
July 13, 2022
I love a good YA novel. Especially when I haven't read one in a while and it takes me by surprise.
If you like coming-of-age stories - more specifically ones about that disorientating, strange time between finishing school and starting university - this book will be right up your street. It follows two 18-year-old girls who meet while interning at a newspaper over a hot Manhattan summer in the 80s. Beth is a small-town girl away from home for the first time, and cool, wild Edie is a New York native who shows Beth the ropes of the working world and the big city. The two are fast friends and Beth falls easily under Edie's charismatic spell, but by the end of the summer, the friendship begins to sour.
I flew through this relatively short read and found myself loving it. It's very atmospheric and beautifully written, and has a genuine sense of nostalgia to it that will take you right back to your youth. Beth's struggle to find her sense of self was so familiar, and I loved see her character development throughout.
A wonderful book; I really enjoyed it.
If you like coming-of-age stories - more specifically ones about that disorientating, strange time between finishing school and starting university - this book will be right up your street. It follows two 18-year-old girls who meet while interning at a newspaper over a hot Manhattan summer in the 80s. Beth is a small-town girl away from home for the first time, and cool, wild Edie is a New York native who shows Beth the ropes of the working world and the big city. The two are fast friends and Beth falls easily under Edie's charismatic spell, but by the end of the summer, the friendship begins to sour.
I flew through this relatively short read and found myself loving it. It's very atmospheric and beautifully written, and has a genuine sense of nostalgia to it that will take you right back to your youth. Beth's struggle to find her sense of self was so familiar, and I loved see her character development throughout.
A wonderful book; I really enjoyed it.
July 29, 2022
Geloof mij op mijn woord: lees dit boek. Lees het nu, of morgen, of volgende week, maand, jaar... Maakt mij niet uit wanneer, maar lees het. Doe jezelf geen onrecht aan en lees ´Dat soort vrienden.´ (Wat zou je anders doen? Nog een keer alle afleveringen van FC De Kampioenen bingen? Ik dacht het niet...)
July 18, 2022
Net als in De Godden Broers is het Meg Rosoff hier gelukt een bijna fysiek voelbare sfeer op te roepen: de zinderende New Yorkse hitte straalt van de bladzijden af.
February 17, 2023
I really loved The Great Godden by the same author when I read it last year so was really keen to dive into this, but I’m a bit conflicted on my feelings.
This just didn’t feel like it had any depth to it. It’s a very fast moving book full of interesting characters (an aspect I loved!) but the book felt so light and quick, that we never really had any nuance to what was going on and at times I did wonder what the point of the book was. I know people had similar queries about The Great Godden and claimed it was more ‘vibes’ than plot based, but I felt like that really worked for that story. Here, there isn't really a discernible plot moving it forward and I’m not as invested in the characters.
These characters were fine but they felt very two dimensional and there was nothing really spectacular about them. Their personalities were very cardboard and I feel like they spend the whole book doing absolutely nothing. It has the word friends in the title but these two young women felt like they had no chemistry and barely gave me any evidence there was ever friendship there. That was kind of the point of course, but it was just all so pointless. The whole book just gave us nothing but characters talking to each other for three hundred pages about nothing. It was a bit of a disappointment.
In short: this was a bit boring. Nothing happened, the characters were shallow, and the plot was barely there. I just didn’t understand the point of the book or what we as readers were supposed to be taking from it. I could’ve overlooked the shallowness if at minimum I enjoyed it a bit, but my feelings were just so ‘meh’. This is extremely forgettable. Fine, but could’ve packed a way bigger punch by channeling these big personalities and chaos of emotions into something worth reading.
I do like Rosoff’s writing style still, despite me finding it a bit bland here. It’s quite snappy and electric which works for me and I feel goes with her narratives in a really complimentary way.
This just didn’t feel like it had any depth to it. It’s a very fast moving book full of interesting characters (an aspect I loved!) but the book felt so light and quick, that we never really had any nuance to what was going on and at times I did wonder what the point of the book was. I know people had similar queries about The Great Godden and claimed it was more ‘vibes’ than plot based, but I felt like that really worked for that story. Here, there isn't really a discernible plot moving it forward and I’m not as invested in the characters.
These characters were fine but they felt very two dimensional and there was nothing really spectacular about them. Their personalities were very cardboard and I feel like they spend the whole book doing absolutely nothing. It has the word friends in the title but these two young women felt like they had no chemistry and barely gave me any evidence there was ever friendship there. That was kind of the point of course, but it was just all so pointless. The whole book just gave us nothing but characters talking to each other for three hundred pages about nothing. It was a bit of a disappointment.
In short: this was a bit boring. Nothing happened, the characters were shallow, and the plot was barely there. I just didn’t understand the point of the book or what we as readers were supposed to be taking from it. I could’ve overlooked the shallowness if at minimum I enjoyed it a bit, but my feelings were just so ‘meh’. This is extremely forgettable. Fine, but could’ve packed a way bigger punch by channeling these big personalities and chaos of emotions into something worth reading.
I do like Rosoff’s writing style still, despite me finding it a bit bland here. It’s quite snappy and electric which works for me and I feel goes with her narratives in a really complimentary way.
May 13, 2022
Meg Rosoff’s new novel Friends Like These is a coming-of-age novel set in New York City in 1982 (a wonderful setting and fascinating time period) where 18-year-old Beth moves to Manhattan for a journalism internship over the summer. Her fellow intern, Edie, is charismatic and fun, and the two fall into an intense, heady friendship that becomes very intimate very quickly. It might have been my own experiences of these kind of friendships, but I certainly had the sense that a wounding betrayal was lurking…and that hunch proved correct!
I hadn’t picked up a Meg Rosoff book for years but hungrily tore through this one, so her storytelling powers have clearly only grown with time! It’s interesting that I’m finding myself drawn to books that centre around a protagonist’s loss of innocence. Those can be such cataclysmic events in your life, a clearly defined before and after. But hopefully, as Beth seems to discover, they make you stronger and wiser, and you learn a great deal about yourself in the process. I found this book immensely readable and enjoyable, and also deeply relatable!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.
I hadn’t picked up a Meg Rosoff book for years but hungrily tore through this one, so her storytelling powers have clearly only grown with time! It’s interesting that I’m finding myself drawn to books that centre around a protagonist’s loss of innocence. Those can be such cataclysmic events in your life, a clearly defined before and after. But hopefully, as Beth seems to discover, they make you stronger and wiser, and you learn a great deal about yourself in the process. I found this book immensely readable and enjoyable, and also deeply relatable!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.
January 22, 2023
Characters weren't properly developed, I feel like I don't know any of them, what they were like in their essence. The friendships in this book are so toxic it was ridiculous. The only hint to the story being set in 1980s NYC was the mention of the aids epidemic. There's no substance to this story whatsoever. One extra star for the NYC vibe.
May 8, 2025
In januari las ik dit boek en wat ik hieronder schreef vlak na het uitlezen klopt nog steeds. Die sfeer blijft hangen in mijn hoofd als ik terugdenk aan het boek. Uiteindelijk schreef ik er ineens toch iets meer over, omdat deel drie lonkt.
Ik ben niet lyrisch zoals anderen, maar slecht is het ook niet. Er zit iets in de schrijfstijl van Rosoff waardoor er een bepaalde mystieke, zinderende (?) sfeer ontstaat en je ook door blijft lezen. Wat dan weer goed is.
Ik weet niet goed welke woorden er exact bij passen en ook niet wat ik er precies van vind. Ik denk dat het verhaal me niet helemaal bij zal blijven, maar net zoals als bij het eerste boek wel die bepaalde soort sfeer.
De achterflap is exact wat er gebeurd in het boek, niet erg, er hoeft niet altijd naar iets specifieks toegewerkt te worden. Ik zou kunnen zeggen Er gebeurde bijna niets, maar dat is de titel van boek drie.
Ik ben niet lyrisch zoals anderen, maar slecht is het ook niet. Er zit iets in de schrijfstijl van Rosoff waardoor er een bepaalde mystieke, zinderende (?) sfeer ontstaat en je ook door blijft lezen. Wat dan weer goed is.
Ik weet niet goed welke woorden er exact bij passen en ook niet wat ik er precies van vind. Ik denk dat het verhaal me niet helemaal bij zal blijven, maar net zoals als bij het eerste boek wel die bepaalde soort sfeer.
De achterflap is exact wat er gebeurd in het boek, niet erg, er hoeft niet altijd naar iets specifieks toegewerkt te worden. Ik zou kunnen zeggen Er gebeurde bijna niets, maar dat is de titel van boek drie.
July 31, 2023
I would like to file felony charges for the audacity to even include the words ‘my brilliant friend’ in the blurb.
July 21, 2022
Ik behoor natuurlijk niet tot de doelgroep, maar ik vond de nieuwe Rosoff toch wat clichématig en niet altijd even geloofwaardig. Zoals de vriendschap tussen de wereldwijze en coole Edie en de ietwat degelijke en verlegen Beth. En New York is wel heel gevaarlijk, smerig en slecht. De dialoog vond ik daarnaast niet altijd even goed bij de personages passen, maar dat kan ook aan de vertaling liggen. Weten 15+ jongeren bijvoorbeeld wat ‘iets soldaat maken’ is?
Met dank aan Luitingh Sijthoff voor de vertaling. Dit boek zal ongetwijfeld wel veel jongeren aanspreken.
Met dank aan Luitingh Sijthoff voor de vertaling. Dit boek zal ongetwijfeld wel veel jongeren aanspreken.
April 19, 2024
A lovely easy read! V similar vibes to Cleopatra and Frankenstein and also sort of reminds me of call my by your name. Not a similar storyline at all but the same slow, hot and slightly claustrophobic really deliciously described summer. Not a hugely exciting story but just really really nice writing. Languid and humid and super.
Also I think a GREAT depiction of female friendship. I think girl friends can of course be simple but so often female friendships are actually complex and confusing and riddled with irritations and quirks and confusions. Slight Elena Ferrante vibes. I think we’ve all had a friend like Edie before and the way the friendship was written is brill.
Also I think a GREAT depiction of female friendship. I think girl friends can of course be simple but so often female friendships are actually complex and confusing and riddled with irritations and quirks and confusions. Slight Elena Ferrante vibes. I think we’ve all had a friend like Edie before and the way the friendship was written is brill.
August 16, 2024
The line that got me to read the book: "...it's perfect for fans of Judy Blume's Summer Sisters and Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend."
On the other side, I whole heartedly disagree with that statement <3 But it got me! It got me to read it! Well done marketing team.
On the other side, I whole heartedly disagree with that statement <3 But it got me! It got me to read it! Well done marketing team.
June 17, 2023
Thank you Libro.fm for the ALC!
I thought I was going to love this one; coming-of-age is always a favorite genre of mine, even when the characters are messy and at times unlikable. Unfortunately, there was barely any plot, which doesn't usually bother me since I prefer character-driven stories...but the characters were quite awful. And usually awful characters don't bother me if there is some kind of development, but it didn't feel like the characters grew at all. Just a boring circle of mean girls thinking their grown. (Or in the narrator's case, a Not Very Mean girl, but rather a girl who seriously lacks self-awareness. Or even just general awareness. Girlie you live in New York, look alive!!!)
I thought I was going to love this one; coming-of-age is always a favorite genre of mine, even when the characters are messy and at times unlikable. Unfortunately, there was barely any plot, which doesn't usually bother me since I prefer character-driven stories...but the characters were quite awful. And usually awful characters don't bother me if there is some kind of development, but it didn't feel like the characters grew at all. Just a boring circle of mean girls thinking their grown. (Or in the narrator's case, a Not Very Mean girl, but rather a girl who seriously lacks self-awareness. Or even just general awareness. Girlie you live in New York, look alive!!!)
July 16, 2022
3.5 Read in one sitting, perfectly enjoyable ‘naive girl moves to New York for a summer, is overwhelmed by city life & the ‘interesting’ people she meets. Ends with her heading out to start her real life, cynical & a little jaded, but now a confident ‘I can take on anything’ women.
A classic example of place/city being a character.
I genuinely did have a nice enough time reading this in the sun, but I will also have forgotten it this time next month
A classic example of place/city being a character.
I genuinely did have a nice enough time reading this in the sun, but I will also have forgotten it this time next month
September 19, 2022
4.5 stars! Wow. I picked this up because of the conflicting age recommendations - so I could be sure of which students I should be putting this in the hands of. This book surprised me with its simple style combined with an accessible kind of beauty. And I loved the ending which is so rare for this kind of novel… think Love & Virtue meets Conversations With Friends but with more of a YA voice.
August 5, 2023
Honestly.. I hated this book lol. It had no redeeming qualities to make me want to continue reading it, I had to force myself to finish it. I feel like some plot points were unnecessary (I.e., it being set in the AIDS epidemic added nothing to the plot). I felt no attachment to any characters at all, either.
March 13, 2025
gossip girl if it was boring, they were broke, and the characters are all flat.
thank you addie for lending me your book 💓 i'm glad I read this though bc it was a quick and easy read. my brain kinda shut off for this book
thank you addie for lending me your book 💓 i'm glad I read this though bc it was a quick and easy read. my brain kinda shut off for this book
July 19, 2023
I don’t understand lol
May 30, 2023
Thank you to libro.fm for providing me with an ALC of this audiobook. I am willingly providing my honest review.
Before coming across this book, I had never heard of Meg Rosoff, and now I know what I have been missing, because I really enjoyed it.
This is a coming of age story set in that liminal time between high school and college. Beth arrives in New York City in the sweltering summer of 1983 for an internship, but she doesn't feel like she fits in. She shares a cockroach-infested slum apartment with a couple who she rarely interacts with, and does her best to reinvent herself during her summer away from home. She takes inspiration from the super-cool Edie, who is native to NYC and takes Beth under her wing. We don't really get to know much about the two male interns, Dan and Oliver, because Beth doesn't interact with them too much.
As different as Beth and Edie are, they discover at least a few commonalities. In addition to their interest in journalism, they are both Jewish, yet they are very different types of Jews. Beth was raised by two emotionally scarred Holocaust survivors who never spoke about their experiences, while Edie was raised by well-off parents who were among the New York elite, raising a neurotic and troubled daughter. Edie speaks of visiting her psychiatrist like Beth speaks of visiting a restaurant, yet she hasn't seemed to make much progress aside from blaming all of her problems on her mother.
But as the story progresses, and Beth moves in with Edie, she starts to see the cracks in their relationship more and more, until there's a big reveal that changes everything. Beth loses her innocence in multiple ways - she has her first real sexual experience, learns how the world works when she's on her own, gets mugged by what might be the world's most polite thief, and learns a lot about trust and friendships and relationships. Ultimately, I couldn't stop listening and am ready to look up all of Rosoff's backlist after this.
Before coming across this book, I had never heard of Meg Rosoff, and now I know what I have been missing, because I really enjoyed it.
This is a coming of age story set in that liminal time between high school and college. Beth arrives in New York City in the sweltering summer of 1983 for an internship, but she doesn't feel like she fits in. She shares a cockroach-infested slum apartment with a couple who she rarely interacts with, and does her best to reinvent herself during her summer away from home. She takes inspiration from the super-cool Edie, who is native to NYC and takes Beth under her wing. We don't really get to know much about the two male interns, Dan and Oliver, because Beth doesn't interact with them too much.
As different as Beth and Edie are, they discover at least a few commonalities. In addition to their interest in journalism, they are both Jewish, yet they are very different types of Jews. Beth was raised by two emotionally scarred Holocaust survivors who never spoke about their experiences, while Edie was raised by well-off parents who were among the New York elite, raising a neurotic and troubled daughter. Edie speaks of visiting her psychiatrist like Beth speaks of visiting a restaurant, yet she hasn't seemed to make much progress aside from blaming all of her problems on her mother.
But as the story progresses, and Beth moves in with Edie, she starts to see the cracks in their relationship more and more, until there's a big reveal that changes everything. Beth loses her innocence in multiple ways - she has her first real sexual experience, learns how the world works when she's on her own, gets mugged by what might be the world's most polite thief, and learns a lot about trust and friendships and relationships. Ultimately, I couldn't stop listening and am ready to look up all of Rosoff's backlist after this.
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