Customer Reviews

Best of Friends

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cathy Kelly is known for writing about engaging women characters and following them through the various trials of their lives. She does it again with this book. Her style and choice of topics reminds me very much of the bestselling Irish author Maeve Binchy.

Best of Friends follows four women of different ages as they struggle with families, careers, infidelities, and even death in their small town in Ireland. Cathy Kelly's descriptive storyteling makes you feel that you know each of these women personally. I was attracted to some characters more than others but by the end of the book I cared about them all. She is especially adept at moving from one character to another without ever creating confusion or disjointedness.

If you want a nice leisurely read with a satisying ending then this book is for you.

Not a "page turner", but the kind of book you want to read when you burrow into your cabbage-rose upholstered armchair that has the lace doiles on the arms and at the back. I'm a sucker for Irish friendship books which is what this one is. Yes, a bit like Maeve Binchy or maybe like Isabelle Wolff or Marian Keyes after their main characters have grown-up.

You have sweet, naive Lizzie who is stunned when her husband leaves her. Her spoiled rotten daughter demands an expensive wedding that Lizzie can't afford. There's Abby who sort of accidentally fell into hosting a hit TV show, but gets a new boss who decides young stars are better. Abby's 15 year old daughter and her husband aren't as happy with her success and high income as she is. Then, there's Erin who ran away from Ireland when she was 18 because she discovered that her parents who raised her were her grandparents. And then, there's wonderful and wise Sally who owns a beauty salon, has outstanding parties and discovers she has advanced breast cancer.

You get more than your money's worth with this delightful long book. (With this book long is good!)

This book goes from happy to sad and back again, it's a little bit emotionally draining. It begins through the eyes of four very different women. Abby, a national TV celebrity; Erin, a young married woman with a troubled past just moving back to Ireland; Lizzie, a divorcé trying to help pay for her daughter's elaborate wedding; and the woman who brought them all together, Sally, a happily married mother of two young boys who recently found out she has a very developed form of breast cancer.

After Sally's death, the three other women attempt to see the positive in their own lives and bond together to pay tribute to their friend.

The four women in this novel each have their own problems to overcome. Abby may be enjoying a highly successful career as the presenter of her own TV show, but her new career has caused friction at home. Abby's daughter Jess, about to sit her exams, is caught in the middle of the animosity between her parents. Lizzie has been divorced from her husband for five years, but is still finding it hard to let go of the past and move on. Erin, who ran away from home at eighteen after a family row, is now returning to Ireland nine years later with her husband and is terrified of reconnecting with her estranged family.

Yet, it is only when tragedy touches all their lives that they finally begin to confront the issues facing them. This is a heart-warming novel of friendship, self-discovery and overcoming, which left me with the lesson that we should never take what we have for granted. Despite the fact that it took me a while to completely identify with the characters, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

To be honest I couldnt get into this one at all. . it was a struggle to finish which is unusual for me when it comes to Cathy Kelly Books.

I mean the death of one of the character (wont say who) is spoken about throughout the whole novel, even though the characters didn't even seem to know her that well. The novel goes on like each of the characters have lost a family member. To make matters worse, the reader doesn't get a chance to get to know her either.

Also, in some cases Cathy Kelly uses a lot of America language, which is grand, except she's Irish! Things like gas bill, 80 *F etc. Why? I know its a small thing.

Anyways it wont stop me from reading Cathy Kelly books, usually her books are great, this one just didn't appeal to me. If you haven't read a Cathy Kelly book before, id start with something else.

This was certainly an engaging story of a group of women thrown together by geography and other circumstances. The story focuses on the individual women's stories and struggles, yet all of their lives are intertwined throughout the book. I was drawn in almost immediately and stayed interested throughout. This is great "chick lit", but I would say has more depth than much of traditional "chit lit". An overall great read.

If you want sex and young 20's/30's dating problems, this is not the book. If you want deep interest in characters that are real, this is the one. I have not yet ready a Kelly book that is not fantastic. This gets into the characters, and I love them. It is a book that you can't stand to put down, but hate to read it and have it over. It seems so real and so empathetic. Loved it! I wish there was a sequel....

I don't know. I think I'm probably just a convent school fuddy-duddy, but it really kind of surprised me that none of these women seemed to have the slightest inclination to turn to God for comfort or help in their time of need or whatever.

The most depressing part of the book was when one of the secondary characters remarked that he knew there was nothing after death, so his loved one who had just died was...gone. SHEEEZ! Isn't this Ireland, where there's a church on every corner?

Although the characters were likeable and I enjoyed the book, the spirituality in these women's lives was just so empty, I felt as if the characters were missing a dimension. They were the most spiritually unaware set of grown-ups I've ever seen.

But, then, that may just be me. Other people may read this and think I'm completely bonkers. But I would have really enjoyed seeing at least one of these characters as good, strong Catholic woman finding hope and peace and joy in life through her faith in God. (Or at least seeing the one who made a big, big mistake being able to start laying down that burden of insufferable guilt and self-loathing by going to confession. It only would have taken a few paragraphs...)

On the other hand, it was very nice to read a book where the wrong things people did were actually tagged as WRONG. I get really bored with novels where outrageous and destructive and selfish behavior is justified for various poor reasons and I'm glad Cathy Kelly didn't fall prey to that.

Abby Barton has become a famous TV personality with the success of her show "Declutter: Your Home and Your Life". However, she feels pressure on all sides from her producer to her spouse, but mostly her reticent teenage daughter Jess.

Medical receptionist Lizzie Shanahan nurtures everyone but herself. However, in spite of caring for patients, her adult children and even her former husband Myles, Lizzie feels alone; her despondency is augmented by Myles finding a new love in his life.

After a decade in the States, Erin Kennedy and her spouse Greg return to Ireland where he begins a new job in Cork. However, she worries about returning to Ireland after fleeing from her family years ago to live in Boston, and Chicago.

Sally Richardson is contented with raising her children with a loving spouse, but her happiness is tempered by cancer. When she dies, her three friends, who believed they had the weight of the world on their back, learn what life is all about.

The four subplots are handled with dexterity so though rotated in no obvious order; readers with a degree of difficulty will be able keep track of how each of the key females feels. Readers will care about these women and hope for the best for each of them. The character driven subplots are complex and interesting as the surviving trio begins to appreciate what they already have. Cathy Kelly furbishes a fine tale with the moral of live life to the fullest with loved ones for one day you will be an angel sitting on a cloud looking down hopefully with joy towards those you cherish.

Harriet Klausner