Friendship: An Expose [Paperback]

Joseph Epstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2007

Is it possible to have too many friends? Is your spouse supposed to be your best friend? How far should you go to help a friend in need? And how do you end a friendship that has run its course?

In a wickedly entertaining anatomy of friendship in its contemporary guises, Joseph Epstein uncovers the rich and surprising truths about our favored companions. Friendship illuminates those complex, wonderful relationships without which we'd all be lost.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

JOSEPH EPSTEIN is the author of the best-selling Snobbery and of Friendship, among other books, and was formerly editor of the American Scholar. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, and other magazines. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (July 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618872159
• ISBN-13: 978-0618872152
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,149,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Take a deep look at friendship, October 24, 2007

By 

Steve Burns (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Friendship: An Expose (Paperback)

The author did a great job examining all aspects of friendship, using personal examples of his own experiences and using examples from literature. It is a delightful read, it was entertaining and I looked forward to relaxing and reading more of it each day. All areas of friendship are examined with the eye of a professor, friendships between wife and husband, long distance friendships, friendships between the opposite sex, inter racial friendships, etc. The author examines what history and literature has to tell us from Plato, aristotle, Montaigne, Mark Twain, Nietzche, etc. You will leave this book understanding that friendship, while at times is demanding, it is one of life's greatest pleasures and well worth any inconvience and effort.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Listening may be the crux of friendship, September 25, 2010

By 

Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Friendship: An Expose (Paperback)

Michel de Montaigne wrote about his friendship friend's death, first-person singular to take the place of his friend's listening ear. Here the reader is struck by the similarity of Montaigne's story and that of both St. Augustine and Tennyson.

Amusingly, the author describes his boyhood habit of having serial best friends. He notes that in adulthood, while married, male companionship was less important. Epstein's most important adult friend was Edward Shils, older and more cosmopolitan than he, a friendship of unequals.

The author believes, and gives evidence in support of this, that in modern society friendship is diminishing. Therapeutic concerns and mobility play a part. The author considers the obligations of friendship. It is a matter of reciprocity and it is inexact.

One chapter is devoted to a week-long friendship diary, lots of e-mails described, and another chapter discusses differences between men and women and their friendships. A number of anecdotes and discussions of issues round out this fulsome and excellent treatment of the subject.

A note on books consulted and an index appear at the end.

2 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars great idea but should be a magazine article not a book, July 4, 2008

By 

john smith - See all my reviews

This review is from: Friendship: An Expose (Paperback)

95% of this book is statements of the obvious with no really insights or fresh perspective. I was dissappointed and you will be too.