Customer Reviews

The Girlfriends Club: A Novel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Judith Henry Wall latest novel, The Girlfriends Club takes us to the state of Kansas.

Four women, who have been friends since childhood are now in their mid forties and learning what life is like at mid-life after being divorced.

Meet MARY SUE the spark amongst them, who is about to have a breast operation. She is involved with Walter; a dentist since her divorce, but even then, she cannot get her ex-husband Barry off of her mind.

DIXIE the flower shop owner who never complains but has good reason not to. She has hidden a secret from her friends for some time now.

GRETCHEN the tall blond sports oriented woman who hates her husband with a passion, and wishes he were dead.

PAMELA the only one of the women still married to her husband Clay; a Judge who directs her every move.

However, on Mary Sue's 45th birthday, the day before her operation the girls decide to gather at Dixie's Lakeside retreat to celebrate her birthday with dinner and drinks and lots of moral support. They enjoy themselves but soon realize that Walter; Mary Sue current beau who was supposed to join them for drinks, is noticeably absent. Having had a bit too much fun, Mary Sue goes off to bed early leaving her friends to entertain him when he arrives.
Walter turns up intoxicated and totally out of it and then something very awry happens....something accidental...and the women make a conscious decision not to let Mary Sue know of this occurrence.

What happens that night will live in the memories of the three women for the rest of their lives. See how their lives are played out after this incident and I'm sure you'll have little anxious moments waiting to see what transpires next.

Besides the little mystery here, there are some tender and heartfelt moments which will keep the reader eager and glued to the book as I was.

This would be a wonderful Xmas or Birthday gift for a good friend especially if bought in the hard cover edition. Happy reading!!

All of these women will touch you in a special way when you begin reading this book. There is a mystery element that adds a twist that the reader does not expect and I was vastly entertained while reading this story. Sad, witty, inspirational, and endearing, THE GIRLFRIENDS CLUB is a must read for all women!

I thought this book was pretty good - I read it in 2 days. I was glad to get to the end when everyone came to the realization that they could indeed function without a man - a few of the ladies (gretchen, pam & marysue) made it seem like they thought so little of themselves that they went out with/married any kind of man, just to say they had a man - which is so totally OUT. Dixie is the only one who seemed really cool to me, mostly because she had come to grips with her husband divorcing her & moved on. But all in all, it was a pretty good read.

I did enjoy this book. I loved how fast paced it was. However it didn't WOW me and that is my reason for 4 stars. It was easy to follow along. I think what put me out so much is all the man bashing. I just think it was mundane after awhile. Don't read if you are feeling emotional though!

I read this book and loved it! This is a story about 4 friends and they stick together over a long friendship. This is something we all need in our lives whether we know it or not. When illness struck, they were there for each other, and when death struck, they stuck together. Great friendship story.

I liked this, however, there were other books that i enjoyed much more, was a bit predictable, and not the most entertaining. a good light read, but nothing worth staying up all night reading...

We all know the ends women will go to in hopes of keeping a good man -- or a bad one for that matter! This book shows how far women will go to keep a woman friend! The life-long friendships of the four main characters is wonderfully portrayed. I, too, have friendships that go back to childhood. We keep in touch with almost daily e-mails and help each other. If presented with the situation the women of the "Girlfiend's Club" face, I hope we'd be as brave as Mary Sue's friends.
This is a book about courage and friendship and how a team of friends help each other though life's many crises -- including breast cancer.
If you can relate to being part of a "Friendship Club," buy more than one copy. You will want to share it!
Speaking of friendship, I've known Judith since we were both struggling writers. Now, even though she's successful and I'm resigned to being mostly a reader, I'm not jealous. I know how hard Judy works and how much she cares about her characters. Each of her books seems written just for me! Reading her books will make you feel you, too, have found an understanding friend!

I was first introduced to Wall's books by a mutual friend (thanks, Nancy!). She told me I'd love Wall's books, and she was right. Since that first book, I've managed to get my hands on everything Wall has written, and I've thoroughly enjoyed them all, although HANDSOME WOMEN is still my favorite. THE GIRLFRIENDS CLUB is a great read, though. I loved each of the women, and completely understood the strength of their friendship. Only women bond like this--sharing everything including their deepest fears and insecurities. My only complaint about Wall is she doesn't write fast enough! <g>

They have been the best of friends for thirty-nine years and on Mary Sue's forty-fifth birthday, they celebrate it at the lake cabin of Dixie's father's. It is a bittersweet time for them as well as Pamela and Gretchen because the next day Mary Sue is going in for a radical mastectomy. Mary Sue's boyfriend Walter is supposed to show up but when Dixie calls him he says he is not coming.

Dixie, knowing how hurt Mary Sue will be, blackmails Walter into coming but when he arrives, Mary Sue is drunk and unconscious. Walter trips while arguing with Dixie and Gretchen, and breaks his neck. To spare them all embarrassment, the women put him in his car and roll it into the lake. During the following year, heartache, happiness and sorrow hit the women, but mostly Walter's death hangs over THE GIRLFRIENDS' CLUB like the Sword of Damocles

Readers who are fans of Belva Plain and Barbara Delinsky will want to read THE GIRLFRIEND'S CLUB. The story is a realistic depiction about four women who let nothing get in the way of their friendship though the reasoning behind burying Walter in the lake seems shaky in spite of the quartet suffering from shock. This very gritty novel doesn't have a happily ever after ending but it is a book that will satisfy anyone who has known pain in their life, which is just about everyone.

Harriet Klausner

"The Girlfriends Club" covers many topics -- the dynamics of friendship, the secrets friends keep together and separately, the struggles of modern married life and moving on after divorce, to name a few. But what stood out most to me was the way the women -- Pamela, Gretchen, Mary Sue, and even Dixie to some extent -- spent the first two thirds of the novel thinking they needed a man, any man, in their lives to make them complete, never realizing that what made them complete human beings was the strength they had in themselves. This was the lesson they each had to learn in their own way and on their own -- and Mary Sue, perhaps because of her struggle with breast cancer, never learns. Indeed, their views of marriage were so old fashioned, at times I found it hard to believe these were daughters of the 1970s and adult women of the new millenium, even if they did come from a wealthy Kansas City suburb. But perhaps -- and here I speak as a newly divorced woman myself -- that is a sign that maybe we women have not come as far as we think we have.

As for the secret of Walter's death, it gives tension to the plot, but it is almost extraneous to the story. I wonder if the story could have been told without him. In any case, the women who covered his death were right. He is a jerk!