Something Borrowed [Import] [Hardcover]

Emily Giffin (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Century (March 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844133753
• ISBN-13: 978-1844133758
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (777 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,085,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Emily Giffin is the New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof and Love The One You're With. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and three young children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

151 of 176 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!!!, January 28, 2005

By 

Mercedes L. Johnmeyer "The Most Happy" (Summerville, SC) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Something Borrowed (Hardcover)

OK, I normally HATE chick-lit books, and that was what I was expecting when I picked this up, but actually, I loved it! I read all the reviews before starting this, and seeing as how everyone raved about it, I gave it a shot. So glad I did.

Rachel and Darcy have been best friends since their childhood in Indiana. Now they are both living in NYC and Rachel has just turned 30...and also just slept with Darcy's fiance. When I first started reading peoples reviews, I couldn't believe how they all rooted for Rachel and Dex...but after getting deeper and deeper into the book, I was doing the same thing! I actually grew to despise Darcy. She was so incredibly immature for a woman of 29 yrs. How Rachel managed to stay friends with her all that time was beyond me, but I loved the character of Rachel.

She's so down-to-earth, and I found myself saying a bunch of times, 'I know EXACTLY what she means!!', or, 'I've been there, and that's just what I was thinking to'. The ending was also really good. Half of it was a complete surprise, and I was very satisfied with the other half. I'm really looking forward to 'Something Blue' coming out this summer. Hopefully it will continue the saga of this very entertaining group of people. I definitely recommend!!

91 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful Ending, March 19, 2009

By 

J. Bigornia - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Something Borrowed (Paperback)

*SPOILERS*

I knew that I was getting into a book about disloyalty and infidelity when I decided to read it. However, I found the author trying to pass off Dexter as a romantic hero with Rachel and her friends gushing at how courageous he was when he broke off his engagement with the best friend of the girl he's sleeping with as an obvious misnomer and a little manipulative on the author's behalf. Because really, their reaction should have been "Finally!"

I know that cheating happens, and their immorality was not the problem I had with the book. However, let's just call things as they are. It's one thing for Rachel to think of Dex as courageous, but her level-headed friends realistically would have said "Thank goodness he came to his senses" rather than being impressed. I hate it when authors throw little things like that in to get the reader to still like and side with the main characters. I thought this book was supposed to be about there being a gray area.

But to make matters worse, in case the reader had any remorse for Darcy - Rachel's best friend of 25 years and Dexter's fiance - the author made sure to rid the guilt completely by having Darcy admit that not only is she also having an affair, but with Mark, Dexter's friend from college and Darcy's two-time substitute for when she needed someone to take Dexter off her mind. But because Darcy & Mark's affair happened a month into Dexter and Rachel's relationship, when they were already exchanging I Love Yous, the author decides that maybe she allowed too much gray area for the audience to still feel sorry for Darcy...after all, Darcy's affair happened around the time she felt insecure because Dexter had been distant and not having sex with her anymore. So just in case the readers turn on her, the author revealed that not only has Darcy been sleeping with Mark, but she's pregnant with his child!

I was a little offended that the author felt the need to go that far...and though some may say it was her need to please the audience, I felt like it was more her way of trying to fool us into siding with Rachel and Dexter. It would have been a much more interesting book if Darcy had found out the truth and Rachel just had to deal with the fact that she hurt her best friend. Despite all the built up jealousy and resentment Rachel has towards Darcy for always being self-centered and the prettier and more confident of the two, she still had no right to sleep with Darcy's fiance. I found the "Oh well! Darcy not only did what I did, but she's worse because she's pregnant!" ending sloppy and shallow. I especially hated that Rachel felt Darcy's infidelity was harsher because Rachel had only deceived Darcy...whereas Darcy deceived both Rachel and Dexter. Oh please! Rachel's nothing relationship with Mark is HARDLY comparable to the ten year relationship Darcy had with her fiance Dexter.

And to all the reviewers who said it's a realistic portrayal of infidelity are merely mistaken. If everyone who cheated with their best friend's fiance was "rewarded" with the fact that their best friend was doing the same and pregnant...well, then these same reviewers wouldn't have complimented the author's "great" twist ending.

By the way, was I the only one rooting for Rachel to be with Ethan? I found his sense of humor charming and his friendship with Rachel endearing. Dexter, on the other hand, I found positively boring. His descriptions were always surrounded by narrations of how he handsome he was. Are the readers supposed to be impressed by that? Oh well.

52 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Conflicted, July 13, 2009

By 

Joyful (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Something Borrowed (Paperback)

There were many aspects of this book I did not like, and I agree with most of the negative reviews. Rachel is not a heroine in any sense of the word. She was an incredibly unsympathetic character, as was Dexter. Cheating on his fiance, with her best friend, made me dislike him from the very beginning. The fact that he continues the relationship with Rachel, and got jealous when she was just kissing other people (never mind he's engaged to someone else!) made him seem very immature and manipulative. Rachel was a heroine that the reader never really gets to know. If anything, you feel pity for her because she is so pathetic.

The ending was not only predictable, but I felt cheated after reading it. I would have much preferred Rachel and Dexter ending up together and having to deal with the fact that their affair made them not-so-nice people and having Rachel realize that maybe she is the bad friend, not Darcy. I did not like that the author tried to prevent you from feeling any empathy for Darcy by making her the "worst" of the bunch with her own cheating. However, I did not feel bad for Rachel or Dexter after Darcy's revelation. Rachel seems very holier-than-thou since Darcy deceived her and Dexter, but I did not see any blameless party in the situation.

The only "bright spot" in the book that I found remotely realistic was the portrayal of toxic friendships that are so common in women today. I could relate to their high school days and even later in their friendship when it was always an unspoken competition. That aspect of the story was something I found real and interesting. However, that never excuses one for stealing someone's fiance. That proves that Rachel is the real frenemy, not Darcy.