Customer Reviews

And You Know You Should Be Glad: A True Story of Lifelong Friendship

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is about the friendship of 5 men that started when they were in elementary school. Greene has written about these friendships in Be True to Your School. This book deals with the events leading up to the death of one of the friends. The love that these 5 men had for each other over a 50 year span is astounding. I cried while I was reading the book because I was jealous of the depth of the friendships. While I have friends now that I love as deeply as Bob Greene did his friends, none of the relationships go back as far as elementary school. I also cried because of the magical weaving of Greene's words as he described the innocence of life in the suburbs in the 1950's and 1960's when nobody locked their doors and Moms were at home baking cookies. I read half the book straight through before I had to put it down because I was sobbing too deeply to continue. I had to wait a few days to gather the strength to go back to it because I knew how much the ending would effect me. After reading this book, the memories of one's own childhood come flooding back in a way one never thought possible. And wile some memories are sad, it is still wonderful to have them.

I just love this book. It's moving, funny, and a great story. I read Green's BE TRUE TO YOUR SCHOOL when it was a bestseller some years ago, and this is just as good because it talks about some of the same people. But you don't have to have read that book to read this one. It's its own thing. Every character in this book comes alive -- especially Jack Roth. What a great guy! Yes, this book is sad in places, but it leaves you with a profound feeling of about how important it is to have friends, and what they mean to us.

Everyone should read this book -- men and women. I wish there were more books published like this.

I loved this book. It was touching and heart-felt and really brought me into the lives of these men. There are sad parts, but it's more life affirming than anything else. It's like Tuesdays With Morrie, but well-written.

Save yourself the time and buy two copies right now. One for you, one for your best friend. You're going to want to send one to your best friend.

Not for Bob Greene, but for Jack Roth. In Be True Your School, Greene's diary of 1964, he outlines the various misadventures of his best friends, who call themselves ABCDJ, (Allen, Bob, Dan, Chuck and Jack). This book tells some of how life has turned out for them (though it is deliberately vague about Greene himself) and is like catching up with old friends of your own. Greene's book is sentimental, and does hammer in some points a little too often, mostly about how the modern world doesn't have the same charms of their 1950's and 1960's childhood. It's still worth a read. Jack Roth was obviously a very nice man and Greene does his best to pay him tribute. The book is also a valuable reminder that nothing and no one is forever, and that your time with your friends should be cherished, as it may pass all too quickly.

It's one of those books that make you want to tell everyone about it; a book that you take to read while getting your hair done; a book that makes you forget reading the newspaper in the morning because you just want to get back to it. A book that you don't want to end but you can't stop flipping the pages. A book that makes you want to talk a walk around your home town with your best friend, to remember.

This book made me want to call my best friend of 25 years, Will, for a good long chat or to meet at Armbruster's for a steak and baked potato. To tell him that my life would be so very colorless without him.

Will. My best friend. Will put the family dog down when no one else could do it. I remember getting the call ten years ago when there was incredulity in his voice, "Sarah, my Dad died." I remember him taking me through the steps when my Dad died just a couple of years later, selecting the clothes, helping me writing the death announcement, picking out the casket with a firm hand behind my back as I went through the motions like a Zombie. Friends. Oldest friends. Best friends.

A best friend that you could mail this book to without comment.

Bob Greene captures the intimacy of male bonding in his lovingly-told tale, AND YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD BE GLAD.

A master of the small but significant moment in our lives, Greene captures the atmosphere of Bexley, Ohio, during his childhood, especially the times five teenage friends hung out together in the old, familiar neighborhood.

We take for granted the small moments, the little jokes, the special phrases and mannerisms of our friends, he asserts. Each of his five friends (the ABCDJ printed on the back cover brick) have different outlooks, and their differences are cherished.

When they reach late middle-age, one of the gang, J on the brick, takes sick and Greene relates the poignant memories this illness brings forth in all of them. The old Toddle House stirs up old conversations, the Beatles are remembered fondly, and cars, girls and football deserve special mention in this coming-of-age memoir.

Greene masters these nostalgic moments, he brings tears to our eyes, and he makes Bexley seem like our home town.

Thanks, Bob

by Larry Rochelle, author of the memoir, GHOSTLY EMBERS: VISIONS OF TOLEDO, OHIO

I knew Bobby(thats what we called him)Greene and ABCDJ. I went to Bexley and ran around with them. I can honestly tell you that Bobby is true blue to his friendships and to the history of his youth. I was there and it is unreal to read these stories of our antics so factually remembered. Jack Roth was a wonderful,kind person and was so vividly described in this book. ABCDJ were the "cool guys"with the typical high school pranks that seem very tame by todays standards. We all had such a charmed existence growing up where we did in the times that we were young. I am so thankful for my upbringing and thrilled that I can read about it by such a great storyteller.

Bob Greene pens a "childhood revisited" story about a friend with a terminal illness, and takes the reader along for a walk through his old neighborhood, his childhood hangouts, and the years of his youth. Perhaps the story impacted me because it hit close to home with a friend who recently died, and the thoughts I had of our childhood times together. Well worth the time I spent reading it.

that Bob Greene is back in print. I've missed my daily devotions -- supplied by Bob Greene in the Chicago Tribune for so many years -- and I was absolutely thrilled to discover this book in the Seattle airport book store last week. I had just said good bye to "my Jack" -- a lifelong friend I seldom see -- and was feeling grateful that each time we reconnect, it is such a rich experience. Bob has a wonderful way of reaching beneath the surface and touching the heart. This book is a loving tribute. I'm on Amazon to order several copies because I can't think of a better gift to share with golden friends.

I first cried on page 1 of this lovely tribute to Greene's friend Jack Roth (and friendship itself), and cried many times throughout it. Having recently lost a loved one to cancer, I found some descriptions painfully familiar. For example, Greene nails the awkwardness of the elephant in the living room--everyone's realization that the person is going to die.

I am curious, though, about what happened during the editing phase of this book, as run-on sentences appear every few pages. Here's just one example, from page 190: "I told him I'd be glad to go for him--Main Street was Bexley's business district, it had hit some less-than-booming times in recent years, but it was still where people went when they needed to buy something and didn't want to drive to downtown Columbus or to the distant malls." Why on earth would a major publisher put out a book with so many grammatical errors? Perhaps the subject matter made the editing crew less likely to tamper with the author's style. It seems smarter to me, though, to get grammatical errors out of the way so readers can focus on the story.

I don't fault Greene for this; it's not the writer's responsibility to write and edit the book. It did interfere with my enjoyment of the book, however.