Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Friends and Strangers: A Read with Jenna Pick: A novel
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"Once again, Sullivan has shown herself to be one of the wisest and least pretentious chroniclers of modern life."--The Washington Post Elisabeth, an accomplished journalist and new mother, is struggling to adjust to life in a small town after nearly twenty years in New York City. Alone in the house with her infant son all day (and awake with him much of the night), she feels uneasy, adrift. She neglects her work, losing untold hours to her Brooklyn moms' Facebook group, her "influencer" sister's Instagram feed, and text messages with the best friend she never sees anymore. Enter Sam, a senior at the local women's college, whom Elisabeth hires to babysit. Sam is struggling to decide between the path she's always planned on and a romantic entanglement that threatens her ambition. She's worried about student loan debt and what the future holds. In short order, they grow close. But when Sam finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Elisabeth's father-in-law, the true differences between the women's lives become starkly revealed and a betrayal has devastating consequences. A masterful exploration of motherhood, power dynamics, and privilege in its many forms, Friends and Strangers reveals how a single year can shape the course of a life.
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Book Details
ISBN:
9780525436478
EAN:
9780525436478
Binding:
Paperback
Pages:
496
Authors:
J Courtney Sullivan
Publisher:
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published Date: 2021-27-04
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I was expecting a lot and didn’t get anything. I wanted to like this book and I’m familiar with the setting at Smith College. However, this is about 30 pages of a short story painfully bloated into a novel that is excruciatingly painfully slow and boring. The moment I realize that her husband’s toothbrush losing a bristle had nothing to do with the storyline or additional meaning it was just filler, I decided I would rather watch paint dry. I try to be kind with book reviews because I know people put a lot of love and attention and energy into their work. I read about 60 books a year and this will be my biggest regret. I’m only giving it the second star because the references to Smith College without calling it Smith College made me lol many times.
This was my first time reading this author and I liked the book. I did not love it. It does make you think a bit and I liked it enough to buy another book from this author.
I wonder what led to Elisabeth changing her mind about her situation in the end
Trying to get through this book was like biting into a sandwich and getting only bread over and over and no meat. I kept hoping the story line would pick up but it never did. The characters were pretty generic, as was the story line. I probably would have set it down part way through and forgotten about it if it wasn’t my book club’s monthly read. Just pretty meh overall.
Two strong people who have an effect on each others lives in was they may never fully understand. You never know how what you too to help may actually change the whole world
