*I received an egalley of this book from the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
Title: Friends like These
Author: Meg Rosoff
Publisher: Tundra Books
Publication Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781774881101
Synopsis:
New York City. Summer 1983. A summer internship in New York was meant to be everything Beth wanted. But from the moment she arrives in the city she feels wrong: wrong hair, terrible clothes, defective smile, too obviously a virgin. Sharing a hot, cockroach-filled apartment with a couple falling out of love completes the dream picture. Then she meets her fellow interns: ambitious out-of-towner Dan, preppy rich boy Oliver, and Edie — a beautiful, brittle, magnetic, instant best friend. Irresistible people are like gravity. You can’t help being pulled towards them — can you?
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I’ve really been on a roll this spring with books that have been really striking a chord with me. Unfortunately, Friends like These was not one of them. Set in NYC in the 80’s, this book follows newspaper intern, Beth, as she adjust to life in the city and the hard working hours of her internship. Along the way, she meets the incredible Edie who’s friendship begins like a dream come true. There to show Beth the ropes, and taking her under her wing, she helps Beth to begin to blossom into city life.
I found the writing style just did not resonate with me. Though this book reads like a YA and is rated for 14 and up, it definitely deals with some more mature themes and would be better suited to a 16+ rating. I found Beth to be bland and boring, simply absorbing the personalities of the characters around her. The relationships she forms are incredibly toxic and there’s little learned or gained from her experience with these people. She isn’t particularly motivated or driven, aside from her interest to invest in her friendship and let that current carry her through her NYC experience. There is little action that truly impacts Beth. It’s almost entirely her observations, written in 3rd person narrative, that move the novel forward. She’s a character to whom the world just happens, not one who inspires action in her world.
For these reasons, I gave the book 3 stars on Goodreads, though my rating is likely more of a 2.5. It wasn’t for me.
Happy reading!
Worn Pages and Ink 