New York City. June, 1982. When eighteen-year-old Beth arrives in Manhattan for a prestigious journalism internship, everything feels brand new – and not always in a good way. A cockroach-infested sublet and a disaffected roommate are the least of her worries, and she soon finds herself caught up with her fellow interns – preppy Oliver, ruthless Dan and ridiculously cool, beautiful, wild Edie.
Soon, Beth and Edie are best friends – the sort of heady, all-consuming best-friendship that's impossible to resist. But with the mercury rising and deceit mounting up, betrayal lies just around the corner. Who needs enemies … when you have friends like these?
This is my first Meg Rosoff, so I don't know how representative it is of her style. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. The blurb made me think it would be a story about betrayal and revenge, but really it's about - not really anything.
A lot of things happen to Beth during this very quick novel, but none of it really seems to have any impact. She's sexually harrassed, mugged, treated terribly, and there's no result. Maybe that's the point, but if so I didn't really get it.
The descriptions are amazing, though. Meg can definitely paint a picture with words; I could feel myself melting in the heat and following Beth around New York, discovering it as she did. It's worth reading for that alone.
Not terrible, and it's quite a quick read, but not amazing either I'm afraid. Maybe I'm just too uncultured to understand it!
Friends Like These publishes on the 9th of June, 2022. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment