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Rich and Pretty
eBook - 2016
Baker & Taylor
Forging a deep bond throughout their shared childhood, college years, first jobs and first loves, Sarah and Lauren experience secret envy and horror over aspects of each other's lives before the realities of their disparate responsibilities challenge them to retain their bond from increasingly distant perspectives. A first novel.
HARPERCOLL
Forging a deep bond throughout their shared childhood, college years, first jobs and first loves, Sarah and Lauren experience secret envy and horror over aspects of each other's lives before the realities of their disparate responsibilities challenge them to retain their bond from increasingly distant perspectives. A first novel.
HARPERCOLL
This irresistible debut, set in contemporary New York, provides a sharp, insightful look into how the relationship between two best friends changes when they are no longer coming of age but learning how to live adult lives.
As close as sisters for twenty years, Sarah and Lauren have been together through high school and college, first jobs and first loves, the uncertainties of their twenties and the realities of their thirties.
Sarah, the only child of a prominent intellectual and a socialite, works at a charity and is methodically planning her wedding. Lauren&;beautiful, independent, and unpredictable&;is single and working in publishing, deflecting her parents&; worries and questions about her life and future by trying not to think about it herself. Each woman envies&;and is horrified by&;particular aspects of the other&;s life, topics of conversation they avoid with masterful linguistic pirouettes.
Once, Sarah and Lauren were inseparable; for a long a time now, they&;ve been apart. Can two women who rarely see one other, selectively share secrets, and lead different lives still call themselves best friends? Is it their abiding connection&;or just force of habit&;that keeps them together?
With impeccable style, biting humor, and a keen sense of detail, Rumaan Alam deftly explores how the attachments we form in childhood shift as we adapt to our adult lives&;and how the bonds of friendship endure, even when our paths diverge.
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Publisher:
New York :, HarperCollins,, 2016
ISBN:
9780062429957
Characteristics:
1 online resource
text file,rda
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rebekahellking
Feb 28, 2017
rebekahellking thinks this title is suitable for between the ages of 19 and 35
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Add a CommentI was really excited about this book since I saw it had great reviews and honestly, I got to page 80 and completely gave up on it. The writing was so confusing, as entire paragraphs were run-on sentences and nothing was happening. There didn't seem to be much plot or conflict or even conversations for that matter. Most of the book was just describing, in fragments, what each woman was thinking.
A fast easy read. A study of a friendship but somehow it all feels like it's on the surface, with not much depth. There's a vague hint early on of sexual abuse suffered by one of the characters at the hands of the other's father but it goes nowhere. Lots of the novel is like that: vague hints and allusions that promise developments to come, but they never materialize. The writing is clear and thoughtful but this book meanders along and sputters out at the end.
I thought this book was pretty much a waste of time. The idea may be that one character is rich and the other is pretty, but really it could be rich and richer. Two women, both quite privileged, worry about planning a wedding. They are as self-absorbed as they come.
I know the author has gotten raves as a man able to conjure up female friendship but I found the relationship between the two women to quite superficial. There is nothing that makes it remarkable save for its duration. So I don't even give him marks for that.
the thing is, NOTHING happens in this book. literally, the book is about NOTHING.
i mean, it's about something, it's about Sarah and Lauren and their 30+ year friendship. but that's all it is really. moments in their lives. told from the POV of each one.
it's more of a study on friendships?
a portrait of a friendship?
i picked this up after reading The Animators, though, which is also about a friendship through the years (AND IT WAS PHENOMENAL) and left me with a bit of a book hangover so maybe I'm being picky, but Rich and Pretty just felt very underwhelming to me overall.
I finished the book, but cared little for the characters or the story. Self-absorbed. Entitled women who care for little except themselves! Sarah becomes a little more sympathetic as she matures.
Loved this book. A smart and enjoyable read that really came together at the end. What the title means really changes throughout the book.
Skimm recommendation