Friends Like Us has
a 3-star rating right now on Goodreads, and up until I got to the end of the
novel, I agreed. But I think the end pushes it up to a 3.5 or 4-star rating.
The premise of the story is this: Willa and Jane live together, and are the
best of friends. They went to college together and are now in their
mid-twenties. They work shitty jobs. They are in the transition phase, just like
the rest of us post-grads. At a high school reunion, Willa reunites with her
best friend from high school, Ben. He confesses to her that he had a huge crush
on her in high school. They make out, but then decide that it all feels weird.
They agree to go back to being friends.
Ben starts hanging around a lot at Jane and Willa’s
apartment, and Willa sets them up. The plot is predictable for the most part.
Willa dates a guy who is kind of a jerk, and they break up. Jane and Ben get
engaged. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but in the prologue of the book you
know that Jane and Willa are no longer friends. And as the end of the book
nears, I knew there were a few turns the book could take. Sure enough, it took
one of those. But the ending was surprisingly realistic—I thought Fox was going
to wuss out and sugar-coat it. She doesn’t thought, and the characters all kind
of end up where they need to be, even though it might not be as glossy of an
ending as a rom com at the movie theater. For sparing us from another unrealistic
end to a romance book, I commend Fox. It’s not a life changing novel, but it is
good for chick lit.
There are a few problems with it. Mainly, the characters
motivations need to be fleshed out a bit more. Sometimes I found myself
wondering why: Why is Willa self-sabotaging? Is Ben only with Jane because she
is so similar to Willa?
My favorite part of the novel was not necessarily the plot,
but the dialogue. I have not read such true-to-life dialogue in a long time.
Ben, Willa, and Jane talk like me, like people I know. I dog-eared page 141
where Fox writes the following passage:
“A few weeks ago, Jane sent me an e-mail (she was in her
bedroom and I was in mine). Can you teach
me how to talk dirty? She wrote.
Mud! I wrote back. Motor oil!
Seriously.
Why do you think I know? I typed
back.
You have more experience than I do. You’re
more slutty.
Let’s roll around in a pile of
sewage, baby.
Seriously, she wrote again. I would like to know what it entails.
Entrails!
Julian said you’re supposed to,
like, describe what you want. Jillian was a girl we knew in college who
worked part-time at Hooters. She had a worldly quality about her. Like, ‘Take me from behind,’ or whatever.”
The dialogue is very natural, but also has the over-use of
puns, much like an episode of the Gilmore
Girls. I have to say, because of her use of funny and witty dialogue, I am
probably going to read Fox’s first novel Still
Life with Husband. I recommend Friends
Like Us, but probably for those looking for a lighter read with some funny
dialogue and not quite as glossy of a finish as When Harry Met Sally.
