Friends Like Us

Okay, so I picked Lauren Fox’s Friends Like Us thinking it would be like watching a rom com (romantic comedy) at the movie theater but that I would get to read it. I think anyone who majored in English or creative writing sometimes feels like you shouldn’t read books that are rom coms or “lesser” fiction…like we’re supposed to sit around and read Moby Dick and A Tale of Two Cities all day. But sometimes, I just want a break. Friends Like Us was my break (not like I actually sit around and read Moby or A Tale…I haven’t picked those up since high school. I was just making a point, I guess).

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.