Review: When We Were Friends by Tina Seskis.

Book: When We Were Friends

Author: Tina Seskis

Pages: 350

Read On: Paperback

How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days

Plot Summary: Six old friends. One annual reunion. Countless feuds. How do friends stay friends for more than 25 years when there is so much to feel aggrieved about? Juliette and Renee have never got over one of them sleeping with the other's boyfriend. Sissy secretly blames someone for the death of her husband. Natasha knows one of them is having an affair with her partner. Siobhan annoys everyone. Camilla desperately tries to keep the peace. So when their picnic in the park goes horribly wrong and one of them ends up in The Serpentine, who knows what really happened? And just what secrets from the past are about to unfold, changing everyone's lives forever?

General Thoughts: I randomly found this book while browsing in a bookstore an the premise sounded intriguing enough for me to pick it up. 

Things I Liked:

1. The writing was pleasant and I enjoyed it.

2. The idea of six friends who were super close once have since drifted apart and don't really even like each other anymore was too sadly real and well shown in the book. The end of friendships though sad are  always fun to read and they always make me think about life, friendships and especially about the overly complicated world of girl friendships.

3. The book goes from the present day, past and other important episodes in the lives of these women, so you get the whole picture.

4.Even though there are so many characters in the book, we get to see them enough and even get to know them well-ish.

5. The events of the past have such a profound and lasting effect on the lives on these women. This many events are shown well and their implications in the lives of these women were also conveyed well.

6. The thing I perhaps loved best about this book was reading about the complicated ties of old friendships. Female friendships are a beast sometimes aren't they? The roles you are assigned in college or the way you are seen then don't change throughout life...seen as a klutz at 20, odds are your close group of friends might still perceive you like that. I also liked the subtle bullying that goes on in large groups of friends was shown well.

Things I Didn't Like: 

1. The book sometimes felt a little too over-crowded. 6 women and their lives, their families, loves and their backgrounds were almost too much to fit in.

2. Also it took me sometime in the first half of the book to keep one woman straight from the other.

3. The time jumps were at times too jarring.

4. I don't get why you/anyone would stay in such a toxic friendships? You don't even like each other! Why not make excuses and let time and nature take it's course and end the relationship. Each and everyone of these women hated each other...really didn't want to see each other...so how has this group even survived?

5.  There were two cases of rape in the book, like 20 years apart and in very different circumstances. But the two women react and respond to rape in the exact same way. I found this a very lazy story-telling device.

6. Most of these women, if not all, had really sad married/home lives. What are the odds, even statistically that all the women on of one group end up with miserable romantic lives?

Rating: 2.5/5