Rating: 
Summary: Maybe 2.5 but...
Review: This book was too long, and tried to cover too many years to ever engage me in either of the two women's lives. In reading the book jacket I was so excited to read this because I was imagining a page turner about best friends going through life together. Well, it is that, but the characters are incredibly self centered, shallow, unlikeable people who never really grow up. Their view on the world is depressing, and the issues they face are predictable. The courses they chart could have been inspiring if presented differently, but all the two do is gripe about everything. And aside from each other, what does either really have? It started off well, with the contrasts of the families and two college girls trying to find their footing. But the footing fell off the plank, and the girls just never developed. I didn't like them, and I could barely get through the book. For a good book on friendship or women during the 60s I would suggest Gloria by Keith Maillard, or any Oprah pick for that matter!
Rating: 
Summary: She bit off too big a bite
Review: This first novel tries to do too much and one gets the feeling the author is riding a runaway pony. AIDS, childbirth, men, lies, [physical activity], drugs, and rock and roll - Where are world wars and espionage? That's all that's lacking in this too-long attempt to explore the dynamics of friendship between two women (one from the Midwest, one from LA) who met as college roommates. Good idea, but Moody tried to pack too much into one book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Read
Review: This is an intelligent, interesting and original novel. I liked the unusual structure: somewhere between a journal and a story. (I wonder how autobiographical the novel is; the author is a physician as is the narrator, Clare.) The novel's structure mirrors the structure of life: major, life-changing events follow minor day-to-day incidents without any huge chapter headings or breaks---simply a new paragraph, and life goes on in it's new direction. It's a very contemporary novel that is 80-90 per cent successful at what it's trying to do; it's a little strained in the last 100 pages. But it's a very enjoyable read. It seems real, it's interesting, it's fairly compelling. There is not a lot of warmth or richness of emotion, but it's engaging.
Rating:
Summary: This book was a national bestseller!
Review: This is basically a "coming-of-age" story. So to speak. It's about two women who meet in college in the 70's and become best friends. It's told through the eyes of Clare Mann. It follows Clare's friendship with Sally from college to the present. There's no plot. It's just a long and at times boring story about their friendship through the years. Had I been Clare I'd have dumped Sally like a hot rock after about the second visit to California to visit her. Sally never goes to Ohio to visit Clare. Some best friend! All Sally does is whine to Clare all the time. I don't even know why I finished this book. I guess I wanted to see how many kids Sally wound up having, and if Clare would ever tell Sally what actually happened to her brother, Ben. I couldn't help but notice this is the author's first novel and she's a physican in Dayton, Ohio. I think Martha Moody should stick with her day job.
Rating: 
Summary: fun reading
Review: This is one of my favorite novels. I couldn't put it down, and I didn't want it to end. I fell in love with the characters and their story. It also made me appreciate the best friends I have. It is beautifully written with vivid and descriptive detail, though very easy to read.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Can't-Put-It Down Book
Review: This is one of the best vacation reads I have ever had! Highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Too many errors
Review: This story was ok. Like other readers, I expected characters I could identify with and that was not the case with this book. I also found the "life problems" they faced fairly unbelievable. The other problem with the book were the typographical errors. To me a book should be near perfect in that aspect before it is put on the shelf. A lot of errors discredit the author and the publishing company and are not tolerated by me.
Rating:
Summary: characters come to life
Review: very easy to get involved with the characters and their personalities.A fun yet touching book to read.One definitely feels the bond between the two best friends.This is a good vacation read with substance!
Rating:
Summary: A lovely title, but..............
Review: When I picked up this book to read last year, I was looking forward to an engaging, emotional story about two best friends maturing together. I, too, have a best friend that I met when I was 18 and in college........seven years later we are still spiritual sisters. We tell each other everything and I cannot imagine my life without her. I guess its because I have had this friendship that I was able to see just how contrived and flawed the "friendship" between these two women was. There personalities never really gelled, and Clare was constantly jealous and possessive of Sally (who I liked, actually). I found it difficult to believe that Clare could be anyone's friend. Also, I believe that any good novel requires conflict. But this novel included murder, drugs, porn, homosexuality, suicide........I mean really, this stuff made any Jerry Springer family seem like the Brady Bunch. I think if Moody would have kept the problems more real life and believable (like the ending of relationships/problems with kids), she could have focused the novel more on the "friendship" at hand. I also am in total agreement with the reader who said the characters never matured. Yes the years passed, but the characters remained exactly the same........I was not even convinced as to why these two remained friends. The end seemed forced........Clare just seemed out of place and simply "tagging along" in Sally's very full life. I saw several people recommend "Summer's Sisters" by Judy Blume. I will give that a try.......hopefully this time I will be presented with realistic characters who give friendship a good name.
Rating:
Summary: A lovely title, but..............
Review: When I picked up this book to read last year, I was looking forward to an engaging, emotional story about two best friends maturing together. I, too, have a best friend that I met when I was 18 and in college........seven years later we are still spiritual sisters. We tell each other everything and I cannot imagine my life without her. I guess its because I have had this friendship that I was able to see just how contrived and flawed the "friendship" between these two women was. There personalities never really gelled, and Clare was constantly jealous and possessive of Sally (who I liked, actually). I found it difficult to believe that Clare could be anyone's friend. Also, I believe that any good novel requires conflict. But this novel included murder, drugs, porn, homosexuality, suicide........I mean really, this stuff made any Jerry Springer family seem like the Brady Bunch. I think if Moody would have kept the problems more real life and believable (like the ending of relationships/problems with kids), she could have focused the novel more on the "friendship" at hand. I also am in total agreement with the reader who said the characters never matured. Yes the years passed, but the characters remained exactly the same........I was not even convinced as to why these two remained friends. The end seemed forced........Clare just seemed out of place and simply "tagging along" in Sally's very full life. I saw several people recommend "Summer's Sisters" by Judy Blume. I will give that a try.......hopefully this time I will be presented with realistic characters who give friendship a good name.
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