Rating: 
Summary: Dreary domestic drama
Review: After reading and enjoying Joanna Trollope's book "Other People's Children," I looked forward to reading "Best of Friends". I was very disappointed.The story revolves around 2 families--Hilary and Laurence and their 3 sons, and Gina and Fergus and their only child Sophy. When Fergus leaves for greener pastures, everyone is shocked--Gina is a rather unpleasant, emotionally unstable person, and she begins to lean on her old childhood friend Laurence and his overworked wife, Hilary for emotional support. Hilary, who co-owns and manages the family hotel rejects the role--she has enough people to carry! Laurence, however, falls into the trap of "helping" Gina emotionally. The only character that I found even remotely interesting and believable was Sophy's grandmother, Vi. The other main characters, Fergus, Gina, Laurence and Hilary just didn't seem real--Hilary was especially difficult to swallow--even though she remained one of the most pleasant characters in the book. The teenagers Gus, George, Adam and Sophy were utterly unbelievable. Teenagers don't think like this--at least none that I've ever known. Trollope's teenagers were mature, stable, sensitive, considerate, kind, industrious, thoughtful (the adjectives continue...). Unfortunately, since a great deal of the drama was presented through Sophy, the book was rather spoiled for me. Furthermore, in the edition I had, there were at least two spots where the author confused the female characters and used the name "Gina" instead of "Hilary." Picky, picky picky, but it annoyed me.
Rating:
Summary: Dreary domestic drama
Review: After reading and enjoying Joanna Trollope's book "Other People's Children," I looked forward to reading "Best of Friends". I was very disappointed. The story revolves around 2 families--Hilary and Laurence and their 3 sons, and Gina and Fergus and their only child Sophy. When Fergus leaves for greener pastures, everyone is shocked--Gina is a rather unpleasant, emotionally unstable person, and she begins to lean on her old childhood friend Laurence and his overworked wife, Hilary for emotional support. Hilary, who co-owns and manages the family hotel rejects the role--she has enough people to carry! Laurence, however, falls into the trap of "helping" Gina emotionally. The only character that I found even remotely interesting and believable was Sophy's grandmother, Vi. The other main characters, Fergus, Gina, Laurence and Hilary just didn't seem real--Hilary was especially difficult to swallow--even though she remained one of the most pleasant characters in the book. The teenagers Gus, George, Adam and Sophy were utterly unbelievable. Teenagers don't think like this--at least none that I've ever known. Trollope's teenagers were mature, stable, sensitive, considerate, kind, industrious, thoughtful (the adjectives continue...). Unfortunately, since a great deal of the drama was presented through Sophy, the book was rather spoiled for me. Furthermore, in the edition I had, there were at least two spots where the author confused the female characters and used the name "Gina" instead of "Hilary." Picky, picky picky, but it annoyed me.
Rating: 
Summary: I read this beautiful book and wept.
Review: Gina and Laurence have been best friends since they were teenagers. Gina marries Fergus, and Laurence marries Hilary, and the two couples and their families are the best of friends. But the emotional fallout that occurs when Fergus leaves Gina is the subject of this book. That event is like a stone dropping into a lake, with the ripples of effect on the other three adults and their children beautifully and sensitively told by this English author in a most understated way. This book is about love in all its guises and about the loss of love. Most touching of all is the description of the love relationship between Vi, Gina's eighty year old mother and a neighbor, Dan. This book made me laugh and it made me cry. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: Another "Poor little Women" novel....
Review: Gina and Lawrence are the main characters of the book. The were best friends in childhood and that friendship continues into adulthood. Both are married to other people and when Gina's marriage ends she ends up in at Lawrences house being comforted in his arms. His wife is somewhat understanding but feels that Gina often outstays her welcome. Gina goes through every "poor me" emotion from the divorce and it gets obnoxiously annoying! Will someone please write a book where the betrayed women moves on and becomes strong without having to virtually distroy her teenage childrens' lives too?!!! I won't go into detail of what happens next in case you decide to read this boring novel but let's just say that it's predictable, yet boring, with no really likeable characters. Very flatly written! I give it 2 stars...
Rating:
Summary: Another "Poor little Women" novel....
Review: Gina and Lawrence are the main characters of the book. The were best friends in childhood and that friendship continues into adulthood. Both are married to other people and when Gina's marriage ends she ends up in at Lawrences house being comforted in his arms. His wife is somewhat understanding but feels that Gina often outstays her welcome. Gina goes through every "poor me" emotion from the divorce and it gets obnoxiously annoying! Will someone please write a book where the betrayed women moves on and becomes strong without having to virtually distroy her teenage childrens' lives too?!!! I won't go into detail of what happens next in case you decide to read this boring novel but let's just say that it's predictable, yet boring, with no really likeable characters. Very flatly written! I give it 2 stars...
Rating: 
Summary: A quiet novel about friends and family
Review: Having never read Joanna Trollope before, I had no idea on her writing style or sense of story-telling. However, after having just completed, "The Best of friends" Joanna Trollope illustrates a keen observation on the complexities of love and friendship. This novel focuses on the lives of two friends, each married to other people, whom after some eventful circustances begin an affair. The result of this relationship is quietly told by Ms. Trollope who carefully allows us to observe each character without making judgements on whether their behavior is justified or not. What we are left here is a novel that shows us the effects of what happens when friends take a leap into being lovers and what effects this relationship takes upon family members and children. Joanna Trollope, a #1 best-selling novelist in England, writes with the aura associated with the British - quiet, dignified, restrained, and in the end, ulitamtely satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: The best Trollope ever
Review: having read all her books so far this is the best withiout a doubt. This book shows an unbeleivable insight into the lives of how the people and relationships in divorce situations are affected. It makes me wonder if she has been through it herself and what's more, seen it from all sides! MUST READ
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I cannot see what would make anyone want to read this book. The characters are so self centered and shallow. The casualness with which the characters drop into bed with one another and their total lack of regard for how their actions impact on others disgust me. I hope never to meet characters like this in real life. I doubt serioulsy if I'll spend the time to read any other of Trollope's books.
Rating:
Summary: Passably entertaining
Review: I had heard of Trollope before and when I got a gift certificate last summer for my birthday, I thought I would give her a try since I am enamored of all things English. I am slightly disappointed that this book is just ok ~~ not as riveting nor as compelling of a read as I had hoped. It's entertaining enough to get through the whole book ~~ but it leaves with more questions than it's worth. This book is about one marriage that falls apart, leaving the daughter in the center of the marital storm. Then her mother decides that she's in love with her best friend, Laurence, whom she has known since she was a teenager. Laurence then embarks on an affair with Gina, leaving his family behind in a mass of confusion ~~ which also left me, the reader confused. I understand about affairs, love affairs, romances dying and marriages ending ~~ but this book barely skimmed the emotions of the characters involved. It barely even touched upon the damage of trust and the brokenness of promises and dreams. Even the affair between Gina and Laurence barely had any substance to it ~~ Sophy's story was more relevant in this book and she's just a confused daughter trying to find her place in the world. This book also has a touch of unreality to it as well ~~ a dreamland and so vague. It's an ok novel ~~ I mean, I finished it, didn't I? But it's not enough of an opportunity for me to try Trollope again. Others might find this book riveting and compelling enough to read ~~ and I hope so. It's just not my cup of tea, unfortunately. 6-1-04
Rating: 
Summary: Believable, but sometimes annoying
Review: I liked this book because it gave a closer peek into a situation that's all too typical -- divorce reeks havoc, injured partiy reaches out to the easiest prey. Even though selfish Gina is something of the villainess in this book, I wanted a bit more depth on her -- how was she really affected by being a fatherless child? Laurence isn't allowed to think anything, he can only act and speak. O.K., these are accepted stereotypes about male behavior, but in a novel I like a bit more inner life. Hilary, who winds up the most likeable character, is also the most fully fledged because we actually get to spend a few moments in her head. I blame not the author, who I'd guess wanted to spend more time with all her characters, but the current editorial trends, that dictate dramatisation over narration, when, as in a good old fashioned Victorian novel, the latter is often the more effective strategy. While Vi gives us a break from the main drama, her whole story and reason for being seem a bit sketched in simply for that purpose. I'm sorry, but I didn't buy her relationship with Dan -- it was just too pat, and I've known too many Vi-like strong old ladies to believe they'll suddenly start going all soft on men in old age. And Sophy -- the book begins and ends with her and spends way too much time on this spoiled, dull and annoying character. She slowed down the book wherever she showed up, and is not the least bit interesting or likeable. Throughout the book, I wondered how Gina, a working class, fatherless girl, could have grown up to be a spoiled upper middle class prat -- Sophy I could understand, but her mother's characterization didn't ring true. And I didn't believe that Fergus wasn't at least bisexual.
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