Big Friendship

There is so much good information in this book about THEIR friendship and what they did to maintain it. It does have advice on how to find, nurture and maintain a BIG friendship. Unfortunately, the authors used the current climate to throw in their 2 cents on the social justice movement, racism, and barbs and blame on President Trump. This may seem relevant to some in 2020, but for the other 1/2 it is off putting. Also thrown in are several attempts at humor that I think few will get a chuckle out of, such as saying they had a late day abortion as an excuse to be late to a party. I can\’t see many finding that funny regardless of personal views. It felt disjunct and thrown together quickly to meet a deadline in an election year. Throwing in their political views made them lose an opportunity to write a timeless book on friendship and instead write one that will soon be irrelevant. It was already irrelevant to those out of their 30\’s because there is little real understanding of what happens to friendships when a spouse, multiple children and a lot of time enter in for working Moms.

I bought this book because, yes, I\’m a fan of the Call Your Girlfriend podcast. I bought the book and then it sat on my shelf for a few months. I recently chose it for my book club to read. I went in and started reading some of the reviews, here on Amazon and then on Goodreads. For a second, I thought that maybe I had made a mistake after reading what some reviewers said. I am so glad I didn\’t let it stop me. The book was really great, and not just because I\’m a fan of their podcast. It is well-written and thoughtful. It was obvious to me that some of the reviewers never finished the book because if they had, some of the things they didn\’t like or thought weren\’t resolved, were clearly dealt with by the end. I wasn\’t left feeling like I was missing information at all. The book is written as a memoir more than a social science read- so they do use their own Big Friendship as the foundation and then discuss different ideas they researched on the topic of friendship as it applies to their personal experience. If you\’re looking for a more scientific or research approach, this might not be what you\’re looking for. It is also not a political essay or anything like that. Yes, people like AOC and Ilhan Omar are mentioned, but in the context of Shine Theory. That\’s it. Yes, they most definitely hold progressive political views, but the book isn\’t about that. The conservative reader can read this and look at the topic at face value and be ok. If you\’re offended by the mere mention of anything liberal or progressive, then maybe you can\’t handle it??? I\’m only bringing this up because I saw some pretty ugly comments in other reviews on the topic of their politics and I based on those I was expecting something different than what I found. At the end of the day, this book was so beautiful. I loved it. It made me think about myself in friendships in a new way. It made me think about the people I love and how I want to be there for them. How life has gotten in the way of some friendships and I wonder if we can bring them back in a new way that works better once you\’re older and have a family of your own. I highly recommend this book and I hope you decide to take a chance on it.

Based on the description of the book, I thought this would be more about friendships and less about the authors. The parts where they focused on theories and studies on friendships were interesting, but the book was more of an auto-biography of the authors. Also its confusing that the book is written in both the 1st and 3rd person.

I really wanted to love this but it just really missed the mark in my op. I wish the book focused less on the authors and more on how to keep friends close. How to manage changing friendships as life evolves, etc.

Love love loved this book! I felt like they were writing about my life. And the fact that they were writing about friendship as a central tenant of life was a new thing I have not found before. I cant recommend this book highly enough.

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