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joannag101's review
3.0
While I enjoyed many of the letters in this book, reading them as an entire collection was surprisingly depressing. It began to feel less like the celebration of female friendship I hoped it would be and more like a place to vent and hold grudges about failed relationships. Not that these women don't have reasons to vent; I was just looking for something a little more uplifting. I can accept bitter-sweet, but the just plain bitter is a little hard to swallow. So I guess, in retrospect, it's a very real book--no sugar-coating here. Know that going in. Reading the collection did make me take stock and appreciate the relatively healthy friendships I do have, as well the fact that even in my failed relationships I've managed to move on with no lasting scars.
bethreadsandnaps's review
3.0
This is a collection of letters from women writers to other females. Some letters are sweet and sentimental, some are filled with rage without a legitimate reason.
Women are complicated.
What is fascinating for me is that one of the stories reminisces about when the women were friends at the same college I went to and in the same DORM! The cultural things they talk about seem to indicate it was around the same time period, so I am racking my brain to try to remember the author (whose name is Jen which isn't all that helpful...I think I had 2 roommates named Jen).
Some of the letters are a tad uncomfortable to read - especially those of the "you took my boyfriend" variety.
Women are complicated.
What is fascinating for me is that one of the stories reminisces about when the women were friends at the same college I went to and in the same DORM! The cultural things they talk about seem to indicate it was around the same time period, so I am racking my brain to try to remember the author (whose name is Jen which isn't all that helpful...I think I had 2 roommates named Jen).
Some of the letters are a tad uncomfortable to read - especially those of the "you took my boyfriend" variety.
mara_miriam's review
2.0
Friendships have been my primary relationships throughout my adult life, so I had high hopes for this book, which were not met. The majority of authors included in the collection are writers for fitness/parenting publications and their letters generally felt like they could be published in any of those magazines. There were a lot of letters from friends who'd been done wrong and those voices were hard for me to hear for many reasons: the quality of the writing itself, the frequent passive aggressive tone, and my own particular current sensitivity on the subject. Although there were some pieces that got to me (Celena Cipriaso's and Dimity McDowell's), for the most part I came away wishing that this project had been in the hands of another editor.
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