a year ago
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Posted On: July 29th 2025, 08:40 pm
Among Friends
~Hal Ebbott
Buckle up, this book wasn’t a rave for me.
Two middle-aged men, best friends, rich, living the good life in NYC with their families.
No worries, except the constant overthinking that happens every second sentence. The problem of privilege.
We join them as they gather together for a 50th birthday party upstate. (In one of their beautiful country homes.) Before the actions of one of the men threatens to end their lifelong friendship & break their two families apart. What choices will be made is the crux of the novel but the unlikable characters makes it hard to care.
This book is an endless trail of internal monologues where each character considers the minuscule movements of each other. Told thru a close third person point of view that switches between each person. It’s cold feeling, & at times exhausting to try and find a way in to the mind of these people.
The unravelling of a friendship is an interesting topic, I just wish it could have had more warmth. A novel about privilege, wealth and the luxury of making decisions (having choices) on how to respond to trauma.
Possibly not a novel written for me. And that’s ok. We can all find our genres, that’s the joy of reading.
Not every book hits the spot.
~Hal Ebbott
Buckle up, this book wasn’t a rave for me.
Two middle-aged men, best friends, rich, living the good life in NYC with their families.
No worries, except the constant overthinking that happens every second sentence. The problem of privilege.
We join them as they gather together for a 50th birthday party upstate. (In one of their beautiful country homes.) Before the actions of one of the men threatens to end their lifelong friendship & break their two families apart. What choices will be made is the crux of the novel but the unlikable characters makes it hard to care.
This book is an endless trail of internal monologues where each character considers the minuscule movements of each other. Told thru a close third person point of view that switches between each person. It’s cold feeling, & at times exhausting to try and find a way in to the mind of these people.
The unravelling of a friendship is an interesting topic, I just wish it could have had more warmth. A novel about privilege, wealth and the luxury of making decisions (having choices) on how to respond to trauma.
Possibly not a novel written for me. And that’s ok. We can all find our genres, that’s the joy of reading.
Not every book hits the spot.
Comments (4)
7 months agobarbaras.book.obsession
I’ve been wondering about this book. I will wonder no longer. There are so many American books which focus on the wealthy and entitled. It gets tired.
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