Missing our dog Katy who had to be put down on Saturday :-(
Missing our dog Katy who had to be put down on Saturday :-(
Member since:08.07.2000
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You might have read my opinion on Jemima J by Jane Green, which I wrote in February – well, you probably haven’t, as it only got 12 reads on Ciao (20 on Dooyoo and a crown!). Unfortunately, book reviews get very few reads on opinion sites. Anyway, that was the first Jane Green book I had read, but it was so wonderful that it prompted me to borrow all her other novels from the library. Bookends is the second of hers I have read.
I would love to say it was as brilliant as Jemima J, but it wasn’t. It isn’t un-put-down-able either. It took me a couple of weeks to read it, instead of a couple of days. But it is a very good read though. You might struggle with it a bit in the middle, but the last third is a page-turner.
I think the best thing about the novel is the wonderful characterisation. Everyone is so well described that you really feel you know exactly what they look like and how they behave, even the minor characters.
The book centres around Cath, who is overweight, disinterested in fashion and adamantly single. When she was at University, she was best friends with Portia, Josh and Si. Following an incident one evening, the friendship with Portia splits up and as we catch up with Cath some years later, she has had no contact with Portia for some ten years. She is still best friends with Si and Josh though, as well as Josh’s wife, Lucy.
Cath and Lucy decide to go into business together, opening a bookshop-cum-café. I can well understand this, it is an idea that appeals to me too. I found it very interesting to follow the business from a mere aired thought between friends on its long journey to realism.
Of course, I am not going to give away too many of the book’s secrets, or there would be no point in you reading it, and I do hope you will. But I can give you a few tasters, dangling some luxury chocolate in front of your face…
Portia resurfaces, now well-known as the writer of a Friends type TV drama series. But are her motives honourable, and is the TV series really based on people very close to home? Are Josh and Lucy as happily married as they appear to be, or is Josh having an affair – and if so, who with? Will Cath ever find true love? And what appalling revelation awaits Si?
After a few pages, you will really care about the characters and want to know what happens to them. From a lovely front cover design, you will happily follow the friends you will grow to know on their journeys through almost four hundred pages of their lives. No, it isn’t as good as Jemima J, in my opinion, but it is still a great book and one I would recommend, especially to thirty-something women like me!
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I much preferred this to Jemima J - in fact, it's my favourite Jane Green book!
pink_champagne 05.02.2005 20:02
this book has been on my desk at work for months but i havent got very far with reading it yet. I loved straight talking and Mr Maybe is absolutley fantastic by the same author
scorching 12.07.2001 01:30
Well written opinion. I almost completley agree with you. ;)
After working on her career at a top London advertising agency for the best part of a ... more
decade, Cath yearns to leave and open her own bookshop. Lucy, married to Cath's old Uni buddy, Josh, longs to run a cafe. So when a suitable site comes up, the girls ...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: Free!
After working on her career at a top London advertising agency for the best part of a ... more
decade, Cath yearns to leave and open her own bookshop. Lucy, married to Cath's old Uni buddy, Josh, longs to run a cafe. So when a suitable site comes up, the girls ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Having worked her way up to the stressful top of a London ad agency, Cath yearns to open ... more
her own book shop. As luck would have it, Lucy, wife of Cath's old uni friend Josh, longs to run a café. Together they find a suitable site and Bookends is born. A...
Postage & Packaging: Check Site. Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: You get much much more than your moneys worth Disadvantages: Wow! You long for things to be different for the characters, and might wonder if you picked up the wrong book
Advantages: You get much much more than your moneys worth Disadvantages: Wow! You long for things to be different for the characters, and might wonder if you picked up the wrong book
very helpful by (100%):
