Author: Rachel Bertsche
Pages: 349
Publication Date: December 20th 2011 by Ballantine Books
Source: Library,
Link: Goodreads, Offical Website
When Rachel Bertsche first moves to Chicago, she’s thrilled to finally share a zip code with her boyfriend. But shortly after getting married, she realizes that her new life is missing one thing: friends. Sure, she has plenty of BFFs—in New York and San Francisco and Boston and Washington, D.C. Still, in her adopted hometown, there’s no one to call at the last minute for girl talk over brunch or a reality-TV marathon over a bottle of wine. Taking matters into her own hands, Bertsche develops a plan: Meeting people everywhere from improv class to friend rental websites, she'll go on fifty-two friend-dates, one per week for a year, in hopes of meeting her new Best Friend ForeverLet's be honest, the title of this book sucked me in. I too am a MWF seeking BFF. I checked out this book from the library and hadn't read until one day I wanted something different to read and started reading it, and couldn't put it down. I feel this woman's pain. Rachel relocates to Chicago as a newly wed. She gets a job and is happily married but missing one thing in her new town. Friends. How many times have I gone through this in my adult life moving and trying to make friends again. The sad thing is.. the older you get, the harder it is to make friends. Believe me I have tried.
Rachel has a goal of going on 52 girl dates in one year. She manages to find these dates in all sorts of ways. A point that Rachel mentions in the book when it gets hard to meet friends is those who have lived in the area their whole lives. They already have strong friendships that are hard to break into. Also... most of the time their whole family lives by them. Parents, siblings, nieces, nephews. I find that I run into these problems when I try to make friends to. There's a section in the book where Rachel (yes I feel like I am on a first name basis with her) talks about her writing an online article talking about seeking a best friend. A lot of people write her and she end up going on girl dates with them. I didn't really connect too much with this section because well I just would never put out an ad.
She actually sounds like she makes a lot of friends in the book. So many that she talks about needing to double up on friend dates during the week. Yet she is only half way through the year still trying to make even more friends. I felt a little bad for some of the women who didn't realize they were in some sort of a contest. I also have to admit.. I want this group of girlfriends she talks about. I love watching Sex in the City. I see these women go through life together as are always there for each other. I watch all the Real Housewife shows and just want to have that group of friends. Let's go on a girl's vacation! Though.. I suppose those women are constantly fighting.
I don't read a lot of non-fiction. Hardly ever. But this is one book I related to and practically read in one day. I would suggest that if you are even a little bit out there looking for friends as an adult to go ahead and check this book out. I did see some reviews making fun of the author for being desperate but I am guessing those people either still live in the same town with the same friends or they are just lucky and make friends easily. There were a few neat ideas in the book to try out, like using meetup.com, hiring a friend finder like a match maker, or even hiring a friend to hang out for the day. I probably would skip that last one LOL! What about you?? Any crazy friend stories??
The crystal ball says:
Sun is shinning!!! Great day to go outside and read this book.
I read her Jennifer, Gwyneth and Me book earlier this year and absolutely loved it. I was wondering about this one so I was excited to see this review. Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I'll definitely have to look for this one. It definitely is difficult to make friends as and adult though it does get a little easier with children. I read somewhere that adults tend to make "situational" friends that come and go more than just plain friends like we do when we're younger. Great review!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard about this book years and years ago, I immediately bought it. Because seriously it is so hard to find BFFs when you are an adult. But I still haven't read it. I'm so glad to hear that you liked it so much. I must make time for it asap.
ReplyDeleteThis does sound like a fun book. I live where I grew up, but I've still found that the older you get, the harder it is to make new friends. I'm always open to meeting new people and finding new friends, especially as my current friends get married, have kids, etc. and don't have as much time to just hang out (since i'm still in the single life).
ReplyDelete-lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com
I think it was your blog that I saw the Gwyneth and Me book. Then I saw when I went to the library to look for that one the MWF seeking BFF book. I didn't end up reading the Gwyneth book yet. I do think it gets easier when you have kids. My sister has a lot of mommy friends. She's met quite a few through mommy groups and my nephew's school. Why can't there be cat lady friends out there?? I could meet those people and they would love me!
ReplyDeleteIt was a seriously fast read. I think you would sale right through it. I don't think I'll actually make any new friends because of the book but it was still an enjoyable read.
ReplyDeleteI have some old friend from high school. But I moved away from the town where I went to school. So I see them maybe once a year when I go back there. They never come to visit me in my state though and to be honest I probably only go back to their town once a year because I have family there. Long distance friendships can be hard. When you do get together sometimes you just talk about "remember that one time" because sometimes there are no new times to talk about. The woman who wrote the book seems to have found tons of friends though I don't know if one became her best friend.
ReplyDeleteI am always open to meeting new people, I would like to meet a couple who are friends but they are hard to find. This was a topic covered in the book. That is it way harder to find a couple to hang out with as a married couple because both of you have to like the other people rather then just liking one person. So finding a couple to be friends with is tough. AYE! Meeting people just gets harder and harder!! I have heard my single friends though get tired of hanging out with married people cause they feel like the third wheel. I try to make my single friends feel welcome though with both my husband and I. If I am friends with a married man I NEVER exclude his wife. That is rude and no class to me.
ReplyDeleteMy problem is more the opposite- I need to find a boyfriend! I do really appreciate my good gal friends, so this book would probably resonate with me. And this sounds like a fun, madcap read too, so I'll have to check it out!
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading the book, it did make me think of someone out to find a boyfriend. You really do kind of have to do the same thing to find a girlfriend the only thing that is different is you would usually split the cost of meals. Though that was one thing she pointed out in the book was how expensive it was to go on all these dates.
ReplyDelete