The False Friend
Myla Goldberg
October 2010
253 pages
Published by Doubleday
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Hey FTC: This is an ARC that I received as part of my Indiespensable order. How do you classify that?
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Lately I’ve been reading books that I just don’t get. I need a book club, because some of them would actually make for a damn good discussion.
Case in point: this book.
From the back of the ARC:
Leaders of a mercurial clique, Celia and Djuna subjected each other and their three followers to an endless cycle of reward and punishment that peaked one afternoon when all five girls walked home along a forbidden road. Djuna disappeared that day; Celia blocked out what happened. It was assumed that Djuna was abducted, though neither she nor her abductor was ever found.
Twenty years later, Celia and her boyfriend Huck are professionally successful, yet their relationship is in stasis. When Celia’s memory of that terrible day returns, she confronts her own responsibility for her best friend’s disappearance and returns to her hometown to confess. Her aging parents – their love handicapped by a lifetime of reserve – insist that she is innocent. Huck wants to be supportive, but he can’t ignore all that contradicts Celia’s version of the past.
Deeply resonant and emotionally charged, The False Friend explores the adults that children become – leading us to question the truths that we accept or reject, and the lies to which we succumb.
My questions:
- Was Celia’s memory really false? (The end certainly seems to support that.)
- And if it was false, why did she suddenly remember? Was it out of guilt?
- What was up with Djuna’s creepy mom?? Not to mention Celia’s mom, who certainly had moments of creepiness herself. For a counselor, she sure did spend a lot of time with her head in the sand.
- And what, if any, resolution did Celia get?
Also, I wasn’t too crazy about the characters. Now I’ve read and enjoyed plenty of books with characters I didn’t like, but in this case it was more a feeling of frustration with the characters and their actions…no one really interacted. It was more like they were all in their own little worlds, not listening to each other. Which, come to think of it, may have been one of the points of the book.
Still confused, though.
That’s…weird.
I’m glad to read this review, b/c now I know to avoid this one.
There is a particular type of character – one who continuously acts in a way which goes against his own self-interest or in a way motivated by obvious misunderstanding. Most of the time these actions are the result of either a lack of communication or a serious idget problem (as in I am an idiot who can’t decipher basic language). I do not like this type of character, and I’m just guessing here, but it sounds like this book has them.
On a side note, I haven’t thought about that stupid folded-paper-see-the-future game in ages, and I’m off to go see if I can still fold one.
Trisha´s last [type] ..Book Review- The Boneshaker
This sounds different. Hmm, now I’m confused!
Natalie @ Coffee and a Book Chick´s last [type] ..Dracula- the Un-Dead- by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt
This book sounds as though it asks more questions than it answers. I do think that the synopsis sounds interesting and I might take a closer look. Thanks for the spotlight on this book. I might not have ever heard about it in any other way!
zibilee´s last [type] ..The Vera Wright Trilogy- My Fathers Moon – Cabin Fever – The Georges Wife by Elizabeth Jolley — 568 pgs
This sounds like a really good book club book because of the question of whether or not Celia’s memory was real. Not sure my book club would go for this book though. They tend to be kind of picky.
Stephanie´s last [type] ..Read-a-long Wrap up- The Color Purple
Well, if it left you confused, I can only imagine what it would do to me. This does sound like a good book club pick.
Bummer – I like the cover and the title too…. but it does sound a but off. I have read a couple like that lately. I close the last page and I am like “What just happened and I want my four hours back!”
The fun thing with our book club is that a book good or bad – it is pretty fun to dive into and dissect! Some of my favorite book club review memories are of the books I really disliked.
Hmmmm….. might be a post in there…..
Sheila (Book Journey)´s last [type] ..Harry Potter And The Deathly Hollows AUDIO
I’d like to give it a try…the main character I found interesting in Bee Season was the strange, strange mom.
bybee´s last [type] ..July 2010- What I Read
Now you have me wanting to read this so I can find out and talk to you about it. Of course, by the time I read it, you’ll have long forgotten about it.
I see this is by the author of Bee Season, which I really liked but it was kind of an odd book too.
Jenners´s last [type] ..Review- unfinished business by Lee Kravitz
Nope, not my kind of book.
I am sure I won’t be able to answers those even if i read it.
Veens´s last [type] ..Sookie Stackhouse- 2 & 3
Hummm — okay, I think I safely let this one slip down the slopes of Mr. TBR.
Beth F´s last [type] ..Weekend Cooking- Review- Fresh Fruit Desserts by Sheryl and Mel London
I really liked the book, but on the last page, I sat there and said, “WHAT?!, WHAT?!” It says that the car that picked up Djuna was NOT her mother….that was never in question, was it? So, does this lead one to think that Djuna’s mom took her, killed her, whatever? She had forbidden her to walk that road. Years later, when talking to Celia, it seems like she wanted Celia to be her daughter because she listened to what her parents told her to do.
And when she went to see Leanne—the “guy” who talked to her was really Leanne, correct? Can you even imagine what Celia and Djuna put that poor girl through when they were eleven?
I think this would be a good read for anyone, but leaves a lot of unanswered questions—good discussion book for a group, though.
Well I just finished the book and I have to say I was very disappointed with how it ended. I felt it was a waste of my time reading it. The author gets the reader to become emotionally involved in these characters lives and then just when you think you are going to get some answers, BAM! nothing, not only nothing your left more confused the ever. I tossed my book across the room when I finished. Again, what a waste of my time!
I just finished this book and was really confused by the ending! Karen- interesting thought about it being Djuna’s mother who killed her. I didn’t think of that. Now I am re-reading the last page trying to figure it out. Ughhhhh, I wish the author would have been a little bit more clear. Everyone else- this was a pretty good read, it’s just disappointing not to know the ending for sure. Kind of like the ending of the movie Inception.