(Best Friends) Forever

Initially I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy Jennifer Weiner's Best Friends Forever because I'm not much of a Chick Lit reader, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It was entertaining, engaging, and I always wanted to see what would happen next.  Perhaps this was more a reflection of Weiner's writing style rather than the genre; I guess I'll have to explore it a little more.

Friends follows the tumultuous relationship between Addie and Valerie.  They first meet when they are nine years old and become immediate friends.  As the two grow older, they experience the harsh realities of middle school and, more devastating, high school.  It is during a specific episode in high school where their friendship is changed forever.  Fast forward twenty years later and it is time for their high school reunion.  Valerie has become a pseudo local celebrity while Addie has never moved away and continued to work from her childhood home.  Addie refuses to go to the reunion and soon Valeria shows up at Addie's door completely shaken with streaks of blood on her jacket.  What ensues is the hunt for an injured man and the rekindling of a long-dead friendship.

While at times I didn't like either of the characters, Valerie was a self-centered, image-obsessed prissy woman and Addie was an overly self conscious woman with incredibly low self-esteem, they seemed to balance each other out and rub off on each other toward the end.  I did, however, enjoy the ending to this story, though I didn't necessarily find it completely plausible.  Good effort overall.