Published: 2011
It's About: (from Amazon) For Willa Jacobs, seeing her best friend, Jane Weston, is like looking in a mirror on a really good day. Strangers assume they are sisters, a comparison Willa secretly enjoys. They share an apartment, clothing, and groceries, eking out rent with part-time jobs. Willa writes advertising copy, dreaming up inspirational messages for tea bags (“The path to enlightenment is steep” and “Oolong! Farewell!”), while Jane cleans houses and writes poetry about it, rhyming “dust” with “lust,” and “clog of hair” with “fog of despair.” Together Willa and Jane are a fortress of private jokes and shared opinions, with a friendship so close there’s hardly room for anyone else. But when Ben, Willa’s oldest friend, reappears and falls in love with Jane, Willa wonders: Can she let her two best friends find happiness with each other if it means leaving her behind?
Should you read it? Unequivocally, yes.
Why: "What separates us from them? We all think we're snowflakes, but we're Tinker Toys, held together by our interchangeable parts."
The title says it all: friends like us. We think our friendships are impenetrable, rock solid. What happens when we are forced to make a really hard choice? We find out that no relationship is bullet proof.
***************book club discussion follows****************
1. Are you more like Willa or Jane in your friendships?
2. Do you think Ben deserved Willa or Jane?
3. If you were Willa and had to choose between Jane or Ben, who would you choose and why?
4. Do you think Willa's parents' divorce affected her actions in this story and how?
5. What's your thoughts on Declan? Where's the worst place you've been dumped (if you feel inclined to share)?
6. Were you satisfied with the end?
7. Did you go back and read the prologue when you were finished?
8. If you were Jane, would you have reconciled with Willa?
9. In the very end, who did you respect more? Willa or Jane?
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My answers:
1. Are you more like Willa or Jane in your friendships?
I'm definitely more Willa except I would like to think I would not have chosen a boyfriend over a best girlfriend at that point in my life.
2. Do you think Ben deserved Willa or Jane?
Ben gave me the creeps. Ben is not very likeable in my opinion. I don't think he had any business pursuing Jane. He should have had a clue that Willa really liked him. He's not good enough for Willa and he's way too boring for Jane.
3. If you were Willa and had to choose between Jane or Ben, who would you choose and why?
I think Willa's soul was fed more by Jane. Jane soothed her and comforted her in ways that Ben would never be capable of doing. I think she was a little ticked at Jane, when Jane decided to take Ben away to another state. I do think Jane was a little more devious and possessive than Willa really understood. At least, she wasn't quite as easy going as Willa would have us believe.
4. Do you think Willa's parents' divorce affected her actions in this story and how?
I absolutely do. I don't think she has ever learned how to stick out a friendship. I think she is more willing to break away from friends because she feels deserted by her mother. I think it fueled her decision to sleep with Ben.
5. What's your thoughts on Declan? Where's the worst place you've been dumped (if you feel inclined to share)?
I really was starting to like Declan until he did that totally stupid tent break up. I think the worst break up I ever had was calling a boyfriend on the phone and having an our acquaintance (who happened to be a girl) answer his phone. Of course, this was way before caller i.d. and texting.
6. Were you satisfied with the end?
Not one bit. For pete's sake Lauren, what happened with Ben? I desperately wanted to believe that he stayed with Willa even though she warned us that he wouldn't.
7. Did you go back and read the prologue when you were finished?
Immediately. I wanted to re-read and see if Ben had possibly went back to Jane and if Gus was their child.
8. If you were Jane, would you have reconciled with Willa?
Nope. Willa would not be my friend again.
9. In the very end, who did you respect more? Willa or Jane?
I really respected Jane when she came to the party as the Bride of Frankenstein and then again in the prologue when she gave Willa the what-for.
Feel free to post your answers in the comment section. I'll be back to discuss!
This sounds really good! :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent questions! I just finished the book, so it's fresh in my mind. I'll answer a few questions at a time (and limit my typos that way!). Let me also say that I enjoyed this book. It reminded me of my twenties, of that unsettled time before I was married and had children. It's not the easiest time of life! We are young and attractive and idealistic--and also make plenty of mistakes, I think.
ReplyDelete1)I don't think I'm like either Willa or Jane in my friendships, really! They had a mutual admiration and were so extremely close to each other. I've had wonderful friends over the years, but nothing like what they had.
2)I think Ben transferred his feelings for Willa to Jane, plain and simple. And because Willa and Jane resemble each other, this was probably pretty easy to do. I think Ben would have preferred a relationship with Willa from the start. But that wasn't what happened. And I think Jane should have been more careful of Willa's feelings before she started to "see" Ben. He was Willa's best friend, after all. I'm not sure if Ben "deserved" Jane or Willa or not; he was just feeling his feelings--is that a crime?
I will return later and answer more questions. :)
Here is question #3:
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure who I'd choose. Unfortunately these love triangles get in the way of rational decision making! When Jane "decided" to see Ben, though, she made a choice that she was choosing Ben over Willa. This set the stage for the rest of the events. Often, girls and women are very possessive over their friends, and even more so over male friends.
4)Yes, the divorce affected Willa, of course it did. It is really to complex for me to dissect, though.
ReplyDelete5)Declan was okay, nothing spectacular,though. I was kind of glad when he said he was leaving the country. He didn't seem like the right guy for Willa.
6)I would have liked to know if Ben "came back" or not, but I guess it was good to keep it open and mysterious (will there be a sequel?).
7)I did go back and reread the first chapter--had I missed a clue or two? I don't think I did.
8)I think I'd play it by ear. I do think that Jane "wronged" Willa first, by dating Ben. So, the friends need to discuss things as honestly as possible--if that's possible!
9)Life--and love--are hard. (Welcome to the jungle!) To me, it's not a question of who I respect. These young women are young, learning about life and love and friendship and jobs and everything else--whew! They need more time to mature.
Please feel free to comment on my answers! Let's get a discussion going.
I agree, Suko, I wanted Declan gone. Not so much because he interfered in Willa's ability to hook up with Ben but because he interfered with Willa's ability to move on with her life at all.
DeleteIn #4, that should be "too" complex--please excuse this typo, and any others--thanks!
ReplyDeleteHello! I'm so happy that you're discussing Friends Like Us, and I'm excited to join in. (My four-year-old daughter is about to be dropped home, so my time may be limited, but I promise to check back.) If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them! And if my answers appear as a random sequence of numbers and letters, then you'll know that I let the four-year-old play on the computer.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi, Lauren! Thanks for joining in! I really enjoyed your book, which is funny and clever and believable. Is there a sequel in the works, or are you working on something else?
ReplyDeleteThanks! I am working on something else... it's mostly notes at this point, notes and questions and little snippets of ideas.
ReplyDeleteThank you for answering my question, Lauren. Do any of our answers above surprise you?
DeleteAlways love to hear that an author is working on another book when I've just enjoyed the one I read so much!
DeleteI love Belle's strong response to the ending! It's funny, I write my endings before I write the bulk of my novels - I know them from very early on in the process - and so far (going on two books now) both endings have gotten a lot of passionate responses, people telling me they're just too open-ended. I guess I feel like I'm trying to create just enough closure, without tying things up too securely, sort of showing the road my characters are traveling, which paths they're on, without explaining too much. So even when a reader feels like I haven't succeeded, it's very interesting to me to read such energetic responses to them.
ReplyDeleteNothing else really surprised me, exactly, but I definitely appreciate that you both tapped in to how complicated life is, how hard the choices can be, especially when we're trying to figure ourselves out and grow into who we're meant to be. That's just what I was trying to convey.
Lauren, this is my first book by you, and I thought the ending was realistic, rather than idealistic. It really fits the story. But I sure would love to find out what happens next between these characters. :)
DeleteAs a reader, sometimes stories that don't really end can be frustrating. But I do find them to be more realistic and I enjoy the author giving me the chance to take the building blocks and take it from there.
DeleteLauren: Were you not in the least little bit tempted to write that prologue with Jane and Ben reconnecting and starting a family? Why didn't you give Willa a really crazy-good career or something? Do Jane and Willa ever get back together in your mind? Did you write this book with one of your past friendships in mind? I really love your loose untied endings because they are sort of becoming your trademark. Just as Jody Picoult does that twist in her ending, you have this unique thing going on with your endings. I think your books are perfectly character driven and I hope you can keep getting published. I just have this feeling you're going somewhere with this writing thing.
ReplyDeleteI had seen this book in my bookstore (or maybe on Edelweiss) and wasn't sure whether to give it a read or not--thanks for nudging me in that direction!
ReplyDeleteNow, where was I? As I just told Belle in an email, I was attacked by small children yesterday and had to give up on trying to continue this discussion. But I'm back! And caffeinated. So... first -- I wasn't at all tempted to write a prologue in which Jane and Ben have reconnected and started a family. Well, maybe a tiny bit tempted, because it's always weirdly painful to send my characters into their fates, to let bad things happen to them. But mostly no, because I felt very strongly that the story I wanted to tell was about the ways in which our lives when we're in our twenties, friendships and relationships, are so messy and complicated - that we're grown up enough to understand the kind of meaningful connections we want to achieve, but often not mature enough to create them, or to know when what we have is wrong or off somehow. So no Ben and Jane, no Jane and Willa. I felt like what I wanted was for their friendships to explode, to shatter, and there's no putting something like that back together. There is, of course, a kind of redemption that comes from making huge mistakes and learning from them, coming out wiser (and sadder) on the other side.
ReplyDeleteI thought a lot about where Willa's career would be in her future (meaning the prologue), and I had written several versions in which I felt that I over-explained what she was doing, the kind of career success she had achieved, and in the end I cut all of that and chose to just allude to her success (she mentions that now she "gets paid for" her drawings), because I felt like it was a bit of a delicate balance; I didn't want to focus on that, but I wanted it to be clear enough that she was on the right track.
What else? Oh, yes, I did write the book with several of my own past friendships and relationships in mind, along with some confusing relationships I observed as they unraveled. This is, of course, only my second book, but so far everything I write is this sort of amalgamation of experience, observation, and imagination. And, again, those friendships and relationships I had in my twenties were so intense and powerful, they just kept calling back to me.
I'm so glad to be a part of this conversation. This is so much fun. Thank you again for hosting it!
Lauren and BookBelle, I enjoyed this conversation quite a bit, and feel as if this book would be a great choice for a real book club (rather than a virtual one), because there is so much that could be discussed!
ReplyDeleteBookBelle, this has been a great intro to your blog--I will be visiting more often now. Thank you for hosting this.
Lauren, thanks very much for stopping by and giving us more insight into your book! I like the description of your writing as an "amalgamation of experience, observation, and imagination".
I had a ton of fun too Suko. Thanks for participating. Lauren always makes a discussion fun!
ReplyDeleteHmmm... I'm getting glimpses into the drama. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started reading this book, I thought I was in for something light and fun and looked forward to discussing it with other people. But that quote before your questions is not only spot on but one of the pieces of writing that began to make me realize that this book was much more than fluff!
ReplyDeleteI didn't have any problem with Jane hooking up with Ben. Willa was very enthusiastic about it, at the beginning and, at that point anyway, didn't seem to have any deeper feelings for Ben other than as merely friends. I suppose that at least one of them might have thought out what might happen if the relationship really developed but they were young. Besides, what really were the chances that the relationship would end in marriage; so few do.
I really enjoyed watching Willa's feelings about the relationship change over time as it slowly dawned on her that they were no longer a trio but a couple with a tag-a-long friend.
I agree, Lisa, I think it became hard for Willa to be the "third wheel". And she and Ben had been best friends, with their own special way of communicating and joking around.
DeleteLisa - Yes, I think you nailed it. This is not a fluff piece even though the cover may lead one to believe that it is. I really relate to Willa as she realizes that she is no longer part of a trio but becoming a inconvenient third. I think she didn't realize this until Declan broke up with her. I kept thinking that I would have liked to have been in on the bedroom conversations of Ben and Jane. Jane did start to seem just a little conniving and possessive toward the end. She would let Willa participate in the relationship for just so much and then she would yank her leash back in and remind Ben who he was marrying. I don't know. I just never fully ended up trusting Jane even though she seemed to be the one that had more of a grasp on her emotions.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't think Ben was ever really sure about his feelings toward Jane. Yes, there was an attraction, but he jumped into a relationship with her, without really thinking about his feelings for Willa, which seemed to linger even after he was seeing Jane.
DeleteThis is precisely why I do not like Ben. He's weak and in his weakness he disrupted a lovely relationship between Willa and Jane.
DeleteBookBelle, I kind of liked Ben. He was different and a bit nerdy. He needs time to mature though.
ReplyDeleteSuko - obviously Willa and Jane both liked him too ;-) He's just not decisive enough for me. He seems to be quite impulsive.
ReplyDeleteYes, and immature. Boy, I'm glad those days are over!
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