Best of Friends (Hardcover)

"The Best of Friends" catches up with university buddies Laurence and Gina, some 20 years after they have each happily married other people. Laurence and his wife Hilary run a charming inn and have three teenaged sons; Gina and Fergus live a highly upscale life mostly devoted to Fergus' antiques business. They have a teenager as well, their only child, Sophy. The book begins with Sophy in some sort of crisis. As only Trollope can do, we gauge the depth of Sophy's adolescent pain by watching her, almost literally, childishly suck on a blue bead she wears on a leather thong around her neck. It is these tiny details, almost too subtle to notice, with which Trollope captures the reader's attention and heart.

It turns out that Fergus has suddenly and cruelly decided to leave Gina. Sophy and her mother are devastated, each in her own way. Sophy acts out in increasingly childish and pouting behavior; the reader doesn't know whether to slap her or hug her (and anyone who has teenagers can relate to this feeling!) Gina simply falls apart. And in her crumbling state, she turns, of course, to her best friends Laurence and Hilary.

The domino effect of one person's selfish decision to leave his wife causes anguish and pain he could not have anticipated. Trollope's message is clear, although she does not judge--nobody lives in a vacuum, and one IS accountable for one's actions.

This theme is further played out in the subplot: the story of Gina's elderly mother Vi (who had Gina after an impulsive fling with a boy who deserted her upon finding she was pregnant) and her dear friend and neighbor Dan. Again, the smallest of details bring these people to life. Vi is an exuberant soul, full of strong color, both in her clothing and in her garden and home. She has a parakeet (of course!) and her messy house matches her divine personality. Dan is her polar opposite. We come to love him for his meticulous tidiness, his strict ways (learned many years previously in the military) and his total adoration of Vi. They are so happy together, and it is so lovely...until the actions of a busybody who righteously feels she is "doing the right thing" destroys the elderly couple's lives completely.

The ending of this book, as always, is true and real. I won't give it away, but suffice to say that as in real life, nothing in the end is "clean and perfect." But it all makes perfect sense. This is one of Trollope's more depressing novels, but so worth the read, if only to cherish the wonderful characters she creates so very well.

I won't go into detail of what happens next in case you decide to read this boring novel but let's just say that it's predictable, yet boring, with no really likeable characters. Very flatly written! I give it 2 stars...

The characters were not likeable and I could not care about them. Only Hillary evoked any sympathy from me. Gina and Sophy and Lawrence and Fergus all left me cold. I cannot imagine a group of more unlovable characters all assembled in one novel. How could anyone feel for the spoiled, self-centered, uncaring Gina? And how did she become this way? She certainly did not grow up pampered and her mother Vi seems to be a caring person. Lawrence came across as dim-witted and totally controlled by his feeling-of-the-day. Because I could not care about these characters, I could not care about the repercussions of their adulterous shenanigans and will not be inspired to read anything else by this author.