What would you do for your best friend? (My Best Friend's Girl - Dorothy Koomson)

Name: owensmum

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	My Best Friend's Girl - Dorothy Koomson
Date:	12/03/08 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: emotional, well written, page turner

Disadvantages: cant keep the standard up to the end

I actually won this book at work and although the title looked familiar I had no idea if it was any good or what it would be about. I settled down to read and enjoyed it from the very first page.

~ The Main Plot ~

The main character in the book is Kamryn Matika. As the story begins she is head of a department in a media company and is enjoying a well deserved lie in for her birthday. One of the cards she receives brings unwelcome news from her estranged best friend Adele Brannon. What should have been a day of relaxation becomes a day that changes Kamryns life forever.

Adele and Kamryn were best friends from their late teens. Both are misfits and find the deepest friendship together. After what Kamryn sees as the worst kind of betrayal they fall out. The details of their friendship and the reasons they fell out become apparent as you move through the story. Move forward two years and Adele is dying. She needs Kamryn to promise her that she will adopt her young daughter Tegan and so Kamryn has to make the hardest decision she has ever been faced with. In order to adhere to her friends wishes she will need to deal with the betrayal and anger she has felt for the previous two years.

The second half of the story concentrates on Kamryns relationships, adapting to motherhood and the choices she has to make for both herself and Tegan.

~ More Details ~

The book focuses on friendship and how deep that runs and what you would be prepared to do for a friend. It deals with forgiveness and learning to put the past in the past. I wrote a review recently about the novel PS I Love You which deals with the subject of grief and I found that this book did that much better. The writing generally is much more complex and moving. We see grief as dealt with by adults as we see Kamryn come to terms with the death of her friend but we also experience the suffering of a young child after the loss of her mother.

Without going into too much detail which may give away the story, the book also focuses on learning to trust, abuse, guilt, jealousy, difficult decisions, racial prejudice and doing the right thing.

~ The Author ~

Dorothy Koomson has currently written four novels, My Best Friends Girl being the 3rd. The Cupid Effect and The Chocolate Run were her earlier novels and her follow up to this is Marshmallows for Breakfast. Dorothys first book was published in 2001 after a career writing for magazines and newspapers. My Best Friends Girl was selected for Richard & Judy Summer Reads Book Club (The Richard & Judy Show, Channel 4). Excerpts from all of the authors books as well as some other information can be found on her website www.dorothykoomson.co.uk.

~ My opinion ~

I had not heard of this author before and so had no preconceptions about the book. I found from the very first page I was sucked in and wanted to read on and on. The first half of the book is very emotionally charged and this does taper off part way through. As we get further into the book the originality and quality of the story does weaken slightly. Having said that it is still an excellent book and a real page turner, it just sets expectations so high at the start that it can't keep them up. The majority of the book was set in Leeds and I found this helped with my enjoyment as the author referred to districts and shopping centres I am all too familiar with as I work in the City. I found the scenes dealing with Adeles death and then Tegan talking about 'mummy and the angels' really moving and touching. I have now purchased The Chocolate Run to read and if its half as good as My Best Friends Girl then it will be worth reading. The book has 48 chapters but is also split into sections with titles that are quotes by Tegan that feature in the next few chapters. I found this a nice touch to the book that also made you want to discover why she would be saying that.

~ Other Details ~

437 pages
ISBN 0-7515-3707-1
Book price £6.99
Available new on Amazon for £5.49

Summary: Fantastic emotional story well written