Bookends

After working on her career at a top London advertising agency for the best part of a decade, Cath yearns to leave and open her own bookshop. Lucy, married to Cath's old Uni buddy, Josh, longs to run a cafe. So when a suitable site comes up, the girls combine their dreams and Bookends is born. However, opening a trendy book café (as opposed to cybercafé) is a fairly minor sub-plot in Bookends. This is a novel about the lives, hopes and dreams of a group of thirtysomethings, living in West Hampstead, who (mostly) met at University and have moved on, for better or worse: Cath is disenchanted and has long-since stopped trying to (a) manage her Michael-Jackson-circa-1973 hair (b)wear anything other than black that she hasn't owned for more than five years, and (c) find a suitable beau. Luckily, Si--desperate to find the man of his dreams and an expert at applying haircare products and shopping at designer stores--makes a perfect best friend. Apart from improving her appearance, he's great for those awkward social occasions that, even in our postmodernist world, still require a male escort. Then, out of the blue, a former member of the old University gang turns up and, hey presto, things start to change. Beautiful, elegant, clever Portia appears to have it all; it takes a couple of hundred pages to discover what she's been looking for. The strange thing about Bookends is that Portia turns out to be merely a sub-plot.

Jane Green's latest novel is about the love and trust and enduring friendships of a bunch of young hopefuls whose lives take the usual twists and turns and ups and downs as they mature into thoughtful, rounded adults. Green is an author whose readers either love or hate her, If you love her, you'll want to read her fourth novel; if you don't, you might be surprised by Bookends. --Carey Green

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Good poolside/airport - Rated
If all you want is a simple 'comfort read' or something to read beside the pool on holiday, this should more than meet your needs. An uncomplicated little novel about a group of friends who met at university and are now in their early thirties. You may find they are quite chlicheed but I was still absorbed by them. I wept with them and laughed with them throughout the novel.

Don't be expecting anything 'high-brow' but if you enjoy the likes of Maeve Binchey, Marian Keyes, Sophie Kinsella and so on, I don't think you will find anything to object to in 'Bookends'.

what happened - Rated
I have to say this is probably the worst jane green book I have read so far - I totally agree with the author reviewers about the book lacking depth - although I found it lacked story! I kept waiting and waiting for the main storyline to kick in and it didnt seem to happen! very disappointing as I have enjoyed all her other books

Lacks depth - Rated
I have read a few Jane Green books before and must say I was disappointed witht this one, I did not see the point in the Portia character and all the others lacked the depth to tackle the shocking subject that came up later in the book. All in all not a very good read with quite a bad ending

Good quick read but the same as lots of others - Rated
This was an enjoyable book to read and was not as predictable as many others of its type. That said the "single woman with diverse friends from college" story has been done too many times and the continual drama became a bit dull. It felt like I had read it before.
I have always had a dream to work in a book shop though and that part of the book really appealled and more detail about that would have been good for me.
The main problem with the book is that lots of serious issues are introduced but nothing is explored in any depth making a fairly shallow read. Lots of potential and good plot lines but she could have done more with it.

Fabulous Easy Read - Rated
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, this is the 2nd book of Jane Greens that I've read and I've found them both to be nice easy reads, the type of book that you can put down and go back to without losing your place or having to re-read the last page because you've forgotten what happenned last.

I don't agree with some of the comments that Si should be the main character, it would totally change the aspect of the story, and lets face it what could you possibly say about Cath.

I'll definately be reading more.