A big fan of Kauffman's writing style. This book was a friend. I'll be reading her other novel. ( )

Predictable, this is the story of friendship and like most lifelong friends betrayal and upset play into the picture. The characters lack depth and the story fails to engage the reader. It was recommended by the library web site as similar to Chances Are but pales in comparison. ( )

I found the story very compelling and a real page turner - it did take a bit of getting used to the prose which I found a bit choppy but that can be better than overly wordy. ( )

‘”Once upon a time, there were six best friends,” he said. “They were all different, but they fit together very nicely.”’

In Buffalo, 5 friends in their early-thirties come together for the funeral of Sally, who committed suicide by jumping off a bridge. Once, the six had been The Gunners, local kids who grew up and hung out together in the same street, but now Mikey, Alice, Lynn, Jimmy and Sam have to come to terms with how one of their group shut herself off from them as a teenager, and now many years later they struggle to understand her death.

This is not necessarily an original premise – think ‘The Big Chill’ or ‘thirtysomething’ or the like – but Kauffman handles the story in a delicate and confident way. There are several set-pieces as the book develops – a lake-side chalet where the friends gather after the funeral, and then later on in the book Lynn gets married – and as we learn more about the characters we see how each of them need and love each other. Everyone has secrets, and each of them struggle to find their way in life, to forge their own identity. At the books heart is Mikey, the quiet one, the kind one who ‘taught the others how to be good to one another’. Suffering from macular degeneration, Mikey is the kind of character you just want to hug and protect, and his failing eyesight becomes an almost-reverse metaphor for the book, for as he loses his ability to see the world around him in all its glory, so each of the characters learn to find their way in life. The ending is subtle, quiet, and deeply moving. We don’t find any answers for why Sally cut herself off from the group, or why she killed herself – the book avoids tying-up neatly things that actually we can’t understand. But we do get a sense of moving on, even if the future is unclear.

This is a book about finding out who we are and how we define ourselves in terms of family and where we come from, in terms of our friends and partners and pets, and about dealing with the crap that life will throw at you. It is a well-written, deeply moving account of friendships and the bonds we make, and I definitely recommend it.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest and unbiased review.) ( )

I could write a lot about how much I liked this book but it feels too exhausting to tackle right now. I loved all the characters, even the ones I didn't particularly like I loved. I can't count how many times I've felt how Mikey has felt. Removed, distant. Not sure what people see it me. Unclear as to how I've gotten where I am. This book really was tailor made for me. Thank JOHANNA for recommending it to me!! ( )