Something Borrowed
by Emily Giffin
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Book Reviews of Something Borrowed
Book Review: Shallow, catty and awful
Summary: 1 Stars
Disclaimer: This book might be AMAZING in the middle sections. I skimmed after the first five chapters to the end just because I wanted to see whether the ending would make me like it better.
There's nothing worse than reading a book which is predicated on the idea that we're going to side with the main character as she engages in unethical behavior because she's marginally less good looking than the character she's screwing over. The author bends over backwards to make Rachel into a sympathetic character, but it just doesn't really fly. Yes, she's been outshone by her best friend since childhood. Yes, she has been a goody two shoes all her life. Yes she's just turned thirty and is unhappy in her job and has all sorts of first world problems. That doesn't really excuse sleeping with your best friend's husband to be (over and over again, in lurid detail), no matter how many side characters assert that "he's so much better with you than with her!" It doesn't really excuse him either especially since he had the chance to either break up with his fiance after they were sleeping together or possibly ask the main character out on a date before he was engaged to be married to her best friend.
There are novels where the main character is a 100 pound weakling who then enters a fantasy world and can totally school on avatars of his high school football team and sleep with avatars of the cheerleading team. I can understand those books, they're aimed at 13 year old boys. But in theory, this is aimed at 30 year old women. Are there people out there that have such a messed up sense of values that there's somehow the crime of having sex with your best friend's fiance is morally equivalent to being bossy sometimes and more pretty than the main character? And they'd want to identify with a character who'd think that way?
It's possible to write a book where the characters are amoral and we can still identify with them and empathize with them and be entertained. It's almost impossible to do that if the structure of the book tries to demand that we accept them wholeheartedly by contriving circumstances to make their amoral behavior okay. By the way, the main character is totally in the right because her best friend was cheating on her husband to be too. There, now I've saved you an hour or two. Read some Marion Keyes or something, it'll be a lot more satisfying.
Book Review: Silly and Farfetched - But fun in its own right (SPOILERS)
Summary: 3 Stars
In "Something Borrowed" Griffin manages to create a character who is both sympathetic and detestable. I'll be the first to admit that I share a certain sympathy with Rachel. I've had horrid feelings of inadequacy, feelings of being trapped in a job I hate, and a fear that my life will never come out right. Yes, Rachel can be too annoying and over-the-top with her insecurities on her sleeve, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I've annoyed people in similar fashion. Her sympathy makes her easy to like, but often hard to respect.
I also get the relationship with Dexter. Sometimes seemingly "nice" people do bad things. Rachel is human. Griffin built a character that is so insecure that she believes an affair with a taken man is all she deserves. I can see how those brief interludes with Dexter make her feel good about herself.
However, as the novel moves on and Dexter and Rachel begin to admit they're in love, I really stopped having sympathy for either of them. It was Dexter's responsibility to say, "I love Rachel. I can't marry someone else. I'm breaking it off NOW." If he really loved Rachel, he wouldn't have waited until she insisted on him breaking off the relationship. He is equally spineless and stupid even if he is kind and handsome and funny.
Rachel garners no more respect. She could have insisted that he break it off with Darcy sooner. I kept waiting for Rachel to realize that he and Darcy deserved each other. I thought she would go to London and make a new life for herself and just stay there. I thought she would start up a relationship with the guy she had the one date with. I thought she would grow a real spine. Of course the character is set up to be spineless. She has no self-esteem, so she'll never believe that Dexter will leave "perfect" Darcy for her.
Griffin tried to hard to create the most evil character possible in Darcy. Obviously making Darcy evil helps justify the affair. She can't really truly love Dexter. She's tormented Rachel all of her life. She is just so evil she deserves what she gets in the end. I think the book would have been more interesting if Darcy were a better person less deserving of being cheated on.
This book tries too hard to be sympathetic to the wrong people and makes them hard to respect.
Book Review: Thoughts on Something BorroWED
Summary: 5 Stars
For a first try at chic lit, Emily Giffen delivered an interesting novel that marked her entry to the New York Times Bestsellers List. Quite a feat, but definitely well deserved. The story of `Something BorroWed' is eye-catching. From the moment I read the synopsis in the bookstore I knew it's the next novel on my list. I was curious with the author's approach to telling the story of the affair between Rachel (Maid of Honor) and Dex (Bride's Fiance and Rachel's Bestfriend since Childhood) and still have Rachel come out as the heroine that readers won't resent. I mean, normally a person would not side with the adulteress, right?
But Ms. Giffen made sure Rachel would not be hated. In fact, she portrayed Rachel as the victim of Darcy (the Bride) by narrating several `memory flashbacks' of the friendship when Darcy had `lied' and `used' Rachel. Although the situations seem petty compared to adultery, the reader will begin to understand that Rachel, in fact, is the underdog. Because Darcy was more beautiful and sexy, Rachel took it upon herself to take the role as the `inferior' friend, the person who will never be good enough, and she believed her parents, their common friends, and just about everyone knew this to be true. But in the process of finding every possible excuse to reason with her guilt, Rachel realizes that she has been living in the shadow of her friend clearly because Darcy wanted it that way and she did not have the courage or confidence to do things otherwise.
The novel was amusing and witty. The only parts that bothered me is Rachel's obvious lack of self-confidence and her tolerance for her unhappiness with her job, family relations, etc. But I suppose Ms. Giffen had to establish this in order to bring the heroine to a complete catharsis...that Rachel will learn a valuable lesson, find her inner strength, and finally stand up to what she wants in life and fight for her own happiness.
Overall, nice girls will like this book. Nice girls will say, "Finally! A novel that proclaims Nice Girls finish FIRST {and not the Bad/Sexy/Seductive/Manipulative Girls}!"
Therefore, I like this book.Something Borrowed
Book Review: A KindleObsessed Review
Summary: 4 Stars
Rachel is used to following the rules, she is also used to getting stepped on, not literally of course, but with a best-friend like Darcy the thought of physical pain verses emotional pain is (at times) much more appealing. See... Darcy is one of those girls that is NEVER wrong. Does her ass look fat in those jeans? Yes, probably.. but there is no way in hell you would ever tell her that, because the ramifications of truth heavily outweigh the guilt of lying. To Rachel, keeping Darcy happy is a way of life, but where does that leave her? Well, at the moment it is on the bottom floor of a department store playing "Happy Maid of Honor" to a woman who is (in a few short months) going to marrying the man she loves. To make matters worse, Rachel is finally starting to see Darcy for the woman she REALLY is, and THAT means getting a hall pass to go for what she has always wanted. Dex.
There are a few things to consider before purchasing this book. While yes, I found it to be a delightful little read, some of you may find the plot offensive. This, in the simplest of terms, is a novel about cheating. If you are a person who has deep rooted issues with this (aka those of you who have been cheated on) this is probably a book you should take a pass on. For everyone else (well.. women, cause I honestly don't know many men that would enjoy this book) if you can find it inside yourself to suspend your morality for 352 pages you'll notice the elements of a classic love story. In short... put your big girl panties on if you want to read this book.
Now, all of that said, let's focus on the elements. The plot, though a tad slow in places, was streamlined and well executed. The characters were easily relatable, and the emotion written into each felt real, instead of detached and forced which, can sometimes be a problem in books written to be both serious AND kitschy. Other than the occasional (what seemed like) encouragement to disregard common civility I found no major flaws in the book. In fact, for chick lit (which I rarely read) it was pretty damn good.
Happy reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: poker faces come in handy for more than just card games.
Book Review: somewhere between "It's OK" & "I Like It" (but half stars aren't available!)
Summary: 4 Stars
I read this book in less than 2 days because I enjoyed the way it was written and how each chapter would end just when I wanted to find out more. I love when a book pulls you in like that. And I enjoyed this book MUCH more than "Love the One You're With."
I found Rachel to be likeable for the most part - despite her falling for her best friend's fiance (even though she was friends with him first and found herself to be inadequate for him). I think we've all had a friend (or frienemy) who you do truly care about, but yet they just get on your nerves.... I know I have. Everything always seems to be happy and easy and perfect, and as much as you care about them, you just want something to fall out of place to bring them back down to reality and prove that their life isn't so much better than yours. I felt that is how Rachel felt about Darcy.
My problem with Giffin's novels (or at least the 2 I have read so far) is that her main characters seem so weak. They lack a backbone and any real dignity. I had a toxic friendship like this in the past, but rather than sleeping with my friend's fiance while secretly wishing that her life would unravel and then agreeing to go to lunch and go shopping with her after, I did the mature thing and realized that our relationship wasn't healthy for me and cut ties. I know that if Rachel hadn't done what she had done that there would be no plot line in the story, but I have a really hard time with the main character's lack of self respect. About halfway through the book this started bothering me. It didn't bother me enough to stop reading, but it's a common thread I've found in both of Giffin's novels that I've read so I wanted to share to see if anybody else felt this way.
All in all it was a light read - I don't want to give anything away for anybody who hasn't read it yet, but I enjoyed the ending - because I like when things are left less than perfect. I plan to start "Something Blue" shortly and hope that I don't find the same problems as before because I really do enjoy Giffin's style of writing.