Something Borrowed
by Emily Giffin
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Book Reviews of Something Borrowed
Book Review: Excellent book on friendship and loyalty....
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this book at Borders on a whim. I was taking the train and had forgotten my book so I had to buy a book in under 3 minutes. I read the back of it, thought to myself -- well at it's a chick lit book...I'll read it and forget I ever did much less admit to reading it.
Well let me just say I was so wrong about this book and had to write a great review on it. I felt myself identify with Rachel...the woman who ends up sleeping with her best friend's fiance. Giffin managed to do the impossible: to get people to root for a woman who sleeps with a committed man. I was hoping, crying, rooting for Rachel. I felt her inner turmoil; her guilt; her happiness; her growing into her own. She always felt inferior to Darcy (the best friend) and when she blossomed into her own I clapped and said good for you Rachel! You deserve it.
Darcy is a self-centered character in this book that always thinks about herself and no one else's happiness. She is selfish and I didn't really like her character, I actually almost grew to despise it, however, there were moments (albeit few) that I felt bad for her ... that was until close to the end when her true colors come out and you know that you were right for disliking her so much.
This book is about friendships and the tough times that a friendship you have had your whole life can go through and ultimately decimate it. But it also shows you a side of love that sometimes can't be avoided. A love that if it's true and strong must overcome all obstacles in the end. A love that is not perfect but if you do the right thing and are honest with yourself and others you hope that one day they will understand and see that love (to yourself and others) is just something that can be out of your control.
Kudos to Giffin for writing this book. I look forward now to reading Something Blue.
Book Review: Great Chick Lit
Summary: 4 Stars
I really liked this book even though it ended up being somewhat predictable. Right from the beginning I hated Darcy. I grew to not really like Dex all that much either. I still think that Rachel was wrong for sleeping with Dex but I also feel that Darcy had it coming. A lifetime of living the perfect life and only being a good friend to Rachel when it suited Darcy's tastes has to be rectified in some way.
I do think that most of the book was predictable, but I totally did not see wha...more I really liked this book even though it ended up being somewhat predictable. Right from the beginning I hated Darcy. I grew to not really like Dex all that much either. I still think that Rachel was wrong for sleeping with Dex but I also feel that Darcy had it coming. A lifetime of living the perfect life and only being a good friend to Rachel when it suited Darcy's tastes has to be rectified in some way.
I do think that most of the book was predictable, but I totally did not see what Darcy's confession was going to be until moments before it happened. Which made me HATE her even more.
I connected with Rachel right from the beginning and the whole time I'm hopping that she will just forget about Dex and move on with her own life and try to leave Darcy behind also.
I thought the story was believable and that Emily Giffin has a good hold on writing. I also liked that the story was written from just one point of view. I've read too many books lately that seem to tell the story from multiple viewpoints. I just don't think that would have worked for this story. A really good piece of Chick Lit!
I am going to read the next book in the series, simply because I did really enjoy this one, however being that it is written from Darcy's perspective I'm already not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did this one.
Book Review: Maybe something gained (3.5*s)
Summary: 3 Stars
Sleeping with a best friend's fiancée - that is the stuff of daytime sleaze TV, right? But the shock in this case is that Rachel, at age thirty, is Darcy's childhood and current best friend, and for whom loyalty is second nature. They are both accomplished people living in NYC with a wide circle of common friends, hardly inclined towards sordid behavior. Rachel, though smarter, has always played second fiddle to Darcy's lithe, good looks, her supreme confidence, and her sense of entitlement that permits her to diminish and use others, including Rachel.
Rachel had introduced Dexter, her hunky law school classmate, to Darcy many years before. Rachel, though attracted to Dexter, could never picture herself as worthy of Dexter. But a ride back to her apartment with Dexter after they both got smashed at her thirtieth birthday party turns her placid life upside down. Some obviously pent up emotions come rushing to the fore, almost unstoppable, but the harsh reality is that her best friend's long-planned, big wedding is only months away and she is the maid of honor.
The affair takes on all the usual characteristics: concealment, the stolen hours and days, self-doubts, deciding who to take into confidence, etc. Sympathies do lie with Rachel having endured any number of sleights at the hands of Darcy through the years. As the wedding approaches far more quickly than can be imagined, this entire matter will have to be resolved. Factors of propriety, commitment, and strength of character and personality all interact for a most interesting conclusion.
The book is mainstream chick lit. Both the story and characters are fairly predictable, with Rachel garnering most of the attention. Nonetheless, it is a quick and pleasant read, another in the author's insightful series of books on cracks in relationships.
Book Review: The real story is the friendship.
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked this book well enough to want to read the sequel. However, I do have a few comments.
First of all, I liked Rachel as a character. I could relate to her on a basic female level. I can't say that about every chick-lit novel I've read. Often, the heroines are wealthy, beautiful, and people I wouldn't like very much. But I liked Rachel, and I liked that she really struggled with her affair with Dex. She knew that it was morally questionable if not entirely wrong, and yet she was also determined to follow her own heart for once instead of bending to the whims of her best friend, Darcy, for once.
And speaking of Darcy, what a reprehensible, utterly unlikable chit. She reminds of the girls who were popular in high school and never really grew beyond that. Even worse, she keeps her friend Rachel around because it's convenient--not because she has anything in common with Rachel any longer. Darcy seems to take everything good from Rachel's life simply because she can. One quality I did admire in Darcy, though, was her attitude that she would always win because she expected to.
Dex...all I can really say about him is that he could have taken care of the situation a thousand times with Darcy, and he didn't. Instead, he left Rachel struggling and pining. In the end, he redeemed himself, but throughout much of the book, I didn't like him very much, either.
I was completely drawn into this book. It wasn't chick-lit in the traditional sense, which is why I think I was able to relate so much better to it. I found myself recollecting my own college memories as I followed Rachel's. As women, I think we can relate to these characters because we've all known someone like each one of them at some point in our lives. I will definitely be reading the sequel to Giffin's debut novel.
Book Review: A good book about loyalty with lots of angst over off-page sex
Summary: 4 Stars
A unique and compelling story from the POV of "the other woman." The author makes us sympathize with a maid of honor cheating with the groom in the months leading up to her best friend's wedding.
Plot Summary:
Maid of honor Rachel helps her best friend Darcy prepare for her wedding, all while carrying on an affair with the groom, Dex.
Pros:
Besides being a unique take, this is really well-handled. Hard to believe this is a first novel, it's so well written. The story is interesting, makes me turn the page, doesn't lag, and the characters are well-rounded. I must disagree with the reviewers who criticize the heroine Rachel for being weak. It's what makes the story work, and what allows the character to change and take a stand. One would think the other woman would have to be weak, if not in moral fiber, than at least passive enough to put up with such a situation for so long.
Cons:
Where's the sex?! The pivotal moment is when Rachel has sex with Dex on p. 11, which sets up the whole situation. Here's the sex scene: "And then, somehow I am having sex with my best friend's fiancé." That's it. A sentence. Now, I don't need five pages of erotica with the proverbial "finger count" to enjoy a sex scene, but come on, give us a little something-something so that we know what our hero and heroine are thinking and doing in this all important scene, which should never have been a scene of omission. After the sex sentence, we get chapters upon chapters of angst about the sex. To me this is as satisfying as seeing the Hershey bar wrappers on the floor, gaining the weight, but never having gotten to eat the chocolate. A serious oversight imho. This is the only thing that keeps me from giving this 5 stars. It's a really good book, highly recommended. 4.5 stars.