Wednesday, May 22, 2013

MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche

This is my first book review, so I'll give you a quick run down of how I'm going to do book reviews.

First off, I won't be reviewing books that we all know everyone loves and have been reviewed to death. Harry Potter, for example, I will not review. Actually here's a mini-review (I'm a rebel): everyone loves Harry Potter, and if you don't...well...I just can't deal with that, okay? Everyone loves Harry Potter, I have to believe that or the world is no longer a good place.

So the first book I'm going to OFFICIALLY review is MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche. In the review I'll include what I liked about the book, what I didn't like, links for book club info, and anything else that I think would be fun or helpful.

What I liked:
There is so much in this book that I liked. It was a very easy read and had some really relatable stories in it. Rachel basically documents her journey of finding a best friend in Chicago, where she has recently moved. She was a New Yorker her whole life and all of her friends are there. After a few months of not making a whole lot of headway making friends (would go out to lunch with coworkers and do couples nights with her husband's friends but didn't have a great female companion), she decided to do something about it, and write about it along the way.

Along with some hilarious stories of girl-dates gone bad, she also has a lot of research sprinkled throughout the book about friendship and health benefits it brings. Also, she was vulnerable. Who wants to write about how they can't make friends? Not me, but she put herself out there and it was refreshing to see that we're not alone.

Props to Rachel for writing this and make us all feel like less of losers :)

What I didn't like:
Yeah, I get that it's emotionally beneficial to have a best friend and that surrounding yourself with even a few decent friends can provide an incredible support structure...but not everyone needs 5 best friends. Honestly, even having two can be hard to keep up with. AND she says that family and significant others don't count. I actually consider my sister and my boyfriend to be my two best friends, so I guess I have to demote them.

 After a day at work, coming home and doing dinner, talking to my boyfriend, and writing -- I have no more time left to cultivate a relationship. Just do it on the weekend? That shit's hard too. The weekend is my time to relax and get stuff done around the house. After talking to my mom, dad, and sister, I really have time for one more person (if I'm lucky). I know that she forced herself to make time for it, but do I really want the other things in my life to suffer? Not really.

I give it a 7. I really like the fact that she wrote in relatable humor, but I question the feasibility of some of the things she did/suggested to make friends.

Actually, I would like to bump this up to an 8, because she'll actually call in or Skype in for your book club meeting if you coordinate with her, how many authors would do that?

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