Best of Friends - Kamila Shamsie

Description

'A profound novel about friendship. I loved it to pieces' MADELINE MILLER
'A shining tour de force' ALI SMITH

CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF 2022 BY THE GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, DAILY MAIL AND FINANCIAL TIMES

A dazzling new novel of friendship, identity and the unknowability of other people - from the international bestselling author of Home Fire, winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction

Fourteen-year-old Maryam and Zahra have always been the best of friends, despite their different backgrounds. Maryam takes for granted that she will stay in Karachi and inherit the family business; while Zahra keeps her desires secret, and dreams of escaping abroad.

This year, 1988, anything seems possible for the girls; and for Pakistan, emerging from the darkness of dictatorship into a bright future under another young woman, Benazir Bhutto. But a snap decision at a party celebrating the return of democracy brings the girls' childhoods abruptly to an end. Its consequences will shape their futures in ways they cannot imagine.

Three decades later, in London, Zahra and Maryam are still best friends despite living very different lives. But when unwelcome ghosts from their shared past re-enter their world, both women find themselves driven to act in ways that will stretch and twist their bond beyond all recognition.

Best of Friends is a novel about Britain today, about power and how we use it, and about what we owe to those who've loved us the longest.

Review

The book is set in the late 1980s in Karachi and then 30 years later in London. There is no flip flopping, it's a linear timeline. 

We first meet Maryam and Zahra as 14 year old best friends. I learnt quite a few things I didn't know about life in Karachi in the 80s but I wasn't really drawn into the characters of the two girls. 

I felt like giving up reading this book, but decided to wait and see if the book was different once the girls were older. I'm pleased to say that for me it did improve but I still didn't love it. The writing was good and certainly highlighted political and social media issues. It covered the friendship that lasted 30 years. However, for me it moved far too slowly. I felt I wasn't progressing in understanding the lives of the two girls as I turned each page.

The book has had many rave reviews, but for me it didn't hit the spot.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

A Visible Man - Edward Enninful

 

Description

Edward Enninful has lived an extraordinary life.

Here, for the first time, he shares the remarkable, inspiring story of his journey from a childhood bedroom in Ghana overlooking firing squads, to 1990s London - becoming the youngest-ever fashion director of i-D magazine at just eighteen years old. Now the first Black editor-in-chief of British Vogue, he has created game-changing images of everyone from Beyoncé to Meghan Markle, Kate Moss to Oprah Winfrey, Adele to Rihanna, and many more stars he now counts as friends.

A Visible Man is the story of a husband, son, brother, friend - and icon. Taking us from the neon thrills of Soho clubs to nights spent on friends' sofas, this is the story of Edward's phenomenal grit and determination: of failures, loss, coming out, joy, hedonism, fame, love, heartbreak, sacrifice, ill health and era-defining achievements. It's the story of one man's revolutionary mission to change how we see the world, showing how unwavering passion and perseverance can allow anyone to make their mark - just like he did.

Review

I haven't read Vogue for years, but I was intrigued to gain a behind the scenes insight into the workings of the magazine, and how Edward got to be Editor.

Certainly an inspirational life. Coming from Ghana, and at only the age of 18 becoming the fashion director of ID magazine. This isn't a name dropping book although we learn he was friends with Kate Moss before she was famous and also Naomi Campbell is a friend. 

What I missed was an actual look at what an editor really does, more a day in the life of type of thing. However, it is certainly a thought provoking book with a long hard look at how Edward has lived his life in spite of setbacks and gained tremendous success. It is a warts and all look at his life, which is very brave and surprised me in parts.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

Pineapple Street - Jenny Jackson

 

Description

This unputdownable debut follows three women in an old Brooklyn Heights clan: one who was born with money, one who married into it, and one who wants to give it all away.

Darley, the eldest daughter in the well-connected, carefully guarded Stockton family, has never had to worry about money. She followed her heart, trading her job and her inheritance for motherhood, sacrificing more of herself than she ever intended. Sasha, Darley's new sister-in-law, has come from more humble origins, and her hesitancy about signing a pre-nup has everyone worried about her intentions. And Georgiana, the baby of the family, has fallen in love with someone she can't (and really shouldn't) have, and must confront the kind of person she wants to be.

Rife with the indulgent pleasures of life among New York's one-percenters, Pineapple Street is a smart, escapist novel that sparkles with wit. Full of recognisable, loveable - if fallible - characters, it's about the peculiar unknowability of someone else's family, the miles between the haves and have-nots, and the insanity of first love - all wrapped in a story that is a sheer delight.

Review

An interesting read.

This is a story about people with untold wealth and old New York money, so that was not something that I could relate to immediately. The story flips between the three women of the Stockton family. Two born into it and Sasha who has married into the family and money. 

Some of the story goes into the past lives of the three women and provides a backdrop to see how they got where they are now. The style of writing is very clipped, very NY and moves along at speed. I could relate to Sasha the most with her realisation that when the chips are down, family sticks together against you whether you are in the right or not.

A few twists along the way and not the ending I was expecting meant I kept reading this book to the last page. I got so caught up in the lives of these people that I forgot I had finished it, and was wondering today what was going to happen next.

The book lost one star for me as some of the USA references didn't translate for me. So I am giving this book 4 out of stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review. The book is out 13 April 2023.