Review: The Best of Friends

The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have mentioned this before, but with age has come an increased sensitivity to all things “heart-wrenching”. I even now cry during Hallmark commercials, and Lifetime movies are simply out of the question. Why, then, knowing the premise of this book did I pick it up? As an overly-sensitive, menopausal mother of three, I am cursing myself; as a book-lover with an appreciation for the art of writing, I’m so glad I did.

The story is of three teenage boys, longtime friends and sons of three women who had grown up together and were thrilled that their kids were following in their footsteps. There’s Sawyer, the epitome of the “dumb jock”; Jacob, the even-keeled smart kid; and Caleb, the dark horse with a temper that mirrors that of his abusive father. When a night together results in one of the boys dead, another in a vegetative state and the third nearly catatonic, one mother will stop at nothing to find out the truth about what happened. As the story unravels, the emotional rollercoaster roars through hairpin turns and stomach-churning drops, leaving plenty of tears in its wake.

Had I know how deeply this book would affect me, I honestly may have thought twice about picking it up and giving it a go. As a mother, this will live with me for quite some time; likewise as a reader, as it’s well-constructed, with diverse characters who all have their own crosses to bear—a novel that hit with a one-two punch in the final chapters that, while not completely unexpected, left me feeling spent. Any book that can be the catalyst for that type of reaction on both fronts is deserving of the stars.

If you have the chops for this kind of turmoil and angst, I would highly recommend diving in. If, however, you are like me and prefer something without the triggers of domestic abuse and child mortality that result in a tsunami of tears, I would think twice.

View all my reviews