Review: City of Friends

Joanna Trollope is one of those authors who I've heard of for what seems like forever. But...I've only ever read one of her novels (the updated Sense & Sensibility for The Austen Project...my review is here if you're interested). When her latest, City of Friends, showed up in my mailbox I was immediately intrigued and fell head over heels in love with that cover. I was in the mood for a contemporary tale so it moved itself right to the top of my TBR list. And was it worth it? Yes! It was a delightful story that kept me interested and I knew right away that I'd be passing it on to my mom to read too.

Here's the synopsis:

The day Stacey Grant loses her job feels like the last day of her life. Or at least, the only life she'd ever known. For who was she if not a City high-flyer, Senior Partner at one of the top private equity firms in London?
As Stacey starts to reconcile her old life with the new—one without professional achievements or meetings, but instead, long days at home with her dog and ailing mother, waiting for her successful husband to come home—she at least has The Girls to fall back on. Beth, Melissa and Gaby. The girls, now women, had been best friends from the early days of university right through their working lives, and through all the happiness and heartbreaks in between.
But these career women all have personal problems of their own, and when Stacey's redundancy forces a betrayal to emerge that was supposed to remain secret, their long cherished friendships will be pushed to their limits...

City of Friends takes the typical format when multiple characters are the focus of the story. Each chapter of this novel follows a different friend - Stacey, Melissa, Gaby, and Beth - as they each deal with the fallout of Stacey losing her job. I sometimes have problems with books like this but it didn't bother me as much as it normally does. It took awhile to get into and really get a sense of each woman but it flowed better than other novels like this I've read in the past.

That being said, I think I wanted more from each woman. The story takes place over the course of a year or so (I think? That was another issue...I wasn't totally sure how much time had passed.) and each woman had a lot going on that had to be fit into one chapter. There were gaps but I think that's just kind of how life goes. You're going to have days that are of great importance to your life, and those are the ones we got with this novel, but there are also the other days when you're just putting one foot in front of the other and everything is ticking along as usual.

Speaking of being like real life, I thought the friendship between the four women was realistic. They may be in their forties and I'm just in my twenties (hoo boy...can only say that for another month or so!) but female friendships are similar at all ages. I did love the following quote because I knew exactly what kind of "crossed wires" Trollope was referencing. It makes me look forward to even more solid friendships in the future:

"Even when they couldn't meet, they rang each other, or texted, or tweeted. The inevitable crossed wires of their twenties and thirties had mellowed into a much less judgemental support system in their forties." (page 12)

They have such a great friendship that they know they are always there for each other even if they don't see each other for a few weeks at a time.

I loved how successful all four women were (yes, Stacey lost her job but she definitely didn't deserve it). They were proud of their successes because they worked hard to get where they were. This hit pretty hard as I was reading this book back on International Women's Day.

Current read is great for #InternationalWomensDay - 4 women who have worked HARD&moved up in male dominated business world. #IWD #amreading pic.twitter.com/cYXKcXWx0h

— Kaley Stewart (@KaleyS23) March 9, 2017

The fact that they've had to fight to get where they are, and had to fight much harder than their male counterparts, is referenced throughout the novel. Also, all four women are so supportive of other women in their workplaces and, in Gaby's case especially as she manages so many people, will do whatever they can to make sure other women are able to succeed. As much as I loved this whole female success storyline...I think it shows a lot that I even needed and wanted to reference it. We've come so far but there's still more work to be done!

Final note...I already mentioned how much I love this cover. I'm not sure what it is but all of the elements together work for me. This cover is, from what I can tell from my (admittedly not very thorough) Internet sleuthing, for the paperback. There is another cover for the hardcover that I also really love. It has a very different feel but it also fits the story so well. Each woman has a house and lifestyle that suits them, or so they think, and so this cover is lovely. (This is actually making me realize that Trollope spent a lot of time discussing their houses and living arrangements. Interesting that I hadn't noticed it until now.)

City of Friends is a book for you if you love (or are in need of) contemporary novels. Joanna Trollope has written a story of four smart, realistic women that you will thoroughly enjoy reading about. You'll drop into their lives and, at the end, emerge with the desire to text, write to, call, or visit some of your own best friends.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the distributor, Publishers Group Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Sense & Sensibility

When I first heard about The Austen Project I was incredibly excited. As they explain it on their site, "The Austen Project is a major new series of six novels teaming up authors of global literary significance with Jane Austen's six complete works." Sounds awesome! I can't get enough of Jane Austen. Then I got to thinking...what if these retellings are awful? Sure, some great names have been attached to the updates (so far we know that Val McDermid will tackle Northanger Abbey, Alexander McCall Smith will update Emma, and Curtis Sittenfeld has the impressive task of taking on Pride and Prejudice) but that doesn't mean anything. They could butcher our beloved novels! After a bit of a panic, I decided to keep an open mind. I was glad I did because I think that helped me really enjoy Joanna Trollope's retelling of one of the classics, Sense & Sensibility.

Here's the synopsis:

John Dashwood promised his dying father that he would take care of his half sisters. But his wife, Fanny, has no desire to share their newly inherited estate with Belle Dashwood's daughters. When she descends upon Norland Park with her Romanian nanny and her mood boards, the three Dashwood girls-Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret-are suddenly faced with the cruelties of life without their father, their home, or their money.
As they come to terms with life without the status of their country house, the protection of the family name, or the comfort of an inheritance, Elinor and Marianne are confronted by the cold hard reality of a world where people's attitudes can change as drastically as their circumstances.
With her sparkling wit, Joanna Trollope casts a clever, satirical eye on the tales of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Reimagining Sense and Sensibility in a fresh, modern new light, she spins the novel's romance, bonnets, and betrothals into a wonderfully witty coming-of-age story about the stuff that really makes the world go around. For when it comes to money, some things never change. . . 

I know it might sound weird but I actually wish things had been more different in this book. Of course, I have no idea how that could have been accomplished. For those of you who don't know the story, the basic plot line is that the lady Dashwoods have been turned out of their home after their husband/father passed away because, in the olden days, everything went to the male heir. In this book, which takes place in the present, the same thing happens. There are vague explanations and mentions of how ridiculous it is for property to be passed down through the males in this day and age but it was like I was just supposed to accept that this was the norm. I did, I suppose, but I think I wanted more creativity (think The Lizzie Bennet Diaries) than just the story we know with a few mentions of iPads and Twitter thrown in. 

That being said, I'm glad the core story was still completely recognizable. The characters made sense and I enjoyed the slight changes that were made - Elinor wanted to be an architect, Marianne is a gifted guitar player, and Robert Ferrars is a very flamboyant event planner. I also have to say that I liked the more rounded characters of Mrs. Dashwood, Belle, and younger sister, Margaret (or Mags). The heart of the novel was still there and that's, in part, what makes us love Austen's novels so much. Trollope did a good job of making sure we were feeling what we expected to feel.

I did find that I couldn't shake the actors' images from the 1995 Ang Lee directed adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. It was especially hard to imagine the secondary characters as anyone else, particular Mr. Palmer who was played by Hugh Laurie in the film. I couldn't recall the actor who played Willoughby, though, and I was somehow able to put Alan Rickman out of mind when "Bill" Brandon was in the story. It's interesting to note how much actors and adaptations get into our heads when we go back to reread books (or read the next books, like in the case of Harry Potter). Do you ever find that? Do you think you could read this and not picture Emma Thompson or Kate Winslet as Elinor and Marianne?

Like most Jane Austen fans, I had my reservations about Sense & Sensibility. Could Joanne Trollope really do justice to such a popular classic? While I had my issues with the novel I really think that it was an enjoyable retelling of Sense and Sensibility. I think hardcore Austen fans might be more frustrated with it but if you go into reading this novel with an open mind, I think most will like it as much as I did.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins Canada, in exchange for an honest review.*