The Best of Friends features
the families of Gina Bedford and Laurence Wood, who have been
close since high school but married other people. Their
friendship has drawn in their spouses and children. Gina and husband
Fergus have a 16-year-old daughter, and Laurence and wife Hilary have
three teenage sons. When Fergus decides he can no longer abide
Gina and leaves, Laurence tries to be supportive of his old friend and crosses the line into an
affair. Thus, two families are thrown into disarray and pain.
With abandonment, divorce, the betrayal of friendship,
infidelity, and teenage confusion among the issues,
how is it that Joanna Trollope has a reputation as a bit lightweight? (Not unlike her ancestor Anthony, she's read for enjoyment but not so much
for serious insight about life's big issues.) Description is not the same as penetration. After finishing The Best of Friends, the reader is still not clear what really
motivated the characters. Laurence, on whose decision (Will he go or will he
stay?) the conclusion hangs, is especially impenetrable.
That's not to say you should swear off Trollope, unless you won't spend
time with any but the most serious literature. She tells a good story, and she writes so smoothly, she's a breeze to
read.
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