I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women's Lives (G K Hall Large Print Nonfiction Series) - Hardcover

Goodman, Ellen; O'Brien, Patricia

3.71

115 ratings by Goodreads

9780783891385: I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women's Lives (G K Hall Large Print Nonfiction Series)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0783891385 ISBN 13: 9780783891385

Publisher: G K Hall & Co, 2000

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Considers the unique elements that make up a friendship between women, incorporating interviews with close friends from all walks of life who became friends in childhood, old age, and after long periods of separation.

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Review:

Sometimes timing is the difference between a friendship that lasts a lifetime and one that fades, but as everyone who has let a friendship lapse knows, it's also a matter of effort. A friendship is a lot like romance--in the beginning all chemistry and luck, but then come commitment and dependability and other words that don't scream "fun." And as any old friends know, it keeps getting better if you hold on through the bends and curves. After more than 25 years of friendship, Ellen Goodman and Patricia O'Brien share their own story, the stories of other women, and plenty of insight from psychologists and students of human nature in I Know Just What You Mean. The two recount their first acquaintance from separate perspectives and make it clear that neither felt a transcendent bond about to form. (No eyes meeting across a crowded room, no knowing nods exchanged: "Yes, I am a divorced mother and journalist, too. Let's talk.") And here they ask, "What is it, really, that friends do for each other?" Give advice? Listen and nod? Bring a covered dish? Sure, friends do these things, but above all, they know you in a way most people don't. Many readers will recognize Goodman's name from her syndicated column, O'Brien's from her novels and nonfiction. Aside from its merits as a piece of writing (Goodman and O'Brien live up to their mutually high standards), I Know Just What You Mean makes you think about your friends and friendships, past and present. And perhaps the best testament to what these two old friends have created is how much you want to pick up the phone and tell a friend about it. --Gwen Bloomsburg

About the Author:

Patricia O'Brien is the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Glory Cloak and co-author of I Know Just What You Mean, a New York Times bestseller. She lives in Washington, D.C.

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