HERLIFE Magazine

herlife | book clubBest Friends Foreverby Jennifer Weinerreview by linda r. priceNew York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner exploresthe issues of Best Friends Forever through the lives of AddieDowns and Valeria Adler. What would you do if your bestfriend from elementary and high school showed up after 15 years andstated she may have killed the high school jock that caused the twogirls to become estranged? Would you welcome her in or tell her to getlost?The story is set in the small town of Pleasant Ridge, a Chicagosuburb, where nothing ever happens. Addie is nine years old when shebegins to realize that her family was a little different from other families.When Valeria Adler moves in across the street from Addie, the twobecome fast friends until high school when things begin to change.Addie’s mother worked full-time at home writing rhyming coupletsfor a greeting card company, and she was big. She had difficultygetting out of the car, and had to stand up at parent-teacher conferencesbecause she couldn’t fit into the children’s desks. Yet, Addieloves her mother. To Addie, her mother’s hair was beautiful, her skinwas alabaster and she had a lovely voice.Addie’s father was different, too. He had met Addie’s mother in asummer camp when they were seventeen, but they did not see eachother again for years. They both went off to college and her father wentto war in Vietnam for four months. At a camp reunion, when they were25, they met again and later got married. After coming home from thewar, Addie’s father was unable to work full-time. He worked as a handymanand jack-of-all-trades. He couldn’t stand loud noises, being insideor the pressures of a regular job. Yet, he loved to make toy soldiers forAddie’s brother Jon and dolls and puppets for Addie. At nine years old,“Weiner asks what keeps bestfriends loyal to each other evenafter betrayal. Why wouldAddie even open the door toValeria whom she hasn’t spokento since she was seventeensome fifteen years ago? Becausethey were best friends.”you don’t worry too much about your parents being different.At 13, Addie confronts her brother Jon about his attitude towardstheir parents. She can’t understand why he doesn’t want his mother toattend his after-school track meetings or his father to come to parentteacherconferences during the day. Jon brutally lets Addie know hisreasons. That night, when everyone is asleep, Addie sneaks downstairsto raid the kitchen. She begins to secretly scarf food.Addie’s world continues to crumble when she gets to high school.Skinny Val and lard-butt Addie. Valeria decides to join the popularcrowd. Slowly, Addie becomes more and more isolated after Jon’s accident.Addie has always been teased by her classmates, but she becomesthe target of her classmates’ hatred after “The Incident,” and Jon isn’table to take up for her. Does Val care or does she simply desert Addie?What happens to cause them to become estranged?Weiner asks what keeps best friends loyal to each other evenafter betrayal. Why would Addie even open the door to Valeria whom52 HERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM