Excellent anthology. I'm so inspired by the candidness of the writers to not only talk about their former friendships but also to be so upfront about their own transgressions. It is sad and moving and unfair and sweet and made me want to write my own story of the friendships in my life that have gone awry--if not to disclose and reveal and describe, then to discover what it is that actually happened. Highly recommend this.

I loved the way these stories were put together. They spurred me on to examine my own friendships in life, and those friends "who got away" , who parted due to moving geographically, taking different paths, impact of sickness, and moving on. The read was painful at times. It made me value my friendships and it validated the importance of making an effort in loving, supporting, challenging, enjoying and spending time with my friends.

The Friend Who Got Away is a collection of essays on friendships lost. More than I’d like to admit I’m haunted by friendships that were once very important to me but now no longer exist. So I was obviously the target audience for this book. While I enjoyed some essays very much I didn’t enjoy the book as a whole. I think I have to blame at least part of my dislike on my sensitivity to the subject matter. My longing for friendships past made me judgmental to the authors in the book who acknowledg...

Like any collection of written work, there are some real gems mixed among the common stones. After all, it includes a number of shining star writers! The premise of the collection caught my attention, and held it, recalling the dear friends I have held for decades and those that have slipped away. The format is ideal for getting read before falling asleep, between court hearings, or other short snippets.

Year beginnings always seem to create a time of drawing lines, conclusions and learning the best which can be learned from the year which ended. I too was trying to make sense of a bad experience. This brings me to this book, which I found pretty unique: it neither bemoans losses of friendship in sentimental terms nor is it strictly academical (although I gulp down gender studies exploring social ties and so on, so it wouldn't have been a bore for me).I liked the fact that there is even a double...

when i first came across my book, i thought who would want to read a book like that? why would someone want to read a book about broken friendships that never get resolved? how inspiring could that be? but the more i kept reading the book jacket and the intro, the more i found myself interested. i've been in similar situations before. i was curious to hear another's experience. i found this topic to be different-- something that was very common, yet rarely ever written. it's compiled of short st...

There isn't a lot of discussion of friend break ups so I really appreciated this collection. The stories uncovered the many reasons friends can drift from words left unspoken, to miscarriages, motherhood, illness and even death. The book really starts to hit its groove for me in the story "Other Women" and I think "The Kindness of Strangers" was a perfect story to end on because it brought into focus the things friendship cannot offer - the anonymity of being broken in front of someone who doesn...

A good collection of non-fiction essays. It felt a little East Coast, private college, Brooklyn writer heavy at times, but what can ya do. It made the essay set in Jordan really stand out. The pieces that most stood out to me were "End Days" by Jenny Offill (religious childhood friend), "Toads and Snakes" by Elizabeth Strout (very powerful tale of a long term friendship fading), and "Want" (about a copycat friend). The essays two estranged friends wrote about each other are also a cool concept.

It's not often that I have dreams about a book I read. Or, at least, not ones that I remember. I had a very strange dream last night about a former friend that I can only explain by the reading of this book. Twenty women, writing an essay about the loss of an influential friendship and the aftereffects. Were they all masterfully written? Probably not. Did I see something relatable in every tale of loss? No. But there was something so human, so vulnerable about the authors opening up about their

I need to read this. See The Online Self, my 'review' This is what I wrote (but it's people's comments on the 'review' that are more interesting).Has this ever happened to you? My best friend doesn't think I'm a real person. I had a friend from 2012 on GR. In 2013 we formed a secret group and would chat several times a day, and email. Then in Nov 2018 her husband sold his business that she was GM of so she didn't need to be online so much and that was that. Communication more or less ceased.I em...

I knew that Jen was reading this book, and I decided to get a copy for myself. I love the idea behind this book and nearly all the essays in it. I'm a little confused about why the editors put the weakest and most polarizing essay first, though. Based on "Torch Song," I understand why so many people hate Katie Roiphe. Her essay is about stealing a friend's boyfriend, but it's the way she tells it that made my lip curl. Here's someone who compliments her ex-friend and then immediately implies tha...

I had recently gone through the major loss of a friendship - a friend of 22 years had "broken up" with me. I spotted this title at a library sale and thought that reading through these women's stories of broken friendships might help console me.I think what I really wanted was to see an example like mine on the page and well, that's impossible. I'd have to write it myself wouldn't I? ;o)Some of these were very well written and made you feel for the women involved while others just smacked of pet...

When I moved back to Minnesota after a 3 month move to California, certain friendships that I had considered strong and valuable just weren't there any more.I had to assess what went wrong - or what worked - and for a while I felt myself mourning the loss of that friendship. It's a year later and I have several different groups of friends that nourish me in different ways. Once in a while, I will be reminded of this person, and get a pang of sadness.So a book titled "The Friend Who Got Away: Twe...

I also didn't really like this book.I felt a lot of the women couldn't see what went wrong when I felt like it was obvious, or that the friendships ended over too trivial of a reason. Sure there were a couple that I truly felt for or could see myself in their shoes but for the most part it did nothing for me. The best one is a sense was the one that was told from both sides. There at least we got to see how each person interpreted the situation. I don't know if I agree that we assume friendships...

broke my heart in a million little ways & refracted the light in a million little ways. friendship is fucking HARD and between people socialized as girls, it can be endlessly complex & complicated & knotty & passionate; queerplatonicism anyone. it's just as intense and devastating to lose a friend as it is to lose a romantic partner, for real—maybe even more indelible, for what we feel it reveals about our ugliest selves. anyways some of the essays in here made me cry several times because I rec...

This was hard to read in the sense that a lot of the stories rang really close to me and talked about aspects of friendship I haven’t really seen represented in books or film before.

I managed to get about half way through this book but it just didn't hold my attention. Therefore, I stopped reading it. I saw this book in the library, thought it sounded interesting; a collection of essays by women about the friend who got away - we all have one don't we? I'm not sure what I was expecting but the books was a bit of a downer. After a while, all the stories seemed to mush together, sometimes I felt like they were over edited. The slightly more interesting part was in the middle

of course i had to read this because i am kind of the elder stateswoman of friendships that don't last. in fact, in the three days it took me to read the book, one acquaintanceship (probably considered a friendship by the other person) crashed & burned, & another has been strained possibly to the breaking point. so, you know, i could kind of relate to a lot of what is in this book. many of the authors engaged in some very self-flagellating brutal honesty, & i think that's a good thing, because s...

My dislike of this book is mainly based off what I thought the book was about. Perhaps if I didn't have a wrong impression about the content, I would have liked it more.I thought the book was about different authors reflecting back on friends that they lost and why those friends were lost. In the last year, I have lost several friends. While I mourn the loss of one of those friends, the others had served purposes in my life and were no longer needed (I know that sounds callous, but is true). For...

More like a 4.5 - most of the essays were really good. Loved this paragraph from Patricia Marx:If you and I ever become friends, we will remain friends forever. This is not because you are such a terrific person, though I'm sure that you are. (I've heard great things about you!) No. The credit-I hope you won't mind-must be assigned to me. I am the most easygoing, accommodating, nonjudgmental, and unassuming friend in the world, and if we ever meet, you better agree or else.This made me laugh out...