Review: Both very good and not very good
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 26, 2012
I must confess to having strong feelings about the very good and the not-so-good aspects of this story.On one hand, Girl Talk: Letters Between Friends grabbed hold of my emotions right away, so I really cared what happened to Meg, Victoria, Patrice, and Jackie. All four women, as well as the minor characters in the story, had clearly defined personalities and everyone seemed to be three-dimensional. Also, the imagery was vivid and realistic and the women were all likable. I could identify with bits and pieces of each one of them. I would have loved to be part of their group.On the other hand, the women -- especially Victoria and Jackie -- seemed to be archetypes of women in opposing roles rather than actual women who were struggling to make sense of their changing places in society. Another thing that I didn't like was that the passing years and the changing events were not only so random as to be confusing, but they didn't actually match up to one timeline. I finally just stopped trying to match the definitely given years (in the beginning of each chapter) with corresponding events in the women's lives. Many of the chapters ended too abruptly and sometimes left questions that were never answered.Overall, reading this story was a very positive experience and I would recommend it to a friend with some qualifications.