Review: How far would you go for your best friend? A must-read. Five stars.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 16, 2014
What a fabulous book of friendship, of love, of honor, and sometimes, of dishonor, in relationships with other women. But what else can you expect from the inspired pen of the talented and always original Tara Taylor Quinn?Have you ever seen the movie, Beaches? This book is better than that movie about two women friends. Things you have always loved, and not loved, about having a best friend for life, will open your eyes to truth and connection as you read this book...Tara Taylor Quinn understands friendships and how to write about them. How to have a best friend? You have to BE a best friend. And the two women in this book? They get it. They really, really get it. They aren't perfect, by any means, but they felt real to me.I laughed, I truly cried, and I cheered. This book felt...honest...in a way that many books do not. It never felt contrived or forced. It felt like a life opened at the very seams, tears and all.The Friendship Pact is a must-read for any woman who believes that inside of another woman lies her other half, a soul mate friend who will not let her forget that she is never alone.This character-driven novel was so powerful and moving that tingles ran up and down my spine. It was that relatable. That heartbreaking. And, at times, that healing.This book is a loving and realistic testament to women who know how to be a friend, how to hold onto one, and how to nurture her and be there for all of the moments in life when no one else will do. Not a husband, not a mother, not a sister. Those people have to love you. But someone who loves you with the purest heart, not because she has to, but because she wants to, is your BFF. But still, as humans, dang it, we are fallible.The Friendship Pact transcends "women's fiction" and should move into the greats as a classic-to-be that will likely even be talked about by our daughters and granddaughters. I predict it will be studied in women's studies courses in colleges and universities, kind of like Eudora Welty. And book clubs will embrace it. And, too, it will change the lives of women who read it, connect with it, and hopefully, grow from it.In my reading life, I have always considered that there are some books I will never forget in the underlauded women's fiction genre. There are many on my personal list, but for example: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. That memorable. And now, there is another book to add to my personal lifetime honor roll of books that I will read again and again to celebrate women of intelligence, compassion and a myriad of complex emotions: The Friendship Pact by Tara Taylor Quinn.Let the love and redemptive story wash over you like possibly no other book ever has. This is the author's heart, laid bare, for the seeds of this story actually sprang from her real life, according to the foreword. The book is intelligent and emotional and will tear your heart in two and then, sew it back together.The Friendship Pact is moving, joyful, heartbreaking, heart healing, redemptive and unforgettable. Above all, it is empathetic. I identified with the characters over and over. The author somehow knew what was in my heart and her book spoke to that hidden place where I keep my friendships with a few special women. If I could give The Friendship Pact ten stars, I would. Love, love, love this book!How far would YOU go for YOUR best friend? I thought so. -- Eve Paludan