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Bookends [Paperback]

Jane Green
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (139 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Book Description

1 Jun 2000

Jane Green, author of the best-sellers Second Chance and Straight Talking, examines friendships and their limits in her highly entertaining novel Bookends.

On the shelf, but still best friends . . .

Cath is scatty, messy and guarded. While Si is impossibly tidy, bitchy and desperate for a man of his own. They are total opposites - but equally unlucky in love. And they've stuck together through thick and thin. Because that's what best friends do.

So when their beautiful friend Portia - the undisputed queen of their group of friends at university - steps back into their lives, after a ten year gap, her reappearance tests both Cath and Si's friendship to the limit.

What does Portia want? Will she be a force for good in their lives, or something darker? And will Cath and Si ever get lucky in love?

'Funny and poignant - you'll devour it in one sitting' Cosmopolitan

'Quick, witty, unputdownable and perfect beach reading' Daily Mirror

'Hugely enjoyable' Daily Express

Best selling author Jane Green has captured the imaginations of readers in the UK and the US with her frank and funny approach to those day-to-day issues that affect women everywhere. Other titles also published by Penguin include The Other Woman, Jemima J., Babyville, The Love Verb (published as Promises to Keep in the USA), Girl Friday (Dune Road), Life Swap (Swapping Lives), The Patchwork Marriage (Another Piece of My Heart), Spellbound (To Have and to Hold), The Beach House, and Mr. Maybe.


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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; Re-issue edition (1 Jun 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0140276521
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140276527
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.4 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (139 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 114,054 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Product Description

Amazon Review

After working on her career at a top London advertising agency for the best part of a decade, Cath yearns to leave and open her own bookshop. Lucy, married to Cath's old Uni buddy, Josh, longs to run a cafe. So when a suitable site comes up, the girls combine their dreams and Bookends is born. However, opening a trendy book café (as opposed to cybercafé) is a fairly minor sub-plot in Bookends. This is a novel about the lives, hopes and dreams of a group of thirtysomethings, living in West Hampstead, who (mostly) met at University and have moved on, for better or worse: Cath is disenchanted and has long-since stopped trying to (a) manage her Michael-Jackson-circa-1973 hair (b)wear anything other than black that she hasn't owned for more than five years, and (c) find a suitable beau. Luckily, Si--desperate to find the man of his dreams and an expert at applying haircare products and shopping at designer stores--makes a perfect best friend. Apart from improving her appearance, he's great for those awkward social occasions that, even in our postmodernist world, still require a male escort. Then, out of the blue, a former member of the old University gang turns up and, hey presto, things start to change. Beautiful, elegant, clever Portia appears to have it all; it takes a couple of hundred pages to discover what she's been looking for. The strange thing about Bookends is that Portia turns out to be merely a sub-plot.

Jane Green's latest novel is about the love and trust and enduring friendships of a bunch of young hopefuls whose lives take the usual twists and turns and ups and downs as they mature into thoughtful, rounded adults. Green is an author whose readers either love or hate her, If you love her, you'll want to read her fourth novel; if you don't, you might be surprised by Bookends. --Carey Green

About the Author

Jane Green is a former journalist who gave up her job on the Daily Express to write a real woman's account of being single in the city.That account became Jane's first novel, Straight Talking. A huge success, Straight Talking was followed by ten more bestselling novels: Jemima J, Mr Maybe, Bookends, Babyville, Spellbound, the Other Woman, Life Swap, Second Chance and The Beach House. Jane has four children and lives in Connecticut.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
The first time I met Josh, I thought he was a nice guy but a transient friend. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm a sucker for a romantic comedy, and after Bridget Jones's Diary, I became eager to read more books in that genre. When I picked up Bookends by Jane Green, I was looking for a light, fun read, but what I received was a novel that would not let me put it down. Bookends is hilarious, witty, and full of tension and drama, and characters that you will love...and some you might not like all that well.

In Bookends, the reader is introduced - by way of narrator, Catherine "Cath" Warner - to a group of friends who meet in school and though individually different as night and day, they become a tight clique of trusted friends. That is, until the ever-beautiful Portia - the friend thought to be the sun in the clique's universe - destroys friendships that were meant to last forever.

Fast forward ten years where we find Cath and lifelong friends, Josh and Lisa, and her best friend, Si, living and loving in their early-thirties, in London. Si, the sweet, adorable, and gay love of Cath's life spends most of his time in friendly counsel with Cath regarding the lack of men in their lives, and discussing how each deals with that situation in their own way, whether it's Cath's refusal to believe she wants a man in her life, or Si's ability to lower his standards, for fear of living alone.

Just as everyone's life seems to be on track, a blast from the past in the form of an older and more self-indulgent Portia, pops back into the group's tight circle and in an instant, lives are shook up, adulterous innuendoes are cooked up and friendships are tested.

I have to say, this book is a wonderful read. I fell in love with the main character, Cath, and her feelings on friendship and love. Green does a great job in creating characters that you want to care about, characters that you can feel and even relate to. I think readers will be thoroughly and happily surprised that there is more to this book than pure entertainment. I finished this book with tears in my eyes because I felt a connection with Green's characters and I felt moved by the way Green deals with some heavy subjects in this novel.

I would definitely recommend Bookends - love the title - to those who want a fast read with a lot of bite and wit.

Shon Bacon of SisterDivas.org
http://www.sisterdivas.org

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Bookends 25 Aug 2005
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
WOW!! A fantastic gripping read. You can really get into this story and imagine its you and your friends. Once you start on this book you will find it almost impossible to put down. I read it in 3 days and did not want the story to end. Full of surprises and clever twists. I would recommend this book to everyone.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing to write home about 17 Aug 2001
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
If "contemporary - middle class anxiety - trendy Londoners - Chick Lit" is not your cup of tea, then leave well alone. But even if it is, there are better reads than this. The characters are from stock, the plot is predictable. Will ugly duckling Cath end up with the wonderfully self effacing estate agent by day - artist by night(complete with amazing studio in West Hampstead) James? Oh, please! This genre is surprisingly difficult to do well. What this novel lacks is the subversive humour and the cringe -of - recognition moments of, say, Amy Jenkins or Mark Barrowcliffe. Having said that, if you're stumped for holiday fodder, then this is an easygoing, undemanding read. Otherwise, don't bother.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
I love all of Jane Greens books but this one is just brilliant, she weaves romance, female empowerment, old fashioned romance and the tragedy of hiv with humour and sensitivity.
Published 1 day ago by Jane Canlin
3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not Green's best.
I'm a big Jane Green fan, and Bookends is an enoyable enough book. However it is not anywhere near as funny as say, Jemima J, or even Straight Talking. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Zara
5.0 out of 5 stars i loved it
It's the story of a couple of young adults who met at the univ who were closed to each other. There are Cath , Portia , Josh, SI (the gay man of the group )and few others . Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. Valerie
2.0 out of 5 stars Bookends by Jane Green
I bought this from a charity shop many years ago, and decided to read it only recently. The book is extremely easy to read - laid back and funny with characters that are memorable. Read more
Published 16 months ago by TeaLover
5.0 out of 5 stars Really enjoyable bitter sweet read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I picked up this book whilst on holiday as I had run out of things to read so was desperate. I would not usually pick up a book like this. Read more
Published 20 months ago by A. Douglas
5.0 out of 5 stars I really liked it!
I have only just discovered Jane Green after a friend lending me a couple of books of hers. I really enjoyed this book. Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2008 by N. Petsa
3.0 out of 5 stars Good poolside/airport
If all you want is a simple 'comfort read' or something to read beside the pool on holiday, this should more than meet your needs. Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2008 by S. McBride
2.0 out of 5 stars what happened
I have to say this is probably the worst jane green book I have read so far - I totally agree with the author reviewers about the book lacking depth - although I found it lacked... Read more
Published on 4 Jun 2008 by Ms. S. King
1.0 out of 5 stars Lacks depth
I have read a few Jane Green books before and must say I was disappointed witht this one, I did not see the point in the Portia character and all the others lacked the depth to... Read more
Published on 13 April 2008 by Samantha Lafford
3.0 out of 5 stars Good quick read but the same as lots of others
This was an enjoyable book to read and was not as predictable as many others of its type. That said the "single woman with diverse friends from college" story has been done too... Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2008 by Janie U
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