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Bookends (Paperback)

by Jane Green (Author) "The first time I met Josh, I thought he was a nice guy but a transient friend ..." (more)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (130 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Frequently Bought Together

Bookends + Straight Talking + Mr. Maybe
Price For All Three: £15.38

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  • This item: Bookends by Jane Green

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  • Straight Talking by Jane Green

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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; 1ST PUBLISHED edition (29 Jan 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140276521
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140276527
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (130 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 18,092 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #8 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > G > Green, Jane

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk 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



Product Description

Cath and Si are best friends. Total opposites, always together, and both unlucky in love. Cath is scatty, messy, and emotionally closed. Si is impossibly tidy, bitchy, and desperate for a man of his own. When Portia steps back into their lives, her reappearance sets off a chain of events that tests them to the limit. Does Portia have a hidden agenda, or is she just looking for happy endings all round? Whatever the answers, none of them could ever predict the outcome ...
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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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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Bookends
69% buy the item featured on this page:
Bookends 3.9 out of 5 stars (130)
£5.46
Straight Talking
9% buy
Straight Talking 3.5 out of 5 stars (52)
£4.46
Mr. Maybe
8% buy
Mr. Maybe 4.1 out of 5 stars (114)
£5.46
Jemima J
7% buy
Jemima J 4.3 out of 5 stars (181)
£5.46
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Customer Reviews

130 Reviews
5 star:
 (61)
4 star:
 (27)
3 star:
 (23)
2 star:
 (7)
1 star:
 (12)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (130 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely brilliant!, 7 Jul 2000
I loved Mr Maybe - it is and perhaps always will be my favourite Jane Green, but 'Bookends' comes a close second.

Like all J Green books, you can't put it down, it sweeps you into the heroine's emotions from page one. I read it in 2 days. I disagree with the last few reviewers who accuse her of doing the same thing over and over - I actually found this book different from 'Mr Maybe' - it focuses on friendship and the romance element is more of a sub-plot. Yes, she is using very familiar motifs eg the gay best friend, but she gets away with it because somehow she writes with so much charm and passion, you believe in the characters, and feel for them. Other writers in this genre have used these motifs and you immediately groan and think, "I've read this before" but the skill of Bookends is not so much the subject matter but the interesting and compelling way that she deals with it.

I also disagree with the review in 'The Times'. Like all good female fiction, the book works on an emotional level, not an intellectual one. If you're going to approach this book as a cynical critic, you're bound to find fault. But the remaining 99% of us 'normal' readers love it - anyone who isn't moved at Si's dilemma at the end of the book would have to have a heart of stone and like many of the readers, I was blinking away tears.

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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars pleasing, but shallow, 4 Dec 2001
By A Customer
This book is quite pleasing, but shallow. The characters are not developed fully and have far more potential than is ever exploited. I'm afraid that I also found her constant misuse of grammar intensely irritating. However, as I did find myself wanting to know what happens to the characters, it does deserve 3 stars. Use it to while away a long journey and it won't disappoint.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Her best yet - Bookends is a brilliant novel!, 10 May 2000
By A Customer
I've read all of Jane Green's other novels, and enjoyed them all very much. But Bookends is even better. It's about the lives and loves of a group of thirtysomethings who were at university together, and who now live near each other in North London. Cath is kind, nice, shy, a bit useless about herself and what she wants out of life, but her best friend Si keeps her together and make sure she shaves her legs and conditions her hair occasionally. They hang out with married couple Josh and Lucy, and their lives seem fairly ordinary until several events happen which change their lives forever.

This is quite honestly a book which makes you cry. And smile, and laugh, and wince in recognition of what it's like to have friends who you love dearly, to be single and straight or single and gay and searching for love. It's about friendship, which is a very underrated subject. I think this is a truly wonderful book, a great page turner, and so much more readable and original than all the other 'relationship' books out there at the moment. I managed to get hold of a proof from a friend and read it in one go - buy a copy, you won't regret it.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

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 12 months ago 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 15 months ago by Sharon 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 17 months ago 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 19 months ago 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 23 months ago by Janie U

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous Easy Read
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, this is the 2nd book of Jane Greens that I've read and I've found them both to be nice easy reads, the type of book that you can put down and go... Read more
Published on 23 April 2007 by Ladymoonlight

3.0 out of 5 stars Bookended
Jane Green presents a flawed look at love in all its forms in "Bookends," a tale of friendship and relationships. Read more
Published on 2 April 2007 by E. A Solinas

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant read
It's a very girlie chick lit read but highly worthwhile. I have loved all of Jane Green's books that I have read but probably more so this one than any other. Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2007 by Ms. Nf Chambers

5.0 out of 5 stars Bloody Brilliant!
I have just literally finished reading this book and i had to come on here to say how good it was. i read it in 3 days, which for me is quick. Read more
Published on 6 Sep 2006 by Lauren

5.0 out of 5 stars Give it a go-it's worth it!
From the first page I was hooked. The reader is taken on an emotional and at times, painful journey through the lives of the key characters. Read more
Published on 10 Aug 2006 by caroline

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