Friendship

Four affluent women friends in the neighborhood of Mill Valley near San Francisco stand by each other through thick and thin , through the happenings in each others lives. Robyn Carr sure has an amazing gift of writing about the characters lives and tells about what happens in a family with so much drama. She writes about timely subjects of the present day, i.e. infidelity, depression, A gay son in family, divorce,redemption, which makes Four Friends well worth reading ( )

The book is based on three friends who all live on the same street and walk together every morning. Their lives seem ideal and perfect from afar. When Andy finds out her husband has cheated on her, all her friends band together. But, one by one all their marriages start to fall apart. As the ladies struggle with the nightmare of whats going on, BJ (The quite, reserved neighbor joins these friends to help everyone get back on their feet.

I really enjoyed this book and I couldn't put it down!. Everyone wants 4 wonderful friends like Gerri, Andy, Sonja, and BJ. It is a happy, feel good...you can do it book! ( )

Robyn Carr's Four Friends is a beautiful novel about four women whose close friendship becomes a saving grace as they are each faced with life altering decisions.

Gerri, Andy and Sonja are long time neighbors whose lives fall apart right around the same time. Andy's second marriage to a younger man comes to a dramatic end just as Gerri learns devastating news that leaves her questioning her twenty four year marriage. Sonja has worked hard to find peace and tranquility in her life, but when her husband leaves her, she descends into a deep depression. BJ is a newcomer to the neighborhood who mainly keeps to herself, but it is her astute observations that alert Gerri and Andy to Sonja's frightening despondency.

The least complicated story arc is Andy's unexpected romance with Bob, the carpenter who is renovating her kitchen. Bob is nothing at all like the men Andy usually dates and her feelings for him catch her completely by surprise. Bob is older, shy, a little overweight but so incredibly sweet and understanding. Their relationship begins as friendship but soon transforms into a romance that is very heartwarming.

The storyline with BJ is also fairly simple. She has a passing acquaintance with the other three women but she is rather enigmatic and closely guards her privacy. After getting Sonja into treatment for her depression, Gerri, Andy and BJ finally become closer but BJ still remains tightlipped about her past. By the novel's end, her secrets are revealed and surprisingly enough, she and Sonja form a tight bond.

Sonja's part of the novel is the most serious and she undergoes the biggest transformation. At first a new agey, health nut, she is absolutely stunned when her husband leaves her. She immediately falls apart and her friends get her into treatment right away, but they are slow to realize how seriously depressed she is. Once she gets the intense therapy she needs, Sonja faces her painful past and emerges much stronger and more self-aware.

Although Gerri and her husband Phil lead very hectic lives, they do a wonderful job balancing demanding jobs and parenting duties. But Phil has been keeping a secret that leads to a (hopefully) temporary separation as Gerri tries to come to terms with her hurt and anger. Gerri is quite contemplative as she searches for answers that can help her understand how she and Phil could be so far apart in how they view their marriage. A short-term crisis involving their children reunites the estranged couple but their future remains uncertain.

Four Friends by Robyn Carr is an engaging novel with a realistic plot and appealing characters. The women's struggles are true to life and easy to relate to. The friendships are strong and enduring and while they do not always agree with one another's decisions, their support for one another is unwavering. A heartfelt and poignant story that I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend. ( )

This is an enjoyable, well-written book about friendship. It very realistically portrays marriage, infidelity, menopause, teenagers, domestic violence, homosexuality and counseling. ( )