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113th out of 144 books
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24 voters
Life Without Friends (Friends #2)
After the drug-overdose death of a fellow student, Beverly breaks away from the fast crowd but finds herself friendless and full of guilt until she meets Derek who helps her come to terms with the past and look with some hope to the future.
Mass Market Paperback, 256 pages
Published
September 1st 1990
by Scholastic
(first published March 5th 1987)
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Beverly can’t have friends. If she does, she might destroy them.
She knows this. After last year.
Everyone else knows it too.
Except Derek.
Derek is weird.
She pushes. And he . . . gets closer.
Which isn’t the plan.
There isn’t a plan. Beverly isn’t allowed to plan. Or dream. Or hope.
She isn’t allowed to have friends. Or to love.
The problem is she can’t explain that—at least not the reason behind it—to Derek.
Ellen Emmerson White’s Life Without Friends is one of my favorite contemporary novels. Mainly b...more
She knows this. After last year.
Everyone else knows it too.
Except Derek.
Derek is weird.
She pushes. And he . . . gets closer.
Which isn’t the plan.
There isn’t a plan. Beverly isn’t allowed to plan. Or dream. Or hope.
She isn’t allowed to have friends. Or to love.
The problem is she can’t explain that—at least not the reason behind it—to Derek.
Ellen Emmerson White’s Life Without Friends is one of my favorite contemporary novels. Mainly b...more
What a great book, I think I read it a million times. All about a girl who gets involved with the wrong guy, and people die because of it. She's shattered, and has to live with her father and new step-family, after her mother's suicide. And of course, angry and tortured, she meets the most awesome guy who helps her heal. Great book, very insightful. Read it in early high school, it's not a long book at all, but it left it's mark.
Ellen Emerson White's characters do seem to be very similar - girls from upper class Boston, who usually enjoy sports (typically tennis and skiing- in this case running), and are undoubtedly wicked smart - but each one is so different in her own way that I can't help but love them all. Beverly from Life Without Friends is no exception. Beverly hasn't exactly had an easy time of things, after her mother died, she's gone to live with her father, step-mother and 5-year-old step-brother Oliver who s...more
4 likes · like · see review
To really get to the root of my Ellen Emerson White love we're gonna need to go back to the beginning. I must have been fourteen. I saw LIFE WITHOUT FRIENDS sitting faced out on the bookstore shelf and thank goodness for whichever prescient bookseller it was that faced it out because it was the cover that sold me. I would never have picked it up if all I'd seen was the spine. The title is, as my husband would (and has!) said, possibly the most depressing book title of all time. But the cover. I...more
3 likes · like · see review
This book caught me by surprise. It was dated and I was thinking that the story and writing might be too. I was wrong it was wonderful. Beverly is coming off a hard year (the details of that year are written in a companion book to this novel, that I couldn't find, where she was a minor character) and finds herself at school without friends, under close watch by her dad and step mom and in therapy. Sh has closed herself off to people until she meets a handsome groundskeeper at the Public Gardens....more
I enjoyed this book. It was originally published in 1987, and the pop culture references (A-Team, B.A. Baracus:), dated clothing styles, and several characters puffing away on cigarettes in public buildings every chance they got really illustrate the fact that this was more than 20 years ago. Still, the plot, characters, and themes remain fresh. This book is in my school library and contains the checkout card and pocket that were used prior to automation. Over the years, especially in the 80s an...more
Originally posted here
It seems fitting to review an Ellen Emerson White title for Retro Friday because it was Angie who first introduced me to this author. Life Without Friends is a sequel to Friends for Life. I believe both titles are out of print and sadly, I wasn't able to get a used copy of Friends for Life. I don't think it matters though because I enjoyed reading Life Without Friends even if I haven't read its companion novel. I hope those titles aren't too confusing!
Beverly has been throu...more
It seems fitting to review an Ellen Emerson White title for Retro Friday because it was Angie who first introduced me to this author. Life Without Friends is a sequel to Friends for Life. I believe both titles are out of print and sadly, I wasn't able to get a used copy of Friends for Life. I don't think it matters though because I enjoyed reading Life Without Friends even if I haven't read its companion novel. I hope those titles aren't too confusing!
Beverly has been throu...more
2 likes · like · see review
Aug 02, 2010
Miss Clark
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Miss Clark by:
Angie
Shelves:
modern-presentday
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I was a little biased, I'll admit, by the fact that it takes place in Boston, and that the main character lives in the same block of the same street where my good friend lived for many years, and that she spends a lot of time hanging out in the part of the Public Garden where I ate my lunch on every pleasant day. Her settings are very detailed, so I really felt like I was right there; I am reading another one of her books because it takes place in the small town where I went to college.
But this...more
But this...more
A YA novel about a girl who feels exiled at her school because her boyfriend murdered two people and was ready to kill a third before she called the police on him. That's all before the book actually begins; the story is really about what her life is like afterwards. Pretty realistic. Wish she could have gotten her act together without the help of a boy(friend), though...
i love this book. Beverly made some bad decisions and people died, It it wasn't her fault but if only she had told someone. (Friends for Life). so now everyone hates her kids at school, teachers, maybe her dad but mostly herself. It is m u c h safer to have no friends. But that is easier said than done.
Oh man, I love Ellen Emerson White. I just cant' get enough of her hilarious dialogue.
Also, the fact that a teenager goes to see her therapist and he offers her cigarettes just SCREAMS seventies.
Also, the fact that a teenager goes to see her therapist and he offers her cigarettes just SCREAMS seventies.
I Love This Book So Much. I Did Not Realize That There Had Been A Book Before This One, Yet I Do Not Want To Read It Out Of Fear That It might Alter My Love For The Protagonist.
I really wish I would have read this book back in high school. But, better late than never. Glad I found it in the Young Adult Clearance section at Half Price Books for only $.25. Score!
1 like · like · see review
While I'm adding the Ellen Emerson White books I just read, I should add one of her other's that I read a long time ago and really enjoyed.
It's really interesting reading old YA because it does sooo many things you wouldn't see in a book released this year. That said: strong characterization, believable growth and change, and a beautifully captured setting that made me want to catch the next plane to Boston.
P.S. I love the stepmom.
P.S. I love the stepmom.
I picked up a copy of Emerson's Life Without Friends when I was 14, loved it then, and love it now. Emerson doesn't "write down" to teens and this particular novel deals with some heavy interpersonal issues. The characters are so well-developed you barely notice (or mind) that nothing really happens in the book, as you're so focused on the developting relationship that is played out. Definitely recommended.
*This book is pretty difficult to find. There are a few copies on Half.com, etc. but Emer...more
*This book is pretty difficult to find. There are a few copies on Half.com, etc. but Emer...more
I enjoyed this story but was really disappointed in so much foul language. I wouldn't recommend it just because the storyline wasn't worth all the bad language I had to read through.
Loved it. Specially her relationship with Derek because it will help them both to see a new future in their lives.
One my favorite books in middle school and high school I checked it out many times from the public library.
Loved this book in middle and high school. I must have read it at least 5 times.
Another book that I re-read often in middle school (and high school, too, I think).
May 30, 2012
Jennifer
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
always-within-reach,
ya
Hands down one of my all-time favorites!
Oh my. I really did like this book. I think Ellen Emerson White might just be a genius when it comes to writing dialog. Really brilliant dialog that made me laugh out loud. She does always surprise me with her grittiness--there is some swearing and the subject matter tends to be serious. Did people swear in the 80's? I guess they did. There are a couple of descriptions in the book that give away that it isn't quite "current" YA fiction: running in sweatpants with a sweat band and smoking with yo...more
One of my favorites as a teen
I loved this book back in the day. I didn't know it was a sequel for a long time b/c my library didn't have the first one. I eventually caught on and inter library loaned the first one. It wasn't as good as this one.
Sept. 27, 2010: found a copy of this book at a library book sale. I could have screamed when I found it. I also found the book prior to this one. I was overjoyed.
Sept. 27, 2010: found a copy of this book at a library book sale. I could have screamed when I found it. I also found the book prior to this one. I was overjoyed.
I read this book in middle school (I guess when it first came out) and it was the first book that I read from cover to cover without looking up. I don't even really remember what it was about, except the teen girl protagonist was depressed, smoked, saw a therapist, and hung out in a park. I think...? I was mesmerized... ;)
Snarky and intense - kind of like high school. Not quite as gripping as her Meg Powers series, but a very satisfying read all the same. The source of all the conflict in the story didn't interest me that much, but the characters were all compelling and realistic - and hilarious.
Ellen Emerson White is sooooo good. This book deals with the aftermath of Friends for Life (from another perspective). If you've been through a horrible traumatic situation, how do you pick up the pieces afterwards and keep living?
I read this in middle school. In other words, a long time ago. But I do remember the main characters names and a bit of the plot line and the title of the book. It has stuck with me for this long so I must have really liked it.
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This talented writer attended Tufts University (and published her first book, "Friends for Life," while a senior there) and currently lives in New York City. Ms. White grew up in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Many of her fiction novels feature characters who reside in or around Boston and are fans of the Boston Red Sox (as is Ms. White). In addition to fiction novels, Ms. White has published several...more
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“Alone again, Beverly relaxed somewhat. It was hard to believe that life could get any worse than this. More than once lately, she had thought about killing herself, erasing the fact that she had ever existed. It would be so easy, so—except that she wouldn’t. She didn’t respect people who committed suicide.”
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1 person liked it
“It really wasn't fair. Why did guys have to be such jerks?”
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1 person liked it
More quotes…
Jun 05, 2011 12:26pm
Jun 06, 2011 06:14am