Circle of Friends

Circle of Friends

3.93 of 5 stars 3.93  ·  rating details  ·  27,002 ratings  ·  957 reviews
Big, generous-hearted Benny and the elfin Eve Malone have been best friends growing up in sleepy Knockglen. Their one thought is to get to Dublin, to university and to freedom...

On their first day at University College, Dublin, the inseparable pair are thrown together with fellow students Nan Mahon, beautiful but selfish, and handsome Jack Foley. But trouble is brewing for...more
Paperback, 736 pages
Published June 1st 2006 by Arrow (first published 1990)
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Community Reviews

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Holly
I confess to loving what we at the bookstore used to consider "old lady novels." You know, written by nice old ladies, and featuring stock characters such as "Comfortable old lady who smells like violets," "Troubled young boy who will probably run away, thus becoming the catalyst to resolve the troubles of his father, who is..." "Bitter middle aged widower who just needs a little lovin'," and "Beautiful woman who provides said lovin'."

Well, I've moved on from Rosamunde Pilcher, though The Shell...more
Sondang
Still one of my favourite books. Best written book ever. Okey, I love Maeve Binchy, but this book is smashing. I love it from the first until the last page.
You'll love all the characters, especially the friendship between Benny and Eve. And eventhough you loathes Nan's behavior, somehow you'll understand her. You'll fall in love very quickly at Jack Folley, and as soon as that you'll find yourself annoyed by his taken-for-granted-act- to our lovable Benny.
As other's Maeve writing, it's all detai...more
Tea Jovanović
Nažalost, Mev je prošlog leta preminula i ostali smo bez najtoplije irske autorke... Njene knjige plene toplinom i pričama o običnim ljudima i njihovim sudbinama... Knjige za one od 12-100 godina...

Ovo je priča o dve devojčice iz male varošice u Irskoj i njihovom odrastanju... Veoma uspešno je i ekranizovana... A moram da se pohvalim da sam tokom prevoda pronašla dve materijalne greške u originalu i da sam prva posle 35 izdanja koja je ta knjiga imala na engleskom i posle svih engleskih urednik...more
Lily
May 16, 2007 Lily rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: All
Shelves: all-things-irish
I read this book after seeing the movie and as much as I love the movie, I love the book even more. The book has a few more major characters and plot developments that are note even touched in the movie. I have read many books by Maeve Binchy and Circle of Friends seems like her best developed story. The rest start to seem a little too much like romance novels for my taste (not that romance novels aren't good when you want one!) This story follows Benny Hogan and her friend Eve as they head to U...more
Sara
Jul 09, 2008 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Sara by: Jen Pawlowski
The best part about this book was the characters and how well they are portrayed. Everyone had thier own distinct personality and thier personality shown through as if Binchy were writing about people she's known her whole life.

I personally found the storyline a little slow for my liking, and it took me a long time to get through this book. However, it was well written and I enjoyed it. The character of Nan fascinated me the most. I've known girls like her, so poise and perfect in every way... d...more
Antof9
Another book not reviewed right after reading. Here's all I have:

I knew that I wanted to write more on this lovely book, but that it would take some time and thought. Unfortunately, now, I have allowed too much time to pass, and can't remember much of what I wanted to write! *ack*

What I do remember is that I found it fascinating to read this book while picturing the actress Minnie Driver as Benny. I loved having a face for her! And this book was truly enjoyable. In fact, if I had another copy on...more
Engy Moussa
Never before an author managed to keep me awake all night and hours beyond sun rise to finish their novel.
But Binchy did! And she did it twice.. Once about two years ago with The Glass Lake when I stayed with the book in my hand all night until 8 in the morning when I finally finished it AND yesterday as I stayed in bed from 11:30 till almost 7 in the morning with the little lamp guiding my eyes page after page as I impatiently yet gladly follow Binchy's plots..
No praise a humble reading like my...more
Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides
More like 2.5. I was feeling in the mood to read something cozy and glurge-y that I didn't need to use much brainpower to read. So something made me think of this. I suspect it was seeing the third of the Dark Knight Batman films, and being reminded of the previous series of Batman films. Yes, there is a connection — Batman Forever featured Chris O'Donnell as Robin, and in the movie version of this book (which came out in the same year) he played the male lead. (For a while he was a major teen h...more
Amy
I have always wanted to see this movie, and I never did, so I decided to read the book instead. Did it help that my book cover showed a scene from the movie? (I am sure it did help, b/c I can SO totally picture Chris O'Donnell as Jack....) ... whatever... I really enjoyed reading this book b/c it has long been on my to-read (to watch) list, and I found it engrossing, and I loved following the characters; but did I find it wonderful enough, engrossing enough, to write a substantial GR review for...more
Amanda
The joy of a Maeve Binchy novel - and Circle of Friends is no exception (in fact, is probably the best example of this) - is that you are utterly drawn into the lives of the characters. Binchy doesn't concern herself with a clever plot (here, the essence of the plot is that Benny and Eve head off to university in Dublin, and deals with the repercussions of what happens after this); rather, she wants to describe how her characters deal with life. There are never lengthy descriptions of place - di...more
Kat
"A coming-of-age story about love, lust, loss, friendship, betrayl, and responsibilities. It was hard for me to get used to the third person narrative at first because there were so many characters introduced in the beginning. It was focused mainly on small town of Knockglen, with the main characters, childhood friends, Benny and Eve, and what went on there and when they go on to attend university in Dublin. Because of the third person narrative, the reader is able to get a glance at each charac...more
Shannon
While reading the book Circle of Friends, I happen to be very bored. The author went into too much depth of unnecessary subjects in the story. If the author hadn’t written as much as she did, then I might have a better appreciation for the book. However, the characters of the story were very depressing. Each and every character had a sad tragic story that followed them. From these tragic events, the people took the wrong path and or made the wrong choices. Which then made the book less interesti...more
Jennifer
Circle of Friends is a story about a group of friends in Ireland. It begins when Benny's mother makes her invite Eve to her tenth birthday party. Benny's mother feels sorry for Eve, because she is being raised in the convent and the family she does have does not want anything to do with her. The girls of course become inseperable. Fast forward ten years, and they are about to go separate ways: Benny to university, and Eve to a different convent to work for them in order to live there and take a...more
Lissa
I found a hard-cover version of Circle of Friends on my mother's bookcase one summer during high school. I read it through in less than two days, took it with me to college, and re-read it so many times over the net few years that the binding eventually gave out. I didn't replace it, figuring that I had every page memorized.

The characters -- Benny Hogan, Eve Malone, Mother Francis, Peggy Pine, Mr. and Mrs. Hogan, Patsy, Sean Walsh, the Kennedys and Healys and Johnsons, Clodaugh, Mario and Fonsie...more
Danae Armstrong
I loved this novel!!!!! It was 100% better than the movie. I love how Benny is able to stand up for herself. Refusing to watch Jack every second of her life knot wanting to wonder where he is and what he's up to. And also not putting herself in a position where she will definitely get hurt again.
I hated Nan, she was a positively a heartless over calculating bi$&@. She played everyone not caring what harm it would do. But I can't all be her fault, it's also her dumb mothers fault. She should...more
Trixiekim Theriault
This was a very interesting book to read because Maeve Binchy has such amazing character development and detail. I found myself relating to almost all of the characters at different times in the book. Maeve Binchy must have amazing insight into human relationships and feelings because the things the characters think and say in the book seem so true to real life. I felt like all these characters were real people that I knew.
The book was a little hard to get in to because it was kind of slow at t...more
Scarlet
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Trudee Hunter
The picture on the cover of Circle of Friends tells us quite a bit really. As much as I love an English setting and enjoy being taken back a few decades, I found this story lacked pace. I had always wanted to read one of Maeve Binchy's books as a couple of friends are great fans, but perhaps the 'ordinariness' of the characters (although each one is decidedly well portrayed)pre-determined my overall opinion. We all know personalities that are akin to Benny, Eve, Jack and Nan's and can probably p...more
Annette
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Jennifer
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Monkeyface
Listened to Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy. It began with Benny Hogan and Eve Malone, growing up, inseparable, in the village of Knockglen. Benny the only child, yearning to break free from her adoring parents. Eve the orphaned offspring of a convent handyman and a rebellious blueblood, abandoned by her mother's wealthy family to be raised by nuns. Eve and Benny they knew the sins and secrets behind every villager's lace curtains except their own. It widened at Dublin, at the university where...more
Amy Smith
I remember reading this book for the first time when I was in junior high and being absolutely in love with it. A few moths ago I came across the movie playing on the tv guide channel and actually watched an hour the tv guide channel because of my fondness for the story. Once the movie ended, I immediately bought the book on my Kindle (the upside/downside? of one click purchasing...). There's nothing challenging about this book, the characters are all stock and you know how it will al work out i...more
Tea Jovanović
Ovo je meni jedna od najdražih njenih knjiga... I s ponosom mogu da kažem da sam jedini prevodilac/urednik koji je primetio materijalne greške u originalnom izdanju i ispravio ih u srpskom izdanju... Kada sam njenoj agentkinji poslala informaciju da ima materijalnih grešaka u originalu, žena je bila šokirana... Posle 35 izdanja i 20 godina objavljivanja, ja sam od svih prevodilaca i urednika jedina to uočila... Šta da se radi, poznata sam po "zlom" oku koje sve registruje u tekstovima (ili gotov...more
Tracy
Aug 28, 2012 Tracy rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: hs
HS+ I was surprised at how different this book was from the movie in some places. Still very good, of course!

Benny is a "big" girl from a good family in a small country town outside of Dublin. She's off to University but has to come home nightly on the bus and so feels that she misses out on some of the college lifestyle as she tries to be a good daughter to her parents. She is NOT interested in
marrying the creepy Sean, an apprentice in her father's shop. There are many side plots, but not diffi...more
Jenna St Hilaire
My friend Elizabeth bought this book for me, saying that Binchy’s writing is peaceful, relaxing and enjoyable to read. It is that. But I also had to stay up reading it till three A.M. in desperate suspense.

It wasn’t due to relentless pacing or swift-moving prose. Binchy’s writing career apparently began before the modern outcry against things like the passive verb and the third person omniscient voice. Her brief sentences and snappy dialogue generally kept the scenes from dragging, though, and I...more
Francine
At first I thought this book was a little childish, nice but kind of bland. But I got into it after the first couple of chapters, realizing it was rather Rosamund Pilcher like and had some insight and depth, and by the time I was 1/2 way through I couldn't put it down. It is really a great coming of age story about young Irish women in the 1950's. Getting into relationships, or not, and most decidedly trying to establish their independence from their parents without losing familial relationships...more
Kathleen Thomas
Jan 10, 2013 Kathleen Thomas rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who just likes a plain nice story
I love love love Binchy's novels Circle of Friends still being my favorite and I have read it numerous times. This is long story of a friendship and love and loss, there are no lapses or lulls. Benny, plain daughter of a merchant, and Eve, a proud orphan raised by nuns, are close friends growing up in the Irish village of Knockglen in the 1950s. When they go to university in Dublin together, their loyalty is tested by the addition of others to their circle, most notably the beautiful, mysterious...more
Sharon
I love the movie, and normally, if I've seen the movie, I don't read the book.

This story was one time I felt compelled to break the rule. I love the movie so much, I felt a need to flesh the characters in the movie out more, by reading the book.

Quite simpley, the book was fabulous, dare I say it, better than the movie. I am still in love with Bernadette, and our friend Jack Foley is not as much a gentleman as we see in the movie. Eve is still the loverly Eve, and Nan, the plotting schemer we al...more
Nicole
"I have been a fan of the film for a long time and when I saw this on the library shelf I knew I had to read it. I am so glad I did.

This is a truly beautiful book which I would recommend to any woman as a brilliant read.

The characters are more than lovable, even the self centered Nan Mahon is likable for the most part. They are also so well formed. As you read you really feel as though you get to know these people and by half way through the book, as each incident happens you almost know exactly
...more
Lauren Fidler
i probably shouldn't, but i LOVE this book...the story of big girl benny, her friends nan and eve, her rampant catholic guilt, and the dreamy boy who fell for her and then broke her heart. the movie is a decent tribute, and a meaty minnie driver is exactly how i pictured benny, but it changed the ending to one that is WHOLLY disappointing. the actual story should be one of self-discovery and empowerment; however, the ending of the film makes the story into a "forgive and forget" love story betwe...more
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Maeve Binchy was born in Dalkey, County Dublin and came to fame first as London Correspondent for the Irish Times. Her first novel, Light a Penny Candle, made her famous in the UK and USA. She passed away on July 30, 2012, at the age of 72.
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