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Best Friends Forever

by Jennifer Weiner (Goodreads Author)

3.26 · rating details · 15,973 ratings · 2,283 reviews

Bestselling author Jennifer Weiner’s dazzling new novel Best Friends Forever explores the impact of love, desire, and familial loss on a friendship between two young women, and how the choices they make will change their lives forever.

One of the nation’s most beloved and successful writers of women’s fiction, Jennifer Weiner has become a literary phenomenon with millions o

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Hardcover, 368 pages

Published July 14th 2009 by Atria (first published January 1st 2009)

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Sep 02, 2010

Meghan rated it

Shelves: 2010-read

I admit that I typically hide my reading of Jennifer Weiner books because I am sure I will be mocked. By whom I am not sure but never-the-less the fear is there.
But then I read an article on npr (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...) just before I went to 1/2 Price Books and I felt proud to buy some Chick Lit and fight the man.

So the book is ok. I read it quickly, I enjoyed it. Enough said. Weiner follows a similar patter with most of books a self-proclaimed "chubb...more

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Nov 05, 2009

Sherese rated it

This book was billed as heart-break betrayal, small town scandalous, funny, Thelma-Louise Style adventures. I just want to know what book these individuals read because it certainly wasn't this one. The storyline was beyond stupid, Addie fat girl odd ball loses weight reunites with former best friend Fox News Weather girl Valerie who abandoned her after Addie told her parents that Valerie was raped by Dan the Jock who everyone including Addie had a crush on. Valerie seeks revenge on Dan at her H...more

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Mar 05, 2010

Sara added it

Weiner s latest is an unabashed beach read with surprising substance in its beautifully drawn characters. Addie Downs is in her mid-thirties, living alone in her dead parents house, caring for her disabled brother. She has just skipped her high school reunion to go on yet another failed blind date. After a long, miserable night, she hears a knock on her door: it s her ex-best-friend Valerie, who betrayed her in a particularly vicious way in their last year of high school, leaving Addie with ...more

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Feb 07, 2012

Sarah rated it

Another one I abandoned because I didn't really care what happened (or had happened) to any of the characters. Addie came across as such a whiny loser, very negative and depressing, spent her life dwelling on the past and the Big Mysterious Tragedy that had separated her from her high school friend Valerie (with whom she seemed rather unhealthily obsessed) instead of getting on with life and making new friends. At the same time she was so self-absorbed and focussed on all the things that had g...more

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Oct 27, 2011

Ismail Elshareef rated it

The story is about two best friends who grow apart due to some high school drama and then reconnect many years later. The premise is interesting but everything else is abysmal. The story is tired, the humor is tired (and sadly embarrassing) the characters are super tired (and boring) and the dialogue is just really bad and unrealistic. The only thing I really wanted out of this book once I started reading it was for it to end and end fast.

The reason I picked up this book was the good ...more

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Sep 24, 2011

Annie rated it

Shelves: fiction

A frothy, light, entertaining beach read, Best Friends Forever has some heart, although the pulse doesn’t thud strongly throughout. Jennifer Weiners strongest quality as a writer is her ability to craft characters. There were many times when the plot twisted towards the implausible (the bank scene!) and absurd. At these moments, while rolling my eyes, I’d think, “Oh, but that is so how Val would react.” And unlike some equally unbelievable scenes in chick flicks or comedies, the book presen...moreA frothy, light, entertaining beach read, Best Friends Forever has some heart, although the pulse doesn’t thud strongly throughout. Jennifer Weiners strongest quality as a writer is her ability to craft characters. There were many times when the plot twisted towards the implausible (the bank scene!) and absurd. At these moments, while rolling my eyes, I’d think, “Oh, but that is so how Val would react.” And unlike some equally unbelievable scenes in chick flicks or comedies, the book presented enough of a backstory to understand why these two women, Val and Addie responded and handled life the way they did.
Addie Downes, formerly large, endured heaps of abuse in high school after the betrayal of her friend Valerie involving, what else, a boy. Addie subsequent weight struggles, unlucky-in-love experiences, and nursing her mother through illness while talking care of her brain injured brother was tragic. Her father died of a brain aneurysm. Living alone, she now paints greeting cards. However, I often wished she would develop more of a backbone and stand up to Valerie, the blond, perk weather woman who uses her sexuality for attention and hoped-for fame.
When Addie and Valerie were kids, they grew up across from the street together. Addie worshiped Valerie and helped her feel like Val had a home, since Valerie’s parents were divorced and her mother didn’t provide much stability. After the brutal behavior in high school towards Addie, Addie and Val stopped being friends. Now, suddenly, Val has shown up begging Addie for not only her forgiveness, but also for her help. Val needs Addie to stick out her neck for Val (again!) on her revenge-gone-too-far situation that has sparked a police investigation.
The book was likable and pretty humorous. It strikes some emotional cords and had an relatively satisfying ending in a fictional world with little consequences. The story raises the theme of friendship; two women illustrating what friendship is, opposites balancing each other out, working in harmony, bringing companionship, truth and memories.

Some language: f-word, drinking, adult-situations (cop with his show), sexual content.

Favorite Quotes
You broke my heart were the words that had risen to my mouth, but I couldn’t say them. That was what you said to a boyfriend, a lover, not your best friend.

It was okay if boys liked Val better. Someone would love me someday. Even if I wasn’t an obvious choice, I’d be somebody’s choice, some boy’s choice, the way I’d once been Valeries.(less)

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Sep 22, 2011

Shaya rated it

Shelves: chick-lit, realistic-fiction, summer-fall-2011

I wanted something light and Best Friends Forever overdelivered to the point of being sappy and ridiculous. It's a modern day Thelma and Louise story. Val and Addie were childhood friends until the end of high school (won't spoil it by revealing the event that changed their friendship). Val shows up at Addie's house 10 years(?) later because she may have run over a man from the high school reunion.

I did enjoy Addie's ideas of body image as a child ands seeing how they changed throu...more

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Sep 12, 2011

Antof9 rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-read, americana, chicklit, forgettable, junk-food, women

Good, and hard to put down, but she's done others better. It was sort of a cross between Firefly Lane (which was better), the Laura Linney storyline from "Love Actually" (but this was better), and something else. Maybe the inconsiderate friend from Something Borrowed (don't ever waste your time reading that crap)?

Anyway, I liked it, and it kept my attention on the plane to Las Vegas and during the Garth Brooks concert my friend went to, but that's about all.

I ...more

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Jul 28, 2011

Mirah W rated it

Jennifer, what has happened? You used to write wonderful books...like "In Her Shoes"...and then you write "Certain Girls" and now "Best Friends Forever". I really wanted to like "BFF", I really did, but I just didn't think it ever got above the average rating. The story seemed so random and most of the characters were not developed in a way that made them understandable or likeable. Addie was a great character but she was also the only complete charact...more

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Jul 22, 2011

Rebecca rated it

Shelves: chicklit

Two friends from high school fall out after graduation and take two separate paths that lead them back together the night of the reunion. The "pretty" one thinks she killed the guy who raped her back in high school (which she denied then) and goes to find her formally fat friend and for some reason they go on the run. It was kind of weird. The author didn't clarify the reason enough why they did that instead of turning themselves in and seeing what happened. Instead, it's like spur of ...more

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Jul 08, 2011

H rated it

Completely predictable reading "lite" - but it was just what I wanted when I picked it up - something I didn't have to think about very hard but written well enough that I wouldn't want to throw it across the room.... The story is about Addie Downs, a formerly very overweight (now less overweight) wallflower of 33 who through a shy personality and family sadness has retreated into her own safe world. Into this life blows Val - her former best friend who did something bad to Addie the...more

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Jun 18, 2011

Britni rated it

Do you ever feel like you should like an author or book just because everyone else does? It's been three years since I read a Jennifer Weiner book, and Best Friends Forever reminded me exactly why.I know there are people out there that buy everything she writes, but after my second experience with a chick-lit book that lacked any real imagination or characters I could relate to, it'll probably be longer than three years before I pick up another one. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of chick...more

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Aug 30, 2010

Melani rated it

Best Friends Forever-Jennifer Weiner- I wasn’t especially fond of this book while reading it, and the more I thought about it after I finished the less I liked it. The book follows two stories, one in the present day and the other is the tale of our characters growing up. On the surface it’s a funny little romp and a look into growing up in a small town. However, you start to dig just a little and it becomes this very ugly book. The main message is that fat people can never be happy unless ...more

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Aug 25, 2010

Jennifer rated it

Very predictable and typicla Jennifer Weiner style but a good girlfriends book! Makes you realize that true friendships are hard to come by, but a real friend will be there in the end.

This book is about 2 girls that grew up together as best friends, living across the street from one another. Addie had the perfect family, a brother and two parents that loved her...and Valerie lived with her unstable but beautiful mother. Addie wanted a life more like Valeries, going on adventures...more

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Aug 10, 2010

Suzanne rated it

I like Weiner's books - they're easy to read and funny, even while tackling serious issues. But this one missed the mark. Weiner tackles body images well again - in this book, Addie is the former fat girl struggling with her new image while Valerie is the lucky duck size 2. I feel the book, based on the title, should have delved deeper into Valerie and Addie's relationship instead of spending so much time on Jordan Nick. The "romance" felt stilted and I think it detracted from the ...more

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Jul 19, 2010

Jessica rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Enjoyable, like all of Jennifer Weiner's books, but I didn't love it the way I loved Good in Bed and Goodnight Nobody. The plot was fun and kept me reading, but ultimately the characters sort of let me down.

Addie Downs, the ever-suffering main character, is a strange combination of self-loathing shut-in and fun modern woman. After being ostracized in high school and losing both her parents, she gains vast amounts of weight and avoids leaving her house - for years. She rather predicta...moreEnjoyable, like all of Jennifer Weiner's books, but I didn't love it the way I loved Good in Bed and Goodnight Nobody. The plot was fun and kept me reading, but ultimately the characters sort of let me down.

Addie Downs, the ever-suffering main character, is a strange combination of self-loathing shut-in and fun modern woman. After being ostracized in high school and losing both her parents, she gains vast amounts of weight and avoids leaving her house - for years. She rather predictably goes on a diet and becomes a socially-acceptable bmi, and at least Weiner (who usually avoids cliches like these) doesn't suddenly give Addie a perfect life - though it's close.

But Addie isn't the one who bugged me. Her erstwhile best friend, Valerie Adler, starts off as a weird, out-of-place kid with a seriously messed-up home life (and the fact that Addie completely misses that fact is one thing that really annoyed me about her character). When she's re-introduced as an adult, she's vapid, thoughtless, dangerously impulsive and kind of stupid. And it's funny, sort of, but more often than not I found myself just staring at the page thinking how is this person a functional member of society? She runs a guy down with her car. She makes out with people to get things and avoid consequences. She goes on the lam and tries to rob a bank with a tampon case. She pulls an actual gun on a police officer. Normal people do not do these things. Sure, one could argue that her childhood experiences turned her into a sociopath...but she's not written as a sociopath. She's written as cute-but-flawed, one of those skinny girls whose life isn't that great after all. Quirky. (Except one of those quirks might kill you in your sleep.)

Ultimately what I'd have liked from this book was a little more realism. A little more delving into various psyches, a little more dealing with consequences. I'd have liked Addie to be less pathetic and Valerie to be less psychotic. I'd like them to be people I could relate to rather than caricatures. I'd like to buy it when they said they'd be best friends forever.(less)

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Apr 22, 2010

Talulah Mankiller rated it

Okay, guys, you know I love me some Jennifer Weiner. I have gone to bat for her before, and I probably will again. HOWEVER. This one’s a stinker.

The plot, such as it is, is that Addie Downs opens her door one night and finds her best friend from high school standing there, covered in blood. Turns out that at their fifteenth reunion, Valerie ran over the guy who raped her during their school days, and then left him outside, naked and bleeding in the middle of a Chicago November.
...more

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Apr 21, 2010

Judy rated it

Here's a life tip. Don't run into the library just before it closes and grab an audio book off the shelf for a car trip. Because you might just end up with this book. I'm chalking this one up to a lack of time and low blood sugar. Now there is chick lit and there is chick lit. If The Secret Life of Bees is at one end of the spectrum, this book is within sight of the other end. The story is weak and predictable. I don't think that it's a good sign when an event occurs in the novel and I woul...more

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Jan 17, 2010

Karetchko added it

A better title for this one might have been Only Friend Ever. If that sounds depressing, well, at least it prepares you for the dark side of this book.

Adelaide Downs, the main character, really has only ever had one friend, but something happened between her and this friend during their senior year of high school. The phrase "ruined my life" gets thrown around a lot but the exact event doesn't get explained for quite a while.

I really think I'd have liked this boo...more

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Sep 18, 2009

Heather rated it

· review of another edition

I have enjoyed reading all of Jennifer Weiner's novels, and this book was no exception. This is the story of two young women who grew up as best friends but lost their friendship and most communication in their later high school years. After a troubled encounter at their high school reunion, they find themselves together again, and the book turns into a Thelma and Louise-type escapade, with flashbacks into their lives when things were both good and terrible between them.

To be com...more

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Sep 17, 2009

Kimberly French rated it

Highly enjoyable chicklit. Maureen Corrigan said the only thing chicklit about this was the title, but I can’t really agree with that. This is the story of Addie, who grows up with a loving family but all suffer terrible health issues, and as an adult she is left to manage. As a young woman, she becomes horribly obese, developing an eating disorder to cope. But by the time we meet her, she has came to grips and lost the weight. Still, she works as an illustrator from her childhood home, which sh...more

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Aug 19, 2009

Kristen McMahon rated it

I am a huge fan of Jennifer Weiner, so despite being less than impressed by her most recent release before this one (Certain Girls), I was wholeheartedly looking forward to this book.

I would characterize Jennifer Weiner's books as women coming of age stories as opposed to the term "chick lit," which, to me, implies vapid characters and contrived plotlines. Weiner’s characters are generally well rounded and jump off the page as she thoroughly explores the less-than-feel-goo...more

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Aug 03, 2009

Charlotte rated it

http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot.com...

I liked Addie Downs from the first moment I met her. She reminds me a little bit of me. Her homebody tendencies, her success at massive weight loss, her devotion to her brother. She is the kind of woman that I WOULD be best friends with.

So I was a little bit surprised when I met her childhood best friend, Valerie. They are complete opposites, as many best friends are, but even fiftee...more

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Jul 18, 2009

Stephanie rated it

Shelves: 25-books-in-2009

Jennifer Weiner's latest novel focuses on two women (Val & Addie) who, when they were young girls, swore to each other that they would be Best Friends Forever. That is until senior in HS when they had a fight and stopped speaking to each other.

Fast forward to their 15 year HS reunion. Addies opts out of attending the event and Val, now a TV weather girl, goes. Something happens at the reunion and she shows up at Addie's door hoping her best friend forever would help her out of tr...more

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Jul 16, 2009

Lauren rated it

It's as simple as this: I adore this book!

Ms. Weiner definitely knows how to pack a plot full of surprises and turns that you didn't see coming. As I read Best Friends Forever, there was constantly several questions in my head. Such as "What happened in high school that hurt Addie and Val's friendship?" or " Would Val and Addie overcome their struggles and become friends again?" All these questions lead to me to race through this sweet and addicting read in less ...more

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Jun 27, 2009

Kim Baccellia rated it

Addie Downs and Valerie Adler were best friends until a betrayal in High school tears them apart.

Now fifteen years later Valerie works as a weathergirl at a local TV station. Addie no longer is fatty Addie and lives alone in her parents house in a small town of Pleasant Ridge, Illinois caring for her ill brother. One day out of the blue Valerie reappears in Addie's life, asking for help. Addie torn between the hurt of her friend's betrayal finds she can't turn Valerie down. What ...more

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Jan 16, 2012

Laura rated it

Jennifer Weiner let me down on this one. I usually enjoy her novels, but this fell flat for me. The events were very unrealistic and unbelievable. Apparently detectives have nothing better to do than investigate why a belt with some blood on it is in a parking lot. It seems to me that without a victim, witnesses or anything else, you do not have much of a crime. I also hated the way that Weiner moved back and forth from the past to the present. I know that this is the norm for many stories...more

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Jul 27, 2009

Laura rated it

Shelves: beach-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 29, 2009

Erin rated it

Every girl has a friend that is always getting into trouble. She's wild, spirited, fun and reckless -- and you love her for those qualities, even as you get dragged into her web of drama. (Incidentally, if you can't identify this girl in your group of friends.... it's probably you!)

Best Friends Forever explores this dynamic through Addie Downs and Valerie Adler. Neighbors and friends since they were 9, the girls do everything together until high school, when a tragedy separates them ...more

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Oct 20, 2009

Grace rated it

Shelves: fiction, read-in-2009

I looked forward to Jennifer Weiner's latest novel, Best Friends Forever: A Novel. I've enjoyed her previous books and I naively thought I'd like anything she writes. I was wrong.

The book's structure is nothing short of awkward. Weiner tells the story from a few characters' points of view, but there is nothing signifying the change except for a new chapter number. But, a new chapter doesn't always signify a new point of view. I had to backtrack several times to get my bearings on wh...moreI looked forward to Jennifer Weiner's latest novel, Best Friends Forever: A Novel. I've enjoyed her previous books and I naively thought I'd like anything she writes. I was wrong.

The book's structure is nothing short of awkward. Weiner tells the story from a few characters' points of view, but there is nothing signifying the change except for a new chapter number. But, a new chapter doesn't always signify a new point of view. I had to backtrack several times to get my bearings on where I was in the story and it jolted me out of the novel's flow.

Addie Downs, the main character, is a giant cliche, pun intended. Did her last name really have to be Downs? As in Downs Syndrome? Very creative taunt for her high school classmates to chant... I was hoping for something more original. Why did both of her parents have to die and her brother be in assisted living all before she hit 20? Too tragic, even for chick lit.

Addie's best friend Val. Where do I begin? I couldn't help but think that she had a severe mental imbalance and needed treatment. I didn't think it was funny to have a comedic relief character who furthered the plot into a mess of implausibility to also suffer from a mental disease or defect. I found it mildly insulting for those out there who do suffer from a mental disorder.

Dan Swansea. I doubt that his encounter with Val and Holy Merry would transform him into a respectable and decent human being who knows right from wrong, even with the flashback to the defining moment in Dan's relationship with his mother where she tells him that she's given up on him. (really? Holy Merry? Again... where is the originality? I understand that the author has creative license in character naming, but setting up your characters' names to perpetuate the stereotypes you are having them play is just a little too much for me.)

Police Chief Jordan. Now there's a winner. Masturbating to a children's show at night and saving the suburbs by day! And what was the deal with that Key West trip? Police work at its worst... It was incredibly unbelievable.

Needless to say, I couldn't believe (not even for a second) that this story was plausible. Unfortunately for me, it read like a train wreck and I just couldn't look away. At least I can move onto something with more substance now.

(less)

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About Jennifer Weiner

Jennifer Weiner was born in 1970 on an army base in Louisiana. She grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Princeton University. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Central Pennsylvania, Lexington, Kentucky, and Philadelphia, before the publication of her first novel, GOOD IN BED, in 2001. She is the author of the novels IN HER SHOES (2002), which was turned into a major motion picture; LITTLE...more

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Quotes from Best Friends Forever

“There's all kinds of love in the world, and not all of it looks like the stuff in greeting cards.” — 30 people liked it

“Addie, please." More tears dripped down her cheeks. "Don't be so hard."
"Oh, please," I muttered...and that was as far as I got. 'You broke my heart' were the words that had risen to my mouth, but I couldn't say them. That was what you said to a boyfriend, a lover, not your best friend. She'd laugh. And I'd had enough of being laughed at. I'd worked hard to get to a place where it didn't happen anymore, where I didn't move through life like a walking target, where it was just me and my paints and brushes and my big empty bed every night. "You weren't a good friend," I said instead.” — 10 people liked it

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