Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy
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Book Summary Author: Maeve Binchy Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2007-05-29 ISBN: 0385341733 Number of pages: 608 Publisher: Dell |
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Book Reviews of the Circle of Friends
Customer Review: Good with a sometimes-slow plot
Summary: 4 Stars
Like many others, I read this book because I've seen the 1995 film and it's one of my favorite movies. When I first started the book, I was immediately drawn in by Binchy's detailed writing style and the way she paints a portrait of the town of Knockglen. But as the story moved forward, it felt like a lot of the most interesting plot points and characters (namely Benny and Jack) were overshadowed by other, less interesting things.
On top of that, Binchy has a tendency to remove the reader from the most emotional parts of the story--when Benny's father dies, we hear about it in a sort of glossed-over, past-tense way; when Jack tells Benny that he loves her, it's also past-tense in Benny's memory (and only one sentence, at that); and, most important, when Jack confesses everything about his infidelity with Nan--we don't even see that! All we get are bits and pieces of Benny thinking back on it.
All in all, I feel as if the plot point with the most pull--Benny and Jack's relationship--fell a little flat; and, quite honestly, Jack was such a jerk for 70 percent of the book that I just simply didn't like him. Also, we barely get any perspective on his actions; he just comes across as this selfish little playboy which, at the onset of the novel, didn't seem like the case at all. And with Nan, too, by the end when she showed no remorse for her actions, I was very disappointed; I know some people really ARE just selfish that way, but it doesn't say much for Benny's judgement of character if her boyfriend and close friend were such awful people.
Given, by the end, I could see where Binchy was going with the story--Benny, the small-town girl who spent her life being over-protected by her parents, had to go out into the world and experience the fact that sometimes life simply sucks. Okay, great--but all of the other filler that went in between her story (Clodagh/Fonsie, Mother Francis/Kit Hegarty, etc) just started to get irritating by the end of the book.
I love stories like this, though--the coming of age type deal, but I, as I've said, the Benny/Jack thing just felt very under-developed and I was more interested in the relationship between Eve and Aidan. Sure, sure, maybe that was Binchy's way of making it clear that Jack wasn't the guy for Benny, while Eve and Aidan really are meant to be, but still...I think she could've done a better job of making Jack a bit more of a likeable character earlier on so that, when everything comes out later, we feel Benny's heartbreak as much as she does. Really, though, all I could think at that point was, "Good riddance to him!"
Anyway, still an entertaining book despite its meandering plot; well worth the read--even if it means skipping the fill-story near the end.