Rich and Pretty

A Novel

By: Rumaan Alam

Narrated by: Julie McKay

Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

This irresistible debut, set in contemporary New York, provides a sharp, insightful look into how the relationship between two best friends changes when they are no longer coming of age but learning how to live adult lives.

As close as sisters for 20 years, Sarah and Lauren have been together through high school and college, first jobs and first loves, the uncertainties of their 20s and the realities of their 30s.

Sarah, the only child of a prominent intellectual and a socialite, works at a charity and is methodically planning her wedding. Lauren - beautiful, independent, and unpredictable - is single and working in publishing, deflecting her parents' worries and questions about her life and future by trying not to think about them herself. Each woman envies - and is horrified by - particular aspects of the other's life, topics of conversation they avoid with masterful linguistic pirouettes.

Once, Sarah and Lauren were inseparable; for a long a time now, they've been apart. Can two women who rarely see one another, selectively share secrets, and lead different lives still call themselves best friends? Is it their abiding connection or just force of habit that keeps them together?

With impeccable style, biting humor, and a keen sense of detail, Rumaan Alam deftly explores how the attachments we form in childhood shift as we adapt to our adult lives - and how the bonds of friendship endure, even when our paths diverge.

©2016 Rumaan Alam (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Too much

Too much gratuitous details and observations. Sometimes quirky observations can be fun, but this borders on exhausting.

I did it! (I did it?)

Oh man this narrator! Her cadence REALLY started to get to me half way through. (halfway through?) oh sorry I can't stop hearing everything as a question? Cause everything she reads is a question? Like she's not sure?

Narration aside, I got this book after reading "Leave The World Behind" by the same author. That book also has mixed reviews, but I gave it 5 stars so I was willing to chance it here. This book really suffered from the lack of overall story structure and foundation that "Leave the World..." has. Both books meander and focus on character development over plot, but this one is too untethered. This author failed here because they didn't reign themselves in at all, the timeline is endless from youth to adulthood and it seems to go on, and on, (and on?) at times. I have a high tolerance for low structure books, but this one didn't work for me.

I just have to ask the person who left the review saying that they "hoped to relate" to the characters, but gave it an overall bad rating because they didn't: Which did you think you'd relate to more? Rich, or pretty?

Empty lives

I was excited about this book because I love a good friendship story. I ended up not relating to the characters. I'm a girlfriend's girlfriend and this did not reflect what I know of a great friendship. They also seem to have such empty lives that have little meaning and even less honesty. Lauren wasnt close to her mom or family and she would go hot and cold with Sarah. Sex is kind of a throwaway thing with her. There was very little I could relate to. However I Believe it was well written and other people might find these characters more relatable than I did. I wanted to tell them to volunteer somewhere, start going to church, be interested in others and not so self focused and give grace to all those around you instead of sarcastic commentary in your head. I hope I don't sound self-righteous. I really just wanted them to have happier lives....

Well-written, but no story

The book had prose that pulled me into the minds of the characters, but once I was there, the book didn't do anything with it. It makes these poignant observations about life and sex and growing up and being a woman that don't contribute to any overarching point. This book is stuck perpetually in the first act: I got to know the characters, then got to know them some more, then got to know them some more, and some ordinary life changes happen to them, and then it's the end of the book.

No story

Not an interesting use of my time. Some nice descriptive passages and dialogue is fine, but certainly not to the level of literary work. Therefore I expect more story. The protagonist never won me over. Apathetic. Perhaps pretty, but by Manhattan standards, not even particularly rich - which is neither here or there, just an observation. Just so many better books with a real story.,this was a waste of time, which for a reader is our most precious commodity.

Painfully slow and boring.

I was trying to incentivize myself to finish this book by not letting myself start another one, but that just made for my free time to be filled with news and music. I was hoping for more based on the recommendations that this was a great story about friendship. While this was about friendship I found myself not caring about the main characters and their everyday drama. Sara and Lauren were boring. I understand that the minutiae of life is worth writing about, but a writing has to make their struggle real and engaging to you as if you were their friend. I needed more background on why Lauren hand a hard time really engaging with men or why Sara was such a moralistic person. The story picks up a bit towards the last 6 chapters but not everyone will stick it through.

Dissapointing

I purposely do not read anything about an author before I 'read' a book - I give the story a chance to draw me in without any bias. I could tell immediately that this book was written by a male with little experience in female relationship but I kept listening with hopes that it would get better. In the end, I was so disappointed in this book. I felt like it was trying to be a groundbreaking novel about female relationships and the sacrifices made for family vs career - but then it placed too much importance on sexual experiences, glazing over the more complex emotions of a woman's life. Sad :-( A lot of hype for nothing

I can’t with this book

This is the most boring I have tried to finish in along time. The story is like a bad Sex and the City storyline

Good, but......

Great book, but a little hard to follow at first. Both of the main characters are referred to in the 3rd person. Instead of having 2 readers read the parts, you are forced to try to figure it out on your own.

The author does a great job at illustrating how life can change even the best of friendships. Some times you tend to wonder if they really are friends with the way that the plot works through the story.

The story where nothing ever happens.

I kept waiting for something meaningful to happen. It never did. No climax, no substantial plot, no satisfying conclusion...nothing happens. There are none events in this book that I really cared about or found interesting. Wouldn't recommend that you take the plunge.