The Girls from Ames

By: Jeffrey Zaslow

Narrated by: Andrea Gallo

Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the coauthor of the million-copy best seller The Last Lecture comes a moving tribute to female friendships, with the inspiring story of 11 girls and the 10 women they became.

Meet the Ames Girls: eleven childhood friends who formed a special bond growing up in Ames, Iowa. As young women, they moved to eight different states, yet managed to maintain an enduring friendship that would carry them through college and careers, marriage and motherhood, dating and divorce, a child�s illness and the mysterious death of one member of their group. Capturing their remarkable story, The Girls from Ames is a testament to the deep bonds of women as they experience life's joys and challenges - and the power of friendship to triumph over heartbreak and unexpected tragedy.

The girls, now in their 40s, have a lifetime of memories in common, some evocative of their generation and some that will resonate with any woman who has ever had a friend. Recollection by recollection, occasionally with tears and often with great laughter, their sweeping and moving story is shared by Jeffrey Zaslow, Wall Street Journal columnist, as he attempts to define the matchless bonds of female friendship. It demonstrates how close female relationships can shape every aspect of women's lives - their sense of themselves, their choice of men, their need for validation, their relationships with their mothers, their dreams for their daughters - and reveals how such friendships thrive, rewarding those who have committed to them.

The Girls from Ames is the story of a group of ordinary women who built an extraordinary friendship. With both universal insights and deeply personal moments, it is a book that every woman will relate to and be inspired by.

©2009 Jeffrey Zaslow (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Just No

I wondered how a man could write a story of girl's friendships over the years. The characters were surface. I stayed with it for two CD discs and then gave up. Could not relate to any of them. Their stories, but not the characters.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Wanted to love it but didn't

Too many characters to keep track of and too many story lines to keep straight. Thought it would remind me of the group of girls I grew up in a small town with and at times it did. I listed until the end, but I had many false starts as it was hard to get into.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Aimless

I only downloaded this book after my favorite clerk at the local Borders bookstore swore that I would love it or he would personally refund my money. Well, if I had made a purchase, I would be asking for the money back! Sorry, but while I admire their friendship, it's just a boring book. Imagine having to listen to someone talk about their friends and "funny stories" from long ago - well, it's only funny (or interesting) if you were there. Honestly, reading the back of a cereal box would have kept me more entertained. And the narrator sounds as if she is reading to a 3 year old - which only makes the listen even more painful. Skip this one.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Clinical and Stale , Not Chic Lit

I liked the description of this book, so I gave it a chance. I wondered how a man could write a book about female friendships. Now I know, that Jeffrey Zaslow did not pull it off. While this book tries to interweave the story of each girl and their friendship, it is very clinical, literally. The author states many different cilnical studies on female friendships, with facts. Also, in this story the girls are in high school in the 80's and the author uses language like a 1950s housewife. For example, Jane's date was a "Sharp" man. Not the lingo I remember from the 80's, no valley girl speak or trendy words. The only references to the 80s were bands or songs mentioned. The gils ask advise fromt their moms and dads like on "Father knows Best" Or "Leave it To Beaver". I really felt like this book was lost in a 50's sitcom. I really wanted to like this book. It is also hard to swallow that 10 of 11 childhood friends could stay in touch. Or that 11 girls could really be that close of friends. I am only speaking to one out of three of my closest high school friends. Maybe someone else out there really loved this book?

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

We're all "a girl from Ames"

I'm not even finished it and I have to write about how much I love it. I cry every time, sometimes from the story itself, but mostly from the feelings it pulls out about your own childhood friends and the desire to be closely connected to them even still. Friends that grow over your lifetime bring the greatest joy and the greatest support of your life. This book has made me realize that, although my heart knew it already.

Just Meh.

An incredibly boring look at an arbitrary group of life long friends that have done nothing of any importance.
Slightly more tolerable if you listen to it at 3x speed.

Not what we expected

Our book group choose this book anticipating a heartfelt story of the interwoven lives of the eleven women who are approximately our same age. Instead, we were confronted with a decision: continue the slog through this flat, uninteresting book, or come to book group admitting we didn't finish the book. Over half chose the later.

Loved the book

I could not stop listening to this book. I loved the back story of each girl. I felt that it was an honest book about friendships. I loved the intermingling of statistic facts on friendships and women within the story. The parts taking place in the 70's and 80's were great reminders of what we were thinking about as young girls.

Disappointed

I loved The Last Lecture and my sister said I would like this. She read the book. Might be better that way but the reader certainly did nothing at all to bring the book to life. I think she actually brought the book down several notces. I will get the book from my local library and give it another try.

awful

This book is bad! It does not develop the friendships at all. I have listened to half of it and am here shopping for a new book. I will not finish it. I have no idea who anyone is. There is very little character development but lots of statistics about friendships. Worse thing I have ever listened to.