Review: With Friends Like These by Sally Koslow

Before husbands, before babies, before life claimed other loyalties, it started with a wish.  Each of them wanted a place to return to that they could call home, a nest where they could hatch and polish their dreams.

They didn’t say it even to themselves — they might not even have realized it — but most of all they wanted friends. (from With Friends Like These, page 3)

Sally Koslow’s latest novel, With Friends Like These, opens with four very different women deciding to share an apartment in New York City.  Fast forward several years, and the women are still close friends, despite the responsibilities of husbands, children, and jobs.  But the friendships are tested by selfish decisions.

Quincy, a ghostwriter determined to find the perfect apartment to share with her lawyer husband, Jake, learns of a co-op in Central Park West whose owner is dying and looking to sell quickly and quietly.  She falls in love with the unit, and despite mourning a recent miscarriage, dares to dream that the extra space would be perfect for them to start a family.  Excited about finding an affordable apartment in an exclusive building, Quincy tells Jules, an actress/hand model whose boyfriend, Arthur, lives in the same building.  Believing Arthur would want a chance to snag a better view, Jules tells Arthur about the apartment, and he is determined to have it for himself.

Talia and Chloe seem to be happy working together in an ad agency, but when Talia takes a message from a headhunter meant for Chloe, she doesn’t pass it on.  With her husband, Tom, intent on finishing school and sending their son, Henry, to a private school, Talia knows they can’t make it on her paycheck alone.  A new job with a larger income would come in handy, and she doesn’t feel guilty because Chloe’s husband, Xander, is a financial executive making tons of money.  Chloe, meanwhile, feels her son, Dashiel, isn’t as smart as Henry, and when both boys are competing for a spot in the same school, she considers whether it is right to let Xander use his money and connections to give Dashiel an edge.

“With friends like these, who needs enemies?” was a question I asked over and over as I read this book.  These women were incredibly selfish and uncaring toward their best friends, making it difficult for me to like them.  However, Koslow does a great job making her characters real, showing the good along with the bad so it’s not black and white.  The real issue here is whether a friendship is strong enough to forgive all wrongs, or is there a point when the pain is too much and ties must be cut?

Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the women, so readers really get inside their heads.  Koslow gives each of them a unique voice, making known their motivations, frustrations, sorrows, and guilt.  The characters are well developed, and I got to know them enough that I was fairly certain how things would turn out.  Koslow stays true to these women until the very end, and even though I couldn’t identify with them and struggled to like them, I was sad when their stories concluded.

With Friends Like These should prompt readers to assess their own friendships.  If you’re like me, you’ll deem your life pretty boring and tame compared to the lives of Koslow’s characters.  For me, that’s a good thing, as it minimizes the drama.  But drama makes for good reading, and in this respect, Koslow doesn’t disappoint.  While I didn’t love it like I loved The Late, Lamented Molly Marx, With Friends Like These shows that Koslow is a talented writer of women’s fiction.

Disclosure: I received a copy of With Friends Like These from the author and Ballantine Books for review purposes. I am an Amazon associate.

© 2010 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.