Best of Friends
A Novel
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3.4 • 10 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
“A profound novel about friendship. I loved it to pieces.” —Madeline Miller
“A shining tour de force about a long friendship’s respects, disrespects, loyalties and moralities.” —Ali Smith
From the acclaimed author of Home Fire, the moving and surprising story of a lifelong friendship and the forces that bring it to the breaking point
Zahra and Maryam have been best friends since childhood in Karachi, even though—or maybe because—they are unlike in nearly every way. Yet they never speak of the differences in their backgrounds or their values, not even after the fateful night when a moment of adolescent impulse upends their plans for the future.
Three decades later, Zahra and Maryam have grown into powerful women who have each cut a distinctive path through London. But when two troubling figures from their past resurface, they must finally confront their bedrock differences—and find out whether their friendship can survive.
Thought-provoking, compassionate, and full of unexpected turns, Best of Friends offers a riveting take on an age-old question: Does principle or loyalty make for the better friend?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Pakistani British novelist Kamila Shamsie follows her international breakthrough, Home Fire, with a thoughtful examination of female friendship in a repressive culture, exploring how class and politics can strain even the strongest relationships. In Karachi, Pakistan, in 1988, 14-year-olds Zahra and Maryam are lifelong BFFs, despite wealthy Maryam’s future as the head of her family business being assured while the bookish, middle-class Zahra has to fight for any possible advantage. Then one night, an impulsive act of teenage rebellion ends in an incident that changes their lives forever. Thirty years later in London, the women face down not only what happened that night but how their equally successful but politically divergent paths could potentially destroy a decades-long bond. Shamsie writes for the senses, whether the setting is a rundown chip shop or the country home of England’s prime minister, and she has an unerring ear for how men and women can speak differently—even when they’re speaking about the same thing. Both thoughtful and exciting, this is a novel worth savoring.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shamsie follows her Women's Prize–winning Home Fire with a nuanced meditation on a lifelong friendship. In 1988 Karachi, best friends Zahra and Maryam, both 14, come of age in the last days of the Zia dictatorship. Zahra is bookish and middle class, while Maryam is worldlier and wealthier. One night they make an impulsive decision to get into a stranger's car with their classmate Hammad. The girls have differing perspectives on what happened next, and Shamsie hints that there was danger. Then, after Benazir Bhutto is elected Prime Minister, the girls are swept up in the country's wave of elation. The second half is set in 2019 London, where Zahra is head of the Center for Civil Liberties and Maryam is a venture capitalist. Their circumstances may have changed dramatically, but their friendship remains strong until the surprise reappearance of Hammad, who dredges up the fallout from that night in the car 30 years earlier. Though the revelations aren't that surprising, Shamsie is perceptive when it comes to picking apart the nuances of the women's shifting dynamic. It's not the author's best, but it shows her to be a consistently thoughtful writer.
Customer Reviews
Did not enjoy
I thought this book was boring and confusing. While I realize I may be in the minority, I did not enjoy it and do not recommend.