Friendships in books
Jul. 4th, 2013 12:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerAaaaages ago, I made a post about female friendship in books, and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladyherenya asked for a list of books that I thought did female friendship particularly well. I meant to, but forgot about it until now, when watching 2 Broke Girls brought it to mind again. Max and Caroline have the loveliest friendship. I love it when Max says something totally outrageous and Caroline gets this “trying not to smile because it will only encourage you” smile.
It occurs to me that lists of TV shows and movies that do female friendship well would be fun too. But all three in one post would be unspeakably long, so for now I will stick to books.
(Seriously, though, I love making lists. Ask me to list things! Please!)
First of all: all of Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s books! Particularly The Changeling, which is my benchmark for a great children’s book about friendship. Martha and Ivy seem so different - Martha is shy and weepy and lives in a huge suburban house, while Ivy is lively and outspoken and comes from the wrong side of the freeway.
But in the things that matter, in imagination and spirit and friendship, Ivy and Martha are the same.
The Egypt Game captures a similar dynamic, two girls who seem quite different but bond over a shared love of imagination; and of course the Greensky Trilogy, or at least the first two books of it, has wonderful friendships of every possible kind, but for the purposes of this list, Pomma and Teera’s ability to reach across cultural differences is stunning. (I think the first two Greensky books are so good that they are worth reading, even though the third one doesn’t quite work.)
On a quite opposite note: Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, which is perhaps an odd choice, because Catherine and Isabella’s friendship doesn’t end up working out. But it’s so well-observed and funny and yet a little heartbreaking to see Catherine’s realization that Isabella is actually not a good person, and has perhaps just been using her - because perhaps Isabellas interacts with everyone by using them.
And, after all, sometimes friendships don’t work out. Sometimes one befriends someone as self-centered and thoughtless as Isabella only to meet someone who is truly kind and thoughtful, like Eleanor Tilney, later, and it’s all right to let the older friendship go. Jaclyn Moriarty’s Feeling Sorry for Celia offers a similar trajectory.
Speaking of Jaclyn Moriarty! For a friendship that pays off famously, Lydia, Cassie, and Emily from The Year of Secret Assignments - I can’t think of any other all-female friendship trios in books off the top of my head. Anyone else got anything? There are four girls in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books, but I only like the first book in the series - the girls’ friendship remains fine, actually, it’s everything else that goes wrong - so I am disinclined to list it.
And of course, of course, Maddie and Julie from Code Name Verity.
Ella and Areida from Ella Enchanted. How do I not have a post about this book yet? Clearly I must fix this! But one of the things I really like about this book is that it takes a fairy tale that can say very problematic things about women's relationships to each other, and between Areida and Mandy rather changes that around for Ella.
Sara, Ermengarde, and Becky from A Little Princess. Another book I ought to have a post about. What I particularly like is how Sara’s friendships develop: in the beginning she is a benefactress to both her classmate Ermengarde and the maid Becky, but after Sara’s trials begin, they both find the strength to help her in turn.
As I am on a “How in the name of God do I not have a post about this book yet?” roll: I also love Mel and Nee’s friendship in Sherwood Smith’s Crown Duel. It’s actually a reasonably small subplot, but it’s central to Mel’s success at court; and I’m just so impressed that Nee becomes such a memorable character in a book crowded with wonderful characters jostling for attention.
A few books I totally have posted about:
Jinna and Priscilla in Dori Jones Yang’s The Secret Voice of Gina Zhang
Rosemary and Mrs. DiAngeli in Frances M. Wood’s Becoming Rosemary (bonus points here for an intergenerational friendship!)
Alzyon and Gilly in Alyzon Whitestarr - I didn’t write about Alyzon and Gilly’s friendship much in my original review, partly because there is so much in this book that is awesome and partly because it seems almost unfair to mention Gilly without Alyzon’s other friends. I just love all the friendships in this book.
Janey and Lupe in Blue Willow
And finally, an adult book! Because I read them, once in a blue moon or so. Another one with a sad friendship, but an excellent book nonetheless: Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which has bonus awesome China things. And penpals!
It strikes me, looking over this list, that there is a definite pattern here. I am awfully fond of stories about girls who seem quite different but are ultimately drawn together by their common fund of imagination and kindness.
ladyherenya asked for a list of books that I thought did female friendship particularly well. I meant to, but forgot about it until now, when watching 2 Broke Girls brought it to mind again. Max and Caroline have the loveliest friendship. I love it when Max says something totally outrageous and Caroline gets this “trying not to smile because it will only encourage you” smile. It occurs to me that lists of TV shows and movies that do female friendship well would be fun too. But all three in one post would be unspeakably long, so for now I will stick to books.
(Seriously, though, I love making lists. Ask me to list things! Please!)
First of all: all of Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s books! Particularly The Changeling, which is my benchmark for a great children’s book about friendship. Martha and Ivy seem so different - Martha is shy and weepy and lives in a huge suburban house, while Ivy is lively and outspoken and comes from the wrong side of the freeway.
But in the things that matter, in imagination and spirit and friendship, Ivy and Martha are the same.
The Egypt Game captures a similar dynamic, two girls who seem quite different but bond over a shared love of imagination; and of course the Greensky Trilogy, or at least the first two books of it, has wonderful friendships of every possible kind, but for the purposes of this list, Pomma and Teera’s ability to reach across cultural differences is stunning. (I think the first two Greensky books are so good that they are worth reading, even though the third one doesn’t quite work.)
On a quite opposite note: Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, which is perhaps an odd choice, because Catherine and Isabella’s friendship doesn’t end up working out. But it’s so well-observed and funny and yet a little heartbreaking to see Catherine’s realization that Isabella is actually not a good person, and has perhaps just been using her - because perhaps Isabellas interacts with everyone by using them.
And, after all, sometimes friendships don’t work out. Sometimes one befriends someone as self-centered and thoughtless as Isabella only to meet someone who is truly kind and thoughtful, like Eleanor Tilney, later, and it’s all right to let the older friendship go. Jaclyn Moriarty’s Feeling Sorry for Celia offers a similar trajectory.
Speaking of Jaclyn Moriarty! For a friendship that pays off famously, Lydia, Cassie, and Emily from The Year of Secret Assignments - I can’t think of any other all-female friendship trios in books off the top of my head. Anyone else got anything? There are four girls in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books, but I only like the first book in the series - the girls’ friendship remains fine, actually, it’s everything else that goes wrong - so I am disinclined to list it.
And of course, of course, Maddie and Julie from Code Name Verity.
Ella and Areida from Ella Enchanted. How do I not have a post about this book yet? Clearly I must fix this! But one of the things I really like about this book is that it takes a fairy tale that can say very problematic things about women's relationships to each other, and between Areida and Mandy rather changes that around for Ella.
Sara, Ermengarde, and Becky from A Little Princess. Another book I ought to have a post about. What I particularly like is how Sara’s friendships develop: in the beginning she is a benefactress to both her classmate Ermengarde and the maid Becky, but after Sara’s trials begin, they both find the strength to help her in turn.
As I am on a “How in the name of God do I not have a post about this book yet?” roll: I also love Mel and Nee’s friendship in Sherwood Smith’s Crown Duel. It’s actually a reasonably small subplot, but it’s central to Mel’s success at court; and I’m just so impressed that Nee becomes such a memorable character in a book crowded with wonderful characters jostling for attention.
A few books I totally have posted about:
Jinna and Priscilla in Dori Jones Yang’s The Secret Voice of Gina Zhang
Rosemary and Mrs. DiAngeli in Frances M. Wood’s Becoming Rosemary (bonus points here for an intergenerational friendship!)
Alzyon and Gilly in Alyzon Whitestarr - I didn’t write about Alyzon and Gilly’s friendship much in my original review, partly because there is so much in this book that is awesome and partly because it seems almost unfair to mention Gilly without Alyzon’s other friends. I just love all the friendships in this book.
Janey and Lupe in Blue Willow
And finally, an adult book! Because I read them, once in a blue moon or so. Another one with a sad friendship, but an excellent book nonetheless: Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which has bonus awesome China things. And penpals!
It strikes me, looking over this list, that there is a definite pattern here. I am awfully fond of stories about girls who seem quite different but are ultimately drawn together by their common fund of imagination and kindness.
