Meg Rosoff creates a wonderful story about coming of age. Beth is referred to as a “bumpkin,” moving to New York City for a prestigious summer internship at a newspaper where she meets fellow intern Edie. What follows is an intense and domineering friendship.

I enjoyed Beth as the narrator, she is smart and funny. Her naivety makes her experiences more believable, and I felt sympathy for her as her struggles and negative experiences are ignored by Edie. Beth views herself as inferior to everyone around her. In her eyes, Edie is charismatic, intelligent, opinionated, and beautiful. Beth is immediately swept away by Edie and we do see her confidence in herself grow. Both characters are Jewish, and both portray a very different background. Edie comes from a very wealthy family of established New York society. Beth’s family are survivors of the Holocaust, and are haunted by the past. Edie is condescending to Beth about her heritage, viewing herself as a better Jew by passing snide comments or telling Beth directly.

I will say I was not alive during the 80’s, but from what I know I think Rosoff captured New York brilliantly. She creates a vivid and real New York, sweltering in summer heat, with the AIDs epidemic sweeping across the county. The only part I didn’t enjoy was the “reveal.” I felt that the betrayal was not what I had expected, I was thinking it would be bigger. However, it was still a captivating book that is perfect for a summer read.

I loved Rosoff's previous novel, The Great Godden, finding it to be a transporting but literary summer read -- something I find hard to find! So I was intrigued when I heard the author had another loosely YA summer based book coming out, and thought a book set in NYC in the 80s about teens working in the field of journalism would be just the ticket.

So it's with a heavy heart that I report that this was slow moving, featured cliched characters and failed to hold my interest. I didn't buy Edie and Beth's friendship, and thought Beth sounded more like someone in her mid 20s than a teenager. Some of the descriptive writing was good, and 80s NYC felt well evoked, but I wouldn't rush to recommend this novel.

Beth is in her late teens and has an opportunity to work as an Intern on a prestigious New York publication. Whilst there she meets fellow interns, OllIe, Dan and Eddie. The adage 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer' is certainly true in this book. An interesting tale of a summer experience in New York.

What a brilliant book! I devoured it in just a couple of sittings and found myself desperate to know what twists and turns were coming next to Beth. When she arrives in Manhattan in June, 1982, she’s all set to start a summer internship with a prestigious New York newspaper. Into her life comes Edie - neurotic, daring and basically everything Beth isn’t but thinks she might want to be. So begins the story of Beth’s summer, and how quickly we can lose our innocence when we step out into the ‘real world’.

The characters are believable, the locations are instantly conjured in your mind, and the descriptions of Manhattan’s overwhelming heat of the summer will make you reach for a cold drink. This is a perfect holiday read and one I’d recommend to anyone who’s ever been young.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another treat from the reliable Rpsoff. She writes complex characters so well and here creates a vivid sense of place in early '80's New York - it is not a surprise to learn she worked in this world herself. I think, like so many of her books, this will probably be enjoyed by adult readers rather than teens - her work requires life experience and hindsight. I loved it.

I have read several of Meg Rosoff's other novels and this one didn't disappoint. Set in New York in the 1980's we follow 18-year old Beth, as she learns to find her feet in the adult world. Beth has won a prestigious internship at a New York newspaper, along with three others (Dan, Oliver and Edie). Edie and Beth very quickly become best friends, however Edie is not how she appears and it takes Beth sometime to realise this - and their friendship, all-consuming at the start, eventually implodes.. As the reader we experience being part of the adult world for the first time alongside Beth, and her whilst she doesn't always make the best choices, her choices are realistic and understandable. A great read for year 10 and above, some of the content is not suitable for younger readers.

Friends Like These concerns the good and the bad of being led on, how new friends and lovers can’t all be what you want them to be, especially when they are too good to be true. Beth’s adventure takes place over a thumping hot summer in 1983. She has won a prestigious internship at a Manhattan newspaper. New York’s livid colours glimmer through the relentless grime, and Beth and her new best friend lurch from the oppressive heat to chilled interiors. The AIDS crisis is a constant spectre in the background. What struck me about this elegantly written book was the maturity of its young characters. They flaunt their fake IDs to get vodka and already seem jaded with drug taking, boozing, and fucking casual acquaintances. The latter are often so peripheral in the story that they have little more impact than the anonymous roaches scuttling away in Beth’s first shared away-from-home accommodation.
Despite some very witty writing that carries you along, the characters remain symbolic rather than emotional flesh and blood. Beth cries, laughs, and questions but can’t shake off being a bit of a cardboard cut-out—the inexperienced girl up from the sticks. She is a Dorothy in Oz type, amazed, discovering friendship can be smoke and mirrors. The newspaper, the epicentre of dreams and ambitions, is similarly insubstantial. News is turned out by a bunch of nondescript overworked people competing for supremacy and Pulitzer prizes in an office like a fantastical but pointless labyrinth with no way in and the constant threat of being ejected for not being good enough. Beth’s self is no firm foundation for knowledge. All she can conclude from her experiences is that liars tell the best stories.

FRIENDS LIKE THESE by Meg Rosoff follows Beth, just before her first year of university, she travels from her hometown to New York to undertake an internship at a prestigious newspaper in the 1980s. There, she meets Edie - a confident, flamboyant young woman just like her who takes Beth under her wing, or so she thinks.

Rosoff's novel explores how finding your voice away from your home can be tough, especially when you can't trust those around you. There are moments of stillness and reflection, as well as explosive developments and intriguing characters.

Overall, FRIENDS LIKE THESE is an enjoyable, breezy read - it may not pack an emotional punch or challenge the reader to think, well, anything. But perhaps that is the point.

I didn't realise this was a YA novel but still found it completely charming and would definitely rec it to my niece one she's old enough. The problem was the description made it sound really dark when in fact it was a quite harmless novel about kids growing up in a hot summer in NYC. Have a word with yourselves copywriters - lolz - don't have to make everything sound like A Little Life to sell it!

A confusing experience. The setting is deliciously evocative but the characters and stories don't quite live up to it. Beth's subsumption into Edie's life is so complete that the event's of Beth's own life are muted and distant - this is clever, but frustrating for me as a reader, because Edie isn't really that compelling, except to poor Beth!

I loved the descriptions of New York as a whole, and of the publishing house in particular - it's hard not to wish to have been there myself, no matter how dirty, exhausting and sweaty an experience it might have been.

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book is set in NYC in the 1980's.

I love books set in this era as it is when I was growing up (although not in New York)

I really enjoyed this book. it was so easy to read.

A great Summer read

Beth arrives in New York in the summer of 1983 to take up an journalist internship. Everything is big, bright, hot, seedy and brash and Beth finds herself quickly forming friendships with the other interns and finding her place in the city.

I loved this. I am surprised by how much I loved this. Rosoff captures that time in life as a brand new adult with almost painful authenticity. I loved Beth. She will stay in my head.

This was a gorgeous read, beautifully written, I felt like I was there in early ' 80s NYC. I'm going to make my teenage daughter read it next. A book that will appeal to all ages. Loved it.

The Great Godden was one of my favourite books of 2020 so I was really looking forward to reading Friends Like These, but unfortunately was disappointed. This feels like it was written by a completely different author and seemed to be lacking. The premise itself is great; early 1980s New York, a young naive woman making her way, a worldly wise friend and the potential for a great coming of age story.

Unfortunately much of the premise was under utilised. There was so much potential to recreate the vibrancy of the time period but aside from the mentions of the prevalence of AIDs the book could have been set in any era. Beth's coming of age is skimmed over and the denouement felt rushed and lacked satisfaction. I did like the oppressive heat of the summer and the clever playing off of characters against one another from Edie but overall it just felt a little insipid and it lacked a bit of oomph.

Meg Rossoff tackles life in 1980s New York in her latest book, Friends Like These, but I wasn't greatly enamoured. It is a sultry summer when 18-year-old Beth begins an internship at a prestigious journal alongside three other young hopefuls. She ends up being best friends with and sharing the home of cool, charismatic Edie, pines after handsome, preppy Oliver and tries to befriend ruthless, ambitious Dan.

This is a coming-of-age story with a toxic relationship at its heart that didn't grab me as much as I hoped it would. 1980s New York was indeed the place to be and Friends Like These seemed to barely touch the surface paying only lip service to AIDs for example, which was already decimating the lives of so many gay people.

Friends Like These may appeal to readers of Sally Rooney and Louise O'Neill, albeit in the completely different worlds of Dublin and New York, as the rites-of-passage remain the same the world over. Many thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

There’s something about this book that I found so alluring and captivating. It evoked a real sense of nostalgia for me for my youth, even though I didn’t spent a summer in NYC in 1983 (I was three years of age) - such is the power of good storytelling.

This relatively short novel evokes a time and place in your life where you’ve hit adulthood, you have your first taste of independence and you’re finding your sense of self and your way in the world. Anyone who spent a summer abroad in a hot climate in their late teenage years will find something in this book that evokes vivid memories of those days.

So what’s the book about? Beth is 18, it’s the summer before college, and she has landed an internship with a newspaper in NYC.

New York is in the grip of the AIDS and crime epidemic, it’s a stifling, sweltering summer and Beth moves into a cockroach-infested apartment determined to make the most of it. She meets Edie, a fellow intern at the paper and the two embark on a friendship that takes on a toxic quality as the summer progresses.

Categorised as YA but really it’s a coming of age story and nobody is ever too old for that, Friends Like These is an assured, intoxicating, atmospheric read that will have you part-yearning for your youth, part-glad to be through those heady, complicated/uncomplicated times. Perfect summer reading. 4/5 ⭐️

*Friends Like These by Meg Rosoff was published this week by @bloomsburypublishing and is available is all good bookshops, libraries and on ebook. Many thanks to @netgalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC.

No one writes coming of age stories like Meg Rosoff. Her prose is sharp, her narrators always aloof, but astute.
In "Friends Like These", provincial Beth comes to New York for the summer before she starts university, having been accepted as an intern at a newspaper.
Rosoff recreates a vivid picture of 80s New York, with all its diversity, its excesses and its promiscuity, and the constant, looming threat of AIDS. She paints a harsh picture of the upper classes - cruel, self-involved but also self-loathing. Beth learns to navigate this alien world, with some traumatic encounters along the way.

Like "The Great Godden", "Friends Like These" is hard to define in terms of readership: is it young adult fiction, is it adult fiction, is it crossover? Her books are to YA what books like Sally Rooney 's "Normal People" or Françoise Sagan's "BonjourTristesse" are to Adult fiction - they exist somewhere in between. This makes sense, as the protagonists are also somewhere in between - not teenagers anymore, but not quite adults. Rosoff excels at writing these characters and this is no exception. An engrossing, captivating read

Friends like these is fabulous. A quick read that throws you into the maelstrom of 80s New York through the eyes of Beth as she begins a summer intern at a prestigious newspaper. At once naïve and worldly, Beth is swept up in the newness of her life and the opportunities for firsts.. Propelled into the orbit of the confident Edie, Beth begins to spread her wings, safe in the knowledge that her new found friend will be there by her side. With a rich blend of sass and acute observation, Rosoff conjures up a sweltering New York that is both inviting and oppressive, freeing and stifling to the point when Beth is unsure of what path is the right one for her and which relationships are the ones to be trusted.

A perfect summer read.

A wonderful summer read - a coming of age story set in New York in 1982. Beautifully sensual and atmospheric!

Beth has arrived in Manhattan for a journalism internship at a leading magazine. She is eighteen and, though excited at the opportunity and potential, is full of trepidation. She seems naive and innocent in the hothouse that is the city of New York.

Things don't start well. Her accommodation is far from comfortable and her flatmates are intimidating. Then she has to get used to the other interns in the office.

But she seems to find a soulmate in the worldly Edie who quickly shows Beth how to get on in the workplace and to live life to full. Until Beth realises that their friendship isn't all that she thought it was.

This is a fantastic book! You really feel the hot, hot summer of the city, with all the noise and bustle, and the food...the food...!

Edie's workplace advice to Beth is brilliant, and Beth herself I found completely relatable. Both young women were convincing and sympathetic.

From the very first sentence I was hooked and couldn't put it down, feeling bereft when I came to the end. Loved it!

This is a short, compelling novel about a toxic friendship between two young women. I got My Brilliant Friend vibes from the description and whilst the reading experience didn’t totally match up to that, there was a lot I liked about it - the sense of place, the way you see things from Beth’s perspective (which felt authentic), the way the central relationships unfolded.

If fast moving plots are your thing then it’s probably not the book for you - I spent a lot of the first half wondering if the story was going anywhere. But I was hooked enough to continue and found by the final quarter I was absolutely gripped. Overall I’m very happy I read this one and have already recommended it to a couple of friends & colleagues.

Having read Meg Rosoff’s last YA novel, ‘The Great Godden’, which I loved, I was hoping that ‘Friends Like These’ would be in a similar vein. Unfortunately, it isn’t. Yes, it’s good, and yes, I enjoyed it, but it’s in a different league.

Here, we meet Beth, newly arrived in NYC, in the heady days of a sweltering 1980s summer, as she starts an internship for a newspaper. She meets Dan and Oliver, and Edie - someone who befriends her and becomes a big part of her new life.

To begin with, when Beth moves from Greenwich Village, from hideous squalor, to Edie’s parents’ apartment on the Upper West Side. Edie is very different to Beth - and these differences become clear quite quickly.

Even though this tells the story of Beth’s life and the way it transforms from her suburban Rhode Island existence, I found some of it implausible - and not that interesting. The promotion of this book makes it sound like Beth gets caught up in a life which is, well, life-changing - but it isn’t really. Rosoff does pay lip service to the dreadful AIDS epidemic which affected so many New Yorkers in the 1980s but, to me, it seems as if she is ticking a box, rather than dealing with such a momentous time in our modern history.

This is a quick and easy read and there are some issues here which will be helpful to YA readers. However, I found it clunky and not that interesting - compared, as I said, go ‘The Great Godden’ which brilliantly depicts a summer for one family. Hopefully, Rosoff’s next book will be more engaging.