Reviews for I know just what you mean

The average rating for I know just what you mean based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-09-22 00:00:00 Rosemarie Murphy I liked some parts of this book a lot. Others not so interesting. Some of the great quotes... P 155 "A time of superficiality"  "So we know that women's lives go through a striking number of transitions, none of which may be permanent.  It's no surprise that we leave friends scattered by the roadside.  But life is long, and the transitions that seem so stark at one point in a life may fade.  If there is one thing we have seen it's the possibility and importance of allowing differences, keeping the elasticity of the bounds we don't want to break".  P 165 "We want it real, not nice, yet it is so hard to stay in the real.  And so hard to hear the real.  The tension between being nice and being real is profound...  Women want friendship to be "nice" too.  In friendships, women tell themselves, relationships can move smoothly.  No conflict need apply.  But real relationships come with inevitable scrapes, nicks and the middle-sized wounds.  They come with disconnection.  They come with conflict and hurt and even betrayal.  "Real" includes everything from a birthday that is forgotten, a criticism that cuts to the quick, a secret accidently blown,  a piece of gossip believed, a promise unfulfilled, a breach of loyalty.  "it is a mistake to believe that intimate friendships will always run smoothly... Long term friendships have their difficult periods, what makes them endure is not the absence of conflict, but the skill of each friend in handling anger and resolving conflicts constructively."

Review # 2 was written on 2018-03-03 00:00:00 Joseph Madel The praise quoted on the back cover of this book is well-deserved: intelligent, fresh, warm and honest... Yet not an easy book to critique or review. Brilliantly written it leads the reader down avenues of myriad types of friendships and what friendship means to any or all of us in similar and different ways. It can possibly even stir envy of or longing for a deep and special friend- relationship in one's life. It also covers female friendships in general. There are poignant moments of friendship and then there's "The Bad Stuff". The authors also give a stab at dissecting the difference between male and female friendships - interesting analyses - always and everything sensitively done. . At times - for me - a little long in the tooth, and maudlin. That said, I enjoyed reading this book and admire the authors for a well thought out subject and for friendship's sake helping each other writing it, together or alternately.