Book Review: "When We Were Friends" by Jane Green

“To think I may have found a best friend after a five-minute chat, an unlikely meeting in the bathroom of a bar.”

It’s funny how some friendships feel just like dating at the start. You meet someone, you like them, you hope they like you back. Quite often there’s that delicate dance at first, you don’t want to seem too eager.

Lucy is newly divorced, trying to reinvent herself, when she goes to a bar one night with a group of women with whom she has very little in common. She immediately feels out of place and wonders how soon she can go home.

A quick trip to the restroom brings her face to face with Elle. She’s younger and more vibrant, but Lucy recognizes a kindred spirit. After some conversation, they realize they have more in common than Lucy would have imagined, and they make plans for later in the week.

It’s not long before the two become inseparable. For Lucy, Elle fills a void that had existed for some time. She makes Lucy feel like she can conquer anything, and they’re even planning to work together. But after Lucy brings Elle to a party, things veer off-course, and Elle disappears. Lucy mourns the loss of this friend, until she runs into her again and realizes that as close as they were, she doesn’t know Elle at all.

I enjoy Jane Green’s writing, but this felt very incomplete for me. Having Elle’s perspective—although her motivations were quite clear—would have made this more interesting. But it definitely reinforced my belief that you can never truly know someone.