We used to be friends : a novel

Sometimes your own decisions are the saddest.

I really enjoyed the way the story was constructed, with the dual POVs and the parallel storylines running in both directions in terms of time. It's a really interesting approach that I felt served the story well and really showcased all the little things that, one by one, lead to a friendship breaking.

The very subject of a friendship break up is definitely something that doesn't get enough attention—I don't think I've ever read a book that centers so exclusively around it, and it's such a big thing for actual young adults. Friendships are always important, but childhood friendships you carry into your teens are such a special big deal, and when they either erupt or fizzle out, it's a hard thing to live through. Especially when it happens when there's so much else going on in your lives, and our late teens tend to be the period when there's always a lot going on, even in the healthiest of environments, because adulthood is scary and inevitable and everything keeps changing.

I appreciated how the author showed both points of view without the narrative taking sides, and how distinct both girls' voices felt. Still, I found myself sympathizing with James a lot more, even though both girls definitely messed up, each in their own way. Kat just... seemed so shallow and self-absorbed most of the time, even more so somehow in her own chapters, and while it sucked that James kept big secrets from her and lied by omission, James is clearly the kind of the introverted person that needs to be coaxed gently out of her shell, especially when she suffers a big blow—and she certainly suffered one with her parents' divorce forcing her to impulsively re-evaluate everything about her own life and future. She needed empathy, and Kat was too caught up in herself to truly show it. I do like that throughout the story Kat had to confront that trait of hers numerous times, and not just with James, and she definitely displayed signs of growth. And I can't truly fault her for being a messy teenager dealing with her own very real problems in her own ways. She made me mad a lot, true, but in a way a well-written, well-rounded character makes you mad.

I think I could do with the rest of the cast to be more well-rounded, because there were a lot of people who played a considerable part in the story on one hand and barely had personalities on the other. But overall, this was a really good read that reminded me of some of my own teenage experiences in a nicely bittersweet way.