I’m very excited to share with you all my review of Big Friendship: How we keep each other close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman. This is a book I want to gift to all my friends!
Synopsis
A close friendship is one of the most influential and important relationships a human life can contain. Anyone will tell you that! But for all the rosy sentiments surrounding friendship, most people don’t talk much about what it really takes to stay close for the long haul.
Now two friends, Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, tell the story of their equally messy and life-affirming Big Friendship in this honest and hilarious book that chronicles their first decade in one another’s lives. As the hosts of the hit podcast Call Your Girlfriend, they’ve become known for frank and intimate conversations. In this book, they bring that energy to their own friendship—its joys and its pitfalls.
An inspiring and entertaining testament to the power of society’s most underappreciated relationship, Big Friendship will invite you to think about how your own bonds are formed, challenged, and preserved. It is a call to value your friendships in all of their complexity. Actively choose them. And, sometimes, fight for them.
Why did I choose to read this book
I haven’t seen many books about friendship so when I saw this one I knew I had to read it.
Rating
Read NOW! (Check out my non-fiction rating scale)
My Thoughts
This book will make you call your BFF immediately and will make you want to gift this book to all your close friends. I hadn’t been an avid listener of the author’s podcast before and hadn’t heard much about them but now I’m a fan and I’m looking forward to listening to their podcast on a regular basis.
There are so many resources and discussions about family dynamics and romantic relationships but the topic of friendship doesn’t get the attention it deserves. This book digs deep into how friendships come together and fall apart, the struggles of interracial friendships, and how friendships take work. They do this through telling their personal friendship story from when they met to the struggles they faced and how they saved their friendship.
The book is written in one cohesive voice and I loved how they did that. I listened to the audio book, which is narrated by both authors. You feel like you’re just chatting with friends. I recommend the audio book format!
The good thing is that if you read this book and love it there’s more content from them you can read and listen to. You can read this article about “shine theory” which is discussed in more detail in the book and listen to their podcast Call your girlfriend.
Who I recommend this book to
Anyone! Women in their 30s will find this friendship particularly relatable. However, I think anyone would take something away from this great book.
Get the book!
Did this review of Big Friendship convince you to read it? You can get the book from Bookshop.org here. Please consider ordering it from a Black owned independent bookstore. This list of Black owned independent bookstores accepts online ordering.
I love the premise of this book! It reminds me of a book I read a few years ago called “Frientimacy” by Shasta Nelson. Friendships need nurturing too and I love seeing more books on this topic!