Let me start by saying that my friend loved this book and gave it to me to read. Unfortunately, I thought the two characters were a couple of idiots and I wouldn't have even finished it except that my friend wanted me to. Maybe you'll like it as much as her.

The story tracks two young women who meet as dorm roommates in college in 1973. They are from different regions and backgrounds but forge a strong friendship. The years pass, the women become professionals but still maintain a friendship, with one always going to visit the other in LA. Secrets in the LA family threaten to ruin one of them.

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Although I read the whole book, I didn't really âget into it.â (I have a hard time leaving books unread even if I don't really like them.) There just wasn't enough depth to any of the charactersâ¦they seemed so two-dimensional. Although the book is supposed to be about the staying power of women's friendships, my thoughts are that Sally and Clare are friends because no one else would really like them.

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If you are focused on worldly things, I guess this book fills the bill. Very depressing for those of us who want more. I am ashamed that I had to finish it. This author could do better if she left out the pure nastiness in several parts of the book.

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This book was okay but if you really want a book about enduring friendship, read Between Friends by Debbie Macomber.

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I was so disappointed to see such negative reviews on this book. I really liked this book and recommend it to anyone. I thought this book was really enjoyable, well-written and absorbing.

Yes, the protagonist is annoyingly focused on her work and unmotherly. I guess I like having to search for the good in characters. Sally, however, was real and fully drawn and was someone I would totally want to befriend.

Some of Moody's turns of phrase are still whirling around my little brain.

Also, the drama? That's probably what made it a bestseller. People generally eat that sort of thing up. Me, included I guess.

A great beach read or anytime read. I really enjoyed this book and I feel badly that some of these reviews are so vitriolic. I think the author is talented.

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Oberlin College, Ohio, 1973 - When Clare Mann arrives at Oberlin, she is absolutely ecstatic to be on her own finally. She lives in a small Ohio town somewhere between Akron and Youngstown, but the novelty of being even an hour away from home thrills her. Clare first meets Sally Rose - a transplant from Los Angeles - at freshman orientation and they are basically thrown together as college roommates.

Clare, the daughter of a Protestant, working-class family from Ohio, has never met anyone like her new roommate, Sally. Wealthy and beautiful; and Jewish, Sally is barely emancipated from her close-knit Los Angeles family, and has led an otherwise sheltered life. She is utterly foreign to the hard-working, jaded Clare - and utterly fascinating.

Clare's fascination with Sally only intensifies, when she brings Clare home to Los Angeles to meet the Rose family. Sid Rose, Sally's father, is charismatic, charming; the owner of a profitable business which is shrouded in secrecy. He is almost as compelling a figure to Clare as he is to his own daughter. California seems like a veritable paradise after spending winters in Ohio; and soon Clare begins to look forward to these visits with an almost desperate enthusiasm; to the numerous carefree rides in Sally's Kharmann Ghia and the seemingly endless lazy days spent poolside.

Despite their many differences, the free-spirited Clare and a frequently homesick Sally soon overcome their mutual bafflement with each other to form an extraordinary friendship; a complicated, but tenacious bond that endures through the years. As the years pass, Clare becomes a doctor and Sally a lawyer; but they always remain roommates at heart, just a plane ride or a phone call away. Marriages and divorces, births and deaths do not separate them; but secrets just might - for as Clare watches, the Rose family begins to slowly disintegrate before her eyes. And the things she knows are the kinds of things that no one ever wants to tell a best friend.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book; the story was totally engrossing and I almost didn't want it to end. With the various plot twists, intrigue, secrets and intricate family dynamics, this story held my interest right until the end. As I've said before, I always enjoy reading stories about families, and most especially about the enduring friendships between women.

I give Best Friends by Martha Moody an A+! This is Ms. Moody's debut novel, and I'm delighted to say that I have her next book - The Office of Desire - somewhere on my bookshelf as well. In my opinion, she is quite an excellent writer.

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I loved this book. It's not for everyone. The main characters are very complex and not always likeable...but very real. It's not a neat tidy story and so if you need a clean story with a wrapped up ending this may not be the book for you.

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It took me a little while to read, but I enjoyed it. It's a great book about two friends and their friendship throughout the years.

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Being from OHIO I could register with Clare Mann who meets her college roomate At Oberlin College in Cleveland. Their friendship moves through several decades. I enjoyed this book very much.

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