Friendship

Bev and Amy are best friends, but now, at age 30, life has not turned out as either had hoped. Bev’s engagement went sour when she found out her fiancé was cheating on her, and now she’s living in a tiny apartment with roommates, struggling to make ends meet as a temp. Amy was once an influential blogger, but she offended the wrong person and lost her job; now she works for a floundering website aimed at hip Jews called Yidster. They vent to each other and offer support, but when Bev becomes pregnant, their friendship is tested. Reader Rubinate narrates in an expressive voice, at turns snarky and heartfelt, and her quirky, Yiddish-accented voices for the Yidster owners are amusing. Her only flaw is that she sometimes sounds too similar when reading Amy and Bev, so it’s not always immediately obvious which is speaking—a drawback, since so much of the novel is conversations between the two of them. However, she is good at conveying the conflicting emotions of the characters, and the complex mixture of love and irritation that often comes with long-term friendship. A Farrar, Straus and Giroux hardcover. (Sept.)