“Big Friendship”

I read this book in less than a 24-hour period. Most of it was in my luxurious inflatable pool in my backyard.

Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman was excellent. Friendship is so incredibly important, yet not a lot of people talk about it in this way.

Sow and Friedman walk through their friendship history, the ups and downs, and also cite other authors and studies about friendship. I loved all the references and studies about friendship, especially female friendship.

As a single thirty-something female, my friendships are incredibly important to me, but I’ve never had a guide for them. This book explores the feelings of a friendship ending, what it takes to keep a friendship going, and what their Big Friendship looks like.

I’ve had friendships fizzle, fade, or abruptly stop over the years but there was no book to validate my feelings and help me walk through that. This book does that. It’s not a step by step guide to repair a friendship by any means, but it addresses those “breakup” feelings and how the world doesn’t look at them the same way.

There’s also a section on navigating interracial friendships; Sow is black and Friedman is white. They cover racism from both sides and show how they walk through that together.

After reading this book I feel retroactively better about different friend situations and also have a newfound clarity about just how important my friends are.

I already want to re-read this book to underline, highlight, and take note of all the other sources and books so I can devour those too.

If you have friends, I think you should read this book. If you don’t, you should also read this book. I think that covers everyone.