[新鲜书市]Jennifer Weiner新书《永远的好朋友》

Jennifer Weiner新书《永远的好朋友》

来源：Los Angels Times 编辑：Vicki

躺在炎炎夏日的海滨，当太阳正在哄着不安静的沙滩入睡时，你正在做什么呢？在温暖的沙粒间穿梭于半梦半醒中？何不拿起Jennifer Weiner新书《永远的好朋友》呢？这又是怎样的一份令人艳羡的惬意呢？

BFFs who are pretty shallow

It's a scorcher(大热天) of a summer. One when the sun lulls a beachgoer to sleep（安抚一个海滨入睡） on the warm sand and a lackadaisical （无精打采）mind meanders （漫游）between dreaming and wakefulness. Taking a plunge into（突然陷入） "Best Friends Forever," Jennifer Weiner's latest novel, I expected a well-tanned afternoon read about friends with a bond that anyone would envy -- not one quite this pale.

The story opens on the night of a 15-year high school reunion, with Valerie Adler, local TV weather girl in Chicago, taking a cellphone photo of a naked man in a parking lot. "You ruined my life!" she tells him, a refrain （叠句）heard throughout the book. A refrain shared by Addie Downs, in separate instances about the same high school jerk. A refrain that is at its best a tepid exaggeration（不冷不热的夸张）, and at its worst is a clumsy（笨拙的） device to make the reader keep reading.

Having not seen one another since they graduated (Addie didn't come to the reunion), Valerie shows up at Addie's house after thinking she's run over the cad.

So many flashbacks（很多倒叙）

Through a series of flashbacks, told by Addie, we expect to unfurl （打开）a close friendship of two girls who for some reason became estranged （疏远的）until brought back together by the incident. The expression "best friends forever" brings to mind a long relationship of bonding, sharing secrets, dreaming together, competing, maybe fighting, but eventually supporting one another. Instead, "BFF" is Addie's story. With Valerie inked as a one-dimensional caricature（一维漫画）, it appears unlikely the author could have developed a compelling relationship between the two. Instead, Weiner chooses to tell the tale of Addie Downs' tragic life.

"This isn't 'Days of Our Lives,' " Valerie claims. Perhaps Valerie is wrong. This line alludes to（暗示） the amnesia（遗忘症） the friends jokingly wished upon the high school jerk. While the friends realize a case of amnesia is too far-fetched（难以捉摸）, apparently Weiner does not: Addie's brother suffers from short-term memory loss as a result of a teenage car accident and lives in a home. Addie's parents both died when she was a teenager (father: aneurysm, mother: breast cancer a year later).

To round out the soap opera theme, Addie became tragically obese （肥胖）due to a teenage eating disorder but lost the weight before the opening of the book. A healthy portion of flashbacks takes us through the entire weight loss program, topped off with the requisite affair with a married man.

C'mon, get real

Addie hasn't had an easy time of it, but the melodrama（情节剧）, with its full set of "ruined my life" events, could tempt some readers in.

Conversely, little is known about Valerie's life. She does talk Addie into a spontaneous road trip as she did once before when they were younger. The antics（古怪可笑的举动） they embark upon（开始，着手） could have produced a "Thelma & Louise" aspect, but that never fully materializes（成为现实） due to their lack of desperation, the kind of desperation that creates the bond of "until death do us part," you know, Best Friends Forever.

Weiner has created a world that demands too great a suspension of disbelief. That a long-lost friend would show up at her high school chum's childhood home, assume she still lived there and not expect her parents to open the door? That a bank teller would just say yes to a robbery as long as you stashed some of the cash in her car on your way out? Or that a puddle（坑） of blood that is big enough to be noticed in the dark of night could also be small enough that the bleeder can get up and run away unharmed?

"Best Friends Forever" may please Weiner fans who love her knack for strong one-liners. It's worth a toss（投，抛） in the beach bag. But expect a spray-on tan in the end.

Wallen is author of the novel "MoonPies and Movie Stars."

Keke View：

Jennifer Weiner 1970年出身于路易斯安娜州，在康涅狄格州长大，毕业于普林斯顿大学的英语文学专业，她的作品《她的鞋》（IN HER SHOES ）被拍成电影由卡梅隆迪亚兹，托妮柯利特和雪莉麦克雷恩主演，她的另外的代表作有GOOD IN BED (2001), LITTLE EARTHQUAKES, (2004), GOODNIGHT NOBODY (2005)。

在Jennifer Weiner 的新作《永远的好朋友》中，我们可以发现她将两个主人翁的friendship通过无数的生活悲喜剧联系在了一起，看似浅显却那么生动，那么Do You Have The Best friend Forever?(你有一生的朋友么？)

我们都知道没有人可以live alone在这个繁华喧嚣的世界, 所以我们有了所谓的friends. Also, because they are friends, 他们就有性别、年龄、学历和事业等方面的differences. 这些都是不可改变的 hard facts；正因为他们是我们的朋友，我们应该respect且help对方。

True朋友can在语言和motion上找到common points，这是怎样的一笔treasury？当我们have朋友，我们可以find 我们曾经没有过的experiences和answers；可是在迷茫的时候find the road；朋友还可以然我们learn a lot。诗人Gibran（纪伯伦）曾经说过：“和你一同smile过的人你也许很快就把他forget，而同你一同cry过的人你也许一生就会remember他”。

Maybe你poor，maybe你很common，maybe你have nothing，但是你决不能没有friends。一人一生只有几十years，说长且short，而且注定experience太多的风风雨雨。

One person的天空是狭小的，monotonous（单调的），friendship组成的天空是broad，灿烂的。Besides，友情可以你的ife增添fun，让you更洞悉outside world。忧伤时，friends can take it with you，which will relieve you a bit；快乐时，happiness will be strengthened when it is shared with others。友情是人生一笔priceless财富。

在新作《永远的好朋友》中，Jennifer Weiner 告诉我们一生的friends可以用来承担痛苦，分享快乐，无论分开多久，so你呢？我的friend?你和你的朋友之间又有怎样的stories呢？你有Best Friend Forever么？