Since childhood, Sam Grandy and Roy Courtright have been best friends. They grew up in the same prosperous community, went to the same prep school, and later entered the same university. After Sam's father died, Roy's father looked after him. At one point Sam dated Roy's sister, Robin. As best friends, they share a close and loving bond, often stronger than the relationships other men share with their girlfriends, siblings, or wives. But in the twenty years since their friendship began, their fundamental differences have become more apparent and their relationship has grown strained. More and more often they realize they are opposites -- one a womanizer, the other a devoted husband; one careless with money, the other frugal; one independent, the other needy. Do these differences threaten their friendship -- or are the dissimilarities what make it possible? Can they escape the ties of their past, or are they intrinsically bound until death? When Sam's health begins to falter, he draws Roy into his life again -- and into a chain of deceit, sex, delusion, death, and love such as only a best friend could. Thomas Berger has enthralled millions of readers for almost fifty years with his psychologically complex, sharp-sighted storytelling. With exquisite wit and insidious wisdom, Best Friends weaves a powerful tale about friendship -- and the complex loyalties involved.
Jeffrey Frank The Washington Post Book World The characters in Best Friends...are...recognizably human in their weaknesses and their destinies. It is Berger's genius as an observer and storyteller that we never, for a moment, take our eyes off them.
Description:
Since childhood, Sam Grandy and Roy Courtright have been best friends. They grew up in the same prosperous community, went to the same prep school, and later entered the same university. After Sam's father died, Roy's father looked after him. At one point Sam dated Roy's sister, Robin. As best friends, they share a close and loving bond, often stronger than the relationships other men share with their girlfriends, siblings, or wives.
But in the twenty years since their friendship began, their fundamental differences have become more apparent and their relationship has grown strained. More and more often they realize they are opposites -- one a womanizer, the other a devoted husband; one careless with money, the other frugal; one independent, the other needy. Do these differences threaten their friendship -- or are the dissimilarities what make it possible? Can they escape the ties of their past, or are they intrinsically bound until death? When Sam's health begins to falter, he draws Roy into his life again -- and into a chain of deceit, sex, delusion, death, and love such as only a best friend could.
Thomas Berger has enthralled millions of readers for almost fifty years with his psychologically complex, sharp-sighted storytelling. With exquisite wit and insidious wisdom, Best Friends weaves a powerful tale about friendship -- and the complex loyalties involved.
From Booklist
Thirtysomethings Roy and Sam have been best friends since boyhood, but middle age has revealed their fundamental differences. Roy is fit, financially solvent, a dedicated bachelor, and an accomplished womanizer; he drives his vintage cars aggressively but well. Sam is obese and spends as recklessly as he drives; his whiny dependence on his straitlaced wife, Kristin, keeps him well fed and out of the red. After Sam has a sudden heart attack, Roy and Kristin conspire to shape him up, unaware that their common needs will lead to furtive passion. Roy's friendship with Sam crumbles further with every encounter, but falling in love with his best friend' s wife lets Roy finally address his own emptiness. Berger's latest novel is as subtly unpredictable and generalization-defying as much of his earlier work (Little Big Man [1964], most famously). His characters are as nuanced as ever, presented with the sensitive psychological insight we've come to expect over Berger's 50-year career. His staying power occasionally works against him, afflicting Roy and friends with midlife crises (and tastes in vintage cars) more appropriate for older characters; there are a few awkward Internet references. These mild anachronisms certainly don't interfere, however, with this graceful tale of friendship and betrayal. Knowing what master storyteller Berger is capable of, they may even be deliberate, playful puzzlements. Brendan Driscoll
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Review
Jeffrey Frank The Washington Post Book World The characters in Best Friends...are...recognizably human in their weaknesses and their destinies. It is Berger's genius as an observer and storyteller that we never, for a moment, take our eyes off them.