Friend and Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan

Friends and Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan 

Published June 2020 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group 

Source: checked out from my local library 

Publisher's Summary: Elisabeth, an accomplished journalist and new mother, is struggling to adjust to life in a small town after nearly twenty years in New York City. Alone in the house with her infant son all day (and awake with him much of the night), she feels uneasy, adrift. She neglects her work, losing untold hours to her Brooklyn moms' Facebook group, her "influencer" sister's Instagram feed, and text messages with the best friend she never sees anymore. Enter Sam, a senior at the local women's college, whom Elisabeth hires to babysit. Sam is struggling to decide between the path she's always planned on and a romantic entanglement that threatens her ambition. She's worried about student loan debt and what the future holds. In short order, they grow close. But when Sam finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Elisabeth's father-in-law, the true differences between the women's lives become starkly revealed and a betrayal has devastating consequences. 

My Thoughts: 

Ron Charles, of The Washington Post, says that says "Sullivan approaches her story with deep-seated compassion for both sides." That may well be true, but I must say that I couldn't muster that same compassion for Elisabeth. Poor Elisabeth, Sullivan seems to be saying, her life has been upturned with a move from the city and a new baby. I had trouble feeling sorry for poor Elisabeth, though. 

I got that she had an unpleasant family life growing up, with two parents who were more involved in their own lives than those of her children, and that it affected her whole life. But much of what you might have expected Elisabeth to have learned seems to have escaped her. Her inability to communicate well with anyone in her life is astonishing and trust seems to be something that's a one-way street for Elisabeth. I've been in Elisabeth's shoes - home with a new baby and no friends to reach out to during the day (my friends were all working). It was lonely. But I also knew that it had been my choice, after much discussion with my husband. Discussions with Andrew seem to be lacking in Elisabeth's life. 

In her own loneliness, Elisabeth takes advantage of Sam in ways that create conflict for Sam. Sam, as she nears the end of her college years, loves the idea of having an adult friend, someone who seems to life figured out. But there is also a feeling of obligation on Sam's part and a fear of saying "no" to the person who holds the pursestrings. 

And there's where I felt like this book really got it's traction - the difference between classes, the haves and the have-nots. Elisabeth's ignorance of the fact that she doesn't have to worry about money because she has always had it, the way both Elisabeth and Sam think they know best how to help those lower than them on the economic ladder, the way the changing economy destroyed Andrew's father's business and the college town that is a shell of itself outside of the college core. Ron Charles has high praise for Friends and Strangers. I wish I had liked it as much as he did because there was a lot to explore in this one.