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It is an ultimately hopeful book about living with - not being cured of - a brain that is a bit tricksy. In fact, it was only when I discovered that it was by the same author as the brilliantly disturbing Where I End that I decided to give it a go. I’ve always been weak-kneed at the sight of a fun double-meaning, so when I first encountered the phrase “ your hot friend? Caught up in the the glam of it all, and creating content for instagram - how much is Lexi actually living, and how much of it is real?
Last we have Claire whose friends (and the WhatsApp name for the group - Bitch Herd - should tip you off to their true nature) seem to be pulling away after an incident the year before which we don't learn the true nature of until the last third of the book. Three complete strangers, with very different lives, feeling at odds with where they and their friendships are going. I am no mental health expert but I found the discussion of Claire's bipolar to be raw, real and urgent - especially when I learned that White has the same condition.A guy/girl who isn't exactly enough to be your boyfriend/girlfriend, but is still pretty hot for a friend.
It's astute, relatable, hilarious, insightful, and utterly impossible to put down' Louise O'Neill'Unputdownable . As a devoted listener of the Creep Dive/Hive and a huge fan of White’s work in general, I gather there are elements to the story that must be autobiographical. But with a new baby on the way, her life is about to change more than she thinks, especially as she can’t go on nights out with the girls. All 3 women are feeling discintinctly off-kilter in their lives, and most importantly, like their friends have abandoned them. Sophie White has a loyal fan in me and so I was mega-excited for her latest contemporary fiction outing, the hilariously titled "My Hot Friend".
Like The Snag List, we have 3 narrators: Claire is a childminder who feels iced out by her pals in the WhatsApp, Joanne is a new mum whose friends have no idea what it's like to be in her position. I also like how the author mentions her own struggles in the notes at the end and that at the start and end of the actual book contains information to helplines if needed. White’s approach has the potential to come off badly, but she shows our characters pure grit, determination and emotional depth and never once veers off track. The note from the author at the outset is very sensible because I think you do need to be in a particular place, mentally, to enjoy it (I have OCD and don’t think I could have enjoyed it at a time I was struggling). And obviously no one tells you how to make friends in your 30s lol it’s difficult and I think Sophie has done a great job writing about this.
I really enjoy and admire Sophie White’s work and her essay-style memoir Corpsing is truly unforgettable. Funny, fierce and feisty — this unputdownable adventure is a whip-smart and brutally authentic look into the complexity of female friendships, and the pressures of growing into a woman in a world that never considers them good enough for their double standards. To be honest I'm not sure I had them when I was young but, unlike our three protagonists - Lexi, Joanne and Claire - I had great friends who never let me down. This is a novel that explores the complexities of female friendship after 30, and the profound implications of mental illness on a person and on everyone around them. I recently heard one of those rare Republican never-Trumpers, Adam Kitzinger, talking on the Bill Maher show, about how his family had decided he was the devil for having turned on Trump.Aside from the overall theme of friendship, the book explores some major topics, including mental illness, relationship problems, the struggles around motherhood, forgiveness and acceptance.
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