The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship

Excellent Service...book was actually received within 24 hours! (I expected "snail-mail" book delivery, and was very pleasantly surprised by the expedient service! ) Thank You!

I heard an interview with the author online with OnPoint Radio out of MA and two of the friends were also interviewed. I later got the book and it is fantastic and makes me wish I had been able to hold onto my women friends from my younger days. It is a book I will definitely be recommending or even passing on my own copy so others can read this fantastic book as well.

The Girls from Ames follows the 40-year friendship of 11 women from Ames, Iowa. Though they are now living in places all over the country, these women have continued to nurture the friendship they built in their school days. They have been available to support each other during the high points of their lives as well as when they faced personal crises. While I was not always interested in the details of these women's lives--after all how many of us can say that what we liked in high school would be fascinating for others to read about--I was struck by the value their friendship has brought them in so many ways. The topics of friendship, family, personal response to tragedy and having a place to call home are prominent throughout The Girls from Ames. Stories are told about the girls and women as individuals, and to illustrate the role they each play as a member of the group. When I started reading the story, I worked hard to keep track of each woman and her circumstances, but I soon came to feel that each person's importance is more as a representation of the kind of person she is than as an individual in this specific group. Often, things they said or did reminded me of people I know in my own life. In the end I felt The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow provides a way for us to reflect on and talk about the value of long-time friendship in our lives. I believe it should prompt discussions within a mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 16 and up about their own relationships.

Women and friendships. I was very skeptical at first about reading a book written by a man about women and their friendships. He has a lot of studies quoted, likes the math part, which wasn't endearing to me, but it grew on me and I couldn't put this book down. He understood what was it about these women's friendships that was so interesting. At one time you might be close with this person and not get along so well with another one. That might change later. Through all of their years, way back then, when you wanted to communicate with everyone, send out 10 letters. Now they are accessible at the touch of the keyboard, reply all. Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion (from my favorite movie Steel Magnolias) is what you will get when reading this wonderful book about these 10 women who will be friends for a lifetime.

When the Vine list arrived I picked many selections that were already taken and so I ended up half-heartedly selecting "The Girls from Ames" at first thinking I wouldn't find it interesting or hold my attention. Boy, was I mistaken. I could not put this book down! I grew up in the generation before the Ames girls (born in 1951) so I am 10 years older than they are. Many of their childhood stories are familiar and I experienced many of the cultural girl-things they did as well. But I don't think common ground is a reason anyone needs to enjoy this wonderful story. The core of this book is a very universal story. A story of friendship and the close bonds of female friendship that make the world a better place for those that experience them. The Ames girls have freindship bonds in spades and their lives are richer for having them. The Ames girls 40 yr. friendship is probably not something many women have experienced in their lives on this level. So, this story is unique and showcases a rare case of friendship between many women but given their numbers of 10, they raise friendship to new heights. Their devotion to one another from childhood to womanhood through life's ups and downs, tragedies, celebrations, is not only heartwarming but life affirming. The Ames girls have a lot to teach the world about loyalty. I have to admit that I cried a fair amount while reading their story. I also had pangs of envy as well. I had no idea that this book while taking a journey though 40 years of the lives of strangers would be quite so touching or emotional but it was. (Warning, you will want 9 friends like these women when you finish this book if you don't already have them.) The other thing I had a hard time wrapping my brain around was that this book is written by a man! At times, I would have to remind myself of that fact because Jeffrey Zaslow the author, wrote this book as if he completely understands the female heart. This man should be cloned or at least set us seminars for men and teach them what he knows. I refrain from going into too much detail about the story here because I believe that each reader should open this book and discover it themselves as it unfolds. That is the way it was for me and I think I enjoyed it more that way. It was surprisingly more interesting and quite emotional than I could have imagined. I look forward to Mr.Zaslow revisiting and writing about the Ames girls lives in 20 years or so and so will you. You won't forget them once you put this book down. It's almost like a cliffhanger and I think readers will want to know how they are doing as life progresses. I know I do.