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BFF?

The Truth About Female Friendship

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Why do some friendships last a lifetime, while others are only temporary? How do you break up with a toxic friend? How many best friends should we be aiming for?

BFF? will take a close look at society's most underappreciated relationship to interrogate what modern friendship means, how it can survive, why we need it and what we can do to get the most from it. Featuring interviews with brilliant women on what friendship means to them, Claire Cohen argues that, unlike romantic relationships, friendship is much harder to pin down and quantify—and shows how often our friendships are taken for granted.

An antidote to the idea that every woman must belong to a perfect girl gang, this book is a reassuring guide to help women answer for themselves, 'Have we lost it? Are we still friends? Is there too much to catch up on?'

This is a moment to take stock. To think about who our friends really are, what that means to us, what they give us (and we give them) and what we have learnt about friendship. Because, when we get it right, there is nothing so important as having true friends. What a shame that it took a rampaging virus to make us appreciate the value of that.

©2022 Claire Cohen (P)2022 Penguin Audio Gender Studies Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Psychology & Interactions Social Sciences Friendship Mental Health Health
All stars
Most relevant
Any woman who’s ever had a friend, lost a friend or wanted a friend will relate to this brilliant book, exploring the nature of friendship, how it evolves, implodes, explodes and brings meaning into our lives. As someone who’s friendship circle shifted massively through relationship break ups, house moves, bereavement and well… just growing up and transitioning through the stages of adulthood, this book helped me get perspective and understand that it’s all part of life. I laughed out loud a lot whilst I was listening, and admit that I shed a few tears too. Plus, I loved learning about Clare’s own experiences along the way. I will be buying this for my whole ‘portfolio’ of best friends, and I bet you will too!

This will make you rethink everything

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Identified with loads of themes and issues that arise within different types of friendships, especially old ones and new friendship paranoia via social media. Enjoyable and lighthearted.

Made Me Feel Less Alone

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I took so many things away from this book - most significantly though the absolute revelation that the myth we are fed as children that we can and should (otherwise what is wrong with us!?) have one Best Friend is a load of BS. As Cohen correctly points out, boys aren't fed this line and are all the more secure and happy for it.

When done wrong, Cohen shows how a toxic friendship can set out to destroy us, but when it's right, female friendship can be life-prolonging. It is heart warming to know that women don't live longer because men choose to die first but because the bonds and support in their woven friendships strengthens and nurtures them well into old age.

I will definitely be listening to this again. Really really enjoyed it. Thanks Claire.

A Must Read for All Women

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Really enjoyed this book and will try to remind myself of these lessons in my day to day. Value your friendships!

So true for so many of us

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