The Friends Mass Market Paperback – December 18, 1995

This is one of my favorite stories to read. I always end up losing this book somehow. My book was in perfect condition and I started reading it fresh out of the packaging. The book was clean and ready to be read. I am happy with my purchase... and will probably need to order it again in the future.

I am very particular about my books. I f it is a good one to me then I will know with the first page. If it is a GREAT book, then I read it again and again, each time noticing some little nuance that I had not previously not understood or seen. Read it once, it's a great book; read it twice and it will unfold in your mind. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

I never heard of Rosa Guy until I looked up a book on Amazon. I am glad I came across her writing. Its brilliant. Now I am trying to read all of her books. They are thought provoking and the characters have life as soon as the stories start.

Its a beautiful story . Worth reading

My book arrived on time and in excellent condition. I am very please to have found this book, which I had read many years ago and loved. I am very pleased with my purchase and with the service I received. Thank you!

School book in good shape!

One of the best books I have read. I loved the writing style and the length gave you just enough. I am now a new Rosa Guy fan.

nice book, arrived as advertised.

I read this book at school as a kid, so I bought it and read it again. It is the story of teenage Phyllisia Cathy who has moved from the West Indies to Harlem, New York, along with her parents and older sister Ruby. She is picked on and beaten up at school because of where she is from and the teachers don't seem to care or do anything about it, especially white teacher Miss Lass, who is deemed a "Jew" in a predominantly black community, in the '60s or '70s. Edith, a girl in Phyllisia's class, starts trying to make friends with her, and Phyllisia is reluctant because she sees Edith as being scruffy and common.Phyllisia's father, whom she intentionally refers to as Calvin, is a horrendous man; he is both a tyrant and a narcissist who bullies and abuses his daughters, and wants to project a certain image to the outside world, that being that he is rich and powerful, which it turns out he isn't really, and he doesn't want to be associated with "ragamuffins", which is why Phyllisia is strictly forbidden from hanging around with Edith. He also doesn't like his daughters having boyfriends, even when Ruby is nearly 18. Their mother Ramona, I think, is possibly bipolar but has also had a cancer scare.A part of Phyllisia would rather be friends with "popular" girl Marian but is snubbed by her at first. When Edith stands up to school bully Beulah for her, she realises that Edith could well be a friend worth having. So she bonds with Edith, gets to know her better and finds that she has had a hard life; her mother is dead, her father is a recluse who eventually disappears, and she has to look after her younger sisters, with no input from her unhelpful older brother. Her family are very poor in comparison to Phyllisia's and they always have to make ends meet. Edith eventually meets Phyllisia's family and Calvin doesn't like her at all, thinking she is a trouble maker.Calvin is meaner and harsher than ever, when Ramona passes away; the only go-betweens his daughters have are Cousin Frank and Mr Charles. In the end, after much psychological toing and froing, Phyllisia realises that Edith is a true friend and her poor background is irrelevant, that Marian and her crowd are superficial, vain and bitchy, and that Calvin is not the bigshot he makes himself out to be. The book ends on a cliffhanger, with Phyllisia attempting to stand up to Calvin, leaving us wondering whether or not Phyllisia will see Edith again and whether or not she will be shipped back to The Island. I will definitely have to read the rest of the trilogy.

Very good book for young people of colour to read.

My favourite novel as a child. Real life characters, real life situations. A must-read for socially aware young people.

Loved this book as a child a great real with true guts and emotions.

pages were missing as the copy was so old