Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


 INTERVIEW 
4

Ya-Ya Sisterhoods Stab You in the Back

Author discusses the trials of adult female friendship

Share

(Newser) – According to today’s “Sex and the City ethos,” friends are there when romance falters. But in truth, female friendships “are just as complicated as marriages,” author Lucinda Rosenfeld tells Salon. That’s particularly true when it comes to envy, a theme of Rosenfeld’s new novel, I’m So Happy for You. We want to share our friends’ joy, but often can’t—and telling a friend you’re jealous can be “mortifying,” says Rosenfeld.

Writing her novel, Rosenfeld says she “was interested in the way that sparring female friendships, which people usually associate with grade school, seem to continue into women’s adulthood.” There’s the “weird power struggle to be someone’s best friend,” the self-deprecation, and the friendship breakups that can be just as “devastating” as the end of a romance. Real life isn’t "backstabbing" Gossip Girl—but it’s not Sex and the City either, writes Sarah Hepola.

This undated photo released by New Line Cinema shows a scene from
This undated photo released by New Line Cinema shows a scene from "Sex and the City: the Movie."   (AP Photo/Craig Blankenhorn, New Line Cinema)
The cover of Rosenfeld's book.
The cover of Rosenfeld's book.   (Amazon.com)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

This is my attempt to pull the lid on the cliché of sisterhood. - Lucinda Rosenfeld

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.24.09
Murdoch and Microsoft: The Mice Are Trying to Roar
11.23.09
Books Are Bad for You
4 comments
VIEWING:
 
aceraspire
Aug 26, 09 2:24 PM CDT
eh, some male relationships are like this also, perhaps! all relationships between human beings are similar! was that groundbreaking? can we feature that as the next newser headline? Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+2
Reader60610265
Aug 26, 09 8:18 PM CDT
People have no loyalties any more , if your lucky enough to have a loyal friend or lover you should protect that relationship at all costs. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
fancygapva
Aug 26, 09 10:28 PM CDT
What kind of BS is this? I have women friends of 30 years duration. In three cases there were "break-ups" that were temporary lasting from a few months to a few years. They mostly happened during simultaneious menopause. They healed. I can't imagine a richer relationship than those between women friends, often single women friends, watching their children and grand-children grow up together. Sharing dramas of youth and the pursuits of middle and old age--in my case, such things as art, gardening, family, including the caregiving and passing of older relatives, shared friendships and their loss. What do you people think that life is about if not these intimate relationships that may not involve sex at all? We lost or destroyed the extended family during the 20ty century. But it's wired in, folks. Humans are socal and tribal. If we're going to betray each-other there is little hope for the surivival of the human race. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+1
Mad
Aug 26, 09 10:32 PM CDT
Sad, but true, woman seem to be their own worse enemies Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
-1
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

15 Stories

Analysis


 Clinton Talk 
 Annoys 
 Pakistani 
 Women 

They wanted to discuss security; she channeled 'The View'

Oct 30, 09 12:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - Hillary Clinton was relaxed in her town hall-style address to professional Pakistani women today in Islamabad, discussing “habits of the heart,” like tolerance and compromise, and touting the female doctors sent on US aid missions to Pakistan. It was nice, she said with a chuckle, to not talk... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Hillary Clinton • Pakistan • security • women • State Department • secretary of State • Kashmir • Muslim women • women's issues

 Women Getting 
 Shorter, Heavier 

They'll lose 1 inch and gain 2 pounds by 2409

Oct 21, 09 2:18 PM CDT
(Newser) - Humans are still changing, and the female winners of the evolutionary crapshoot will be shorter and heavier down the line. A new study that tracked the motherly productivity of the slim-and-tall set alongside their squatter peers concludes that a lower center of gravity will win out in the end, and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
evolution • women • menopause • childbirth • human • scientific study • medical study • women's issues • inherited traits

Study: Talking to Pretty Women Makes Men Stupid

Trying to impress women can take up all the male brain's power, experiment finds

Sep 4, 09 8:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - Men literally lose their minds when talking to women they find attractive, a new study finds. A group of Dutch psychologists—inspired to carry out the experiment after one of them forgot his address while talking to a pretty woman—tested the memory skills of 40 heterosexual volunteers before and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
women • men • beauty • psychology • psychologist • short-term memory

15 Stories


Arts & Living 
TwitterFollow @NewserArts on Twitter

 
women • psychology • novel • friendship • women's issues • Lucinda Rosenfeld

from our news partners