I Know Just What You Mean

by Goodman, Ellen; O'Brien, Patricia

• ISBN13: 9780783891385
• ISBN10: 0783891385
• Edition: Large
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-08-01
• Publisher: G K Hall & Co

Summary

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman and novelist/journalist Patricia O'Brien have been friends for more than twenty-five years. They've arrived at midlife fluent in the language of female friendship -- and eager to explore the complex relationship that is central to women's lives, yet often taken for granted. Here, through numerous interviews with close friends from all stages and walks of life, they look at friendships of every sort: lifelong and newfound, enduring and episodic, famous and fictional. Through it all runs a dialogue between these two remarkable women that is sure to resonate with all female friends.

Table of Contents

What I Know About My Friend Pat	7	(9)
What I Know About My Friend Ellen	9	(2)
Introduction	11	(6)
Beginnings	17	(27)
We Talk, Therefore We Are...Friends	44	(34)
Why Are Men's Friendships So Different?	78	(29)
Taking Chances	107	(36)
Playtime	143	(28)
What's a Little Competition Between Friends?	171	(48)
Are We Traveling in Different Directions?	219	(52)
The Bad Stuff	271	(37)
We're in It Together	308	(47)
Testing the Limits	355	(53)
The Wider Circle: Friends and Family	408	(31)
The Long Run	439	(52)
Epilogue	491	(11)
Acknowledgments	502	(3)
Bibliography	505