Friday Night Knitting Club: Review

When I first started going to the book club last year, we were asked to recommend books to share. I offered up "Friday Night Knitting Club" because I thought, since we are already doing a "club," they might identify with the characters more. Apparently I was the only one to have heard about this book or this author; for a group that was designed to venture out of our comfort zones and read books we had never read before, no one seemed to want to experience this book. I kept thinking I'd wait to re-read Friday Night Knitting Club until I could get the club to read it too. Well, I realized I don't want to wait on them. I wanted to read the book again, so I did!

I first read FNKC when I lived in Texas. I had about 2 weeks before I actually started working and had NOTHING to do, so I went and picked up this book. I read it so quickly that time, I was afraid I had maybe missed some things. I was determined to read it more slowly and deliberately this time. The thing of it is, this book really isn't written to be read slowly. It's not written to be analyzed as you go. It's written to be enjoyed and devoured.

The story of a group of women who get together and form unlikely bonds isn't anything new. The story of a man who realizes a major-life mistake and tries to rectify it is nothing new. The setting of New York seems to have "been done." You would think that a book which encompasses all these plots would be "played out," "tired," or maybe even "tedious and tiresome." It's true, when you try to re-invent the wheel you often miss. I think that's what's so surprising about this book: It could have gone down in flames, but, instead, it was an emotional piece of work.

Katie Jacobs creates New York in the scenery, sure. But she also creates New York with her characters. She creates every type of woman without creating stereotypes. The women on the page become women you know in your own life. You may even find yourself in one of them. It's easy to do because Jacobs makes them universal. After reading it through a second time, I realized there were many different races and religions represented in the characters. I didn't get that the first time. I never pegged Anita as "Jewish," just a well-to-do mom of three. I didn't know Peri was black until the second go-round. These weren't important to creating relationships. The personalities and experiences Jacobs created for the characters were the important aspects.

A man makes a mistake. Does that make him a "bad guy"? Does running from your problems make you bad? Or does it make you human? Should you forgive someone who has done you a grave injustice? What can be forgiven and what just can't be swept under the rug? When you are in a relationship (friendship or romantic), you are always asking yourself these types of questions. You are constantly evaluating where you stand with the other person. Or, at least, you should be. I honestly think that if you become complacent with your relationships than you can never truly appreciate them. If you allow things to stay the same, you will never experience any more than you already have. What is the good of that? What do you gain by remaining where you are. It may be safe, it may be comfortable, it may even be easy; but it rarely allows you to experience all the highs and lows. And yes, the lows are just as important as the highs.

The other thing I took away from this book was the idea of letting people in. It's difficult to let others take care of you when you are so used to taking care of yourself. It's not easy to have to share the good and the bad with others. Because you can't just share the good. You have to let others experience the bad with you. To quote another book: "To share the bad cuts the grief in half." When Life makes a decision for you, you have to go with it; but to be able to share that with others means you still have some semblance of control in an otherwise uncontrollable situation.

When looking for a book that matters, that shows you what really matters, I highly recommend picking up this book.