The Friday Night Knitting Club is the story of a group of women of different ages, different backgrounds, and very different personalities who meet at a little yarn shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side — and surprise themselves by forging an unbreakable bond of friendship.
I finally finished The Friday Night Knitting Club… I’ve only been reading it for several months. I love the classy cover design, but I think why it took me so long to finish this book was that after the general introductions, the middle was slow. Now, some people may disagree with me, but hear me out. While the characters were all facing their own trials and tribulations, there were no actual conflicts until past the halfway point.
For example (no spoilers here!), Darwin who got drunk and cheated on her husband: Sure, she cheated… but she hasn’t told him yet and there is no way to tell what kinda guy he is. Can they work through it? She just assumes she’s made an irreparable error and starts into a downward spiral. Yes the reader wants to find out what happens, but it is certainly more intriguing after she speaks to her husband.
I found that after about halfway, things started to get interesting — approximately when Dakota, Georgia’s daughter, ran away to try and visit her family. Once they decided to go to Scotland and visit Gran, I found that the story moved forward for all the secondary characters too. Despite my original feelings, I really enjoyed the book!
Although I found it slow to start, the characters drew me in. I’m sure everyone identifies with different characters, but I found I was most interested in Darwin, Lucie, and Dakota. I identified with Dakota by often being the youngest in a group, but sometimes not really minding. Darwin with the long-distance relationship certainly hit close to home. And Lucie, well to be honest, I just liked her back story!
All the little knitting revelations (from casting on, frogging, to binding off) that interspersed the narrative were really heart-warming and made me proud to be a knitter, even if I’m slow at it!
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The sequel, Knit Two came out November 25th, and I’ll definitely be reading this one. I am loving Lucie, Darwin, and Dakota the most. Knit Two revisits these mothers, wives, sisters, and friends five years later as they continue to share the joys and frustrations of life, love, and of course, knitting.
The Friday Night Knitting Club is becoming a movie in 2010 with Julia Roberts slated a Georgia Walker!
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November 29, 2008 at 12:04 am
Well, I’m glad you persevered and finished the book. We all will have different reactions to the story and the character, simply because WE are all different, with different experiences to bring into the story with us.
November 29, 2008 at 5:51 am
I’m glad you liked the book! I liked it too, but come to think of it, it did kind of drag in parts. I didn’t know there was going to be a sequel – I’m totally adding that to my “to be read” list!
I hope the movie is as good as I want it to be. They usually aren’t, though.
November 29, 2008 at 6:22 am
I have wanted to read this book, I am hoping it will be in the library when I eventually get there to check it out.
November 29, 2008 at 10:18 am
I read the first book but didn’t know that she had wrote a sequel. Thanks for the heads up. oh and I had heard that Julia Roberts had bought the movie rights but thought the deal was dead. All good information. thanks!
November 29, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Can you believe I haven’t read this book yet? lol Something to put on my Christmas list. :-)
November 29, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I have mixed feelings about this book. It’s good for a fun easy read. But for a book about knitting, I expected there to be a little more…knittng.
I like Darwin and Lucy the most, I think. It will be interesting to see what the film version will look like.
Did any one else find it a little ironic that it is toted as the next “Steel Magnolias”? ^_^
November 30, 2008 at 11:29 am
I can’t get into it. I’m on page 24, and have another book in the car I read at the chiro’s office, which is an easier read, but not a great read either…
December 1, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Waste of time reading the first 100 pages. Give me a break “lead character”.
December 1, 2008 at 3:29 pm
I had no idea there would be a sequel. I agree with the fact that there was a whole lot of conflict. I actually disliked the main character the most. She knits several full-size dresses in a few weeks (uh, way to aim for wrist problems!) and everyone falls all over themselves to tell her how amazing she is, how hot she is, and how far she’s come.
It would have been *more* interesting to read about her starting the yarn shop and fighting to keep it alive and then, bam, James comes back. It would have, I think, engendered more sympathy in the reader.
However, since she’s, uh, dead, I will definitely have to look at the second book! Yes, I know that makes me evil, but the book was all bad and how many mainstream novels are about knitting, anyway? I’ll be interested when the movie comes out.
December 3, 2008 at 3:56 pm
My main beef with the book actually was that she died, of cancer of all things. It seemed like a cop out to me, like the book needed some kind of ending and the best they could come up with was killing her off. it’s a tactic I notice a lot in books and film and it really irritates me.