The Friendship Cure

Kate Leaver

Average Rating 7/10 (1 Review)

Our best friends, girl friends, bromances, Twitter followers, Facebook friends, long- distance buddies and WhatsApp threads define us in ways we rarely acknowledge. There is so much about friendship we either don t know or don t articulate: why do some friendships last a lifetime, while others are only temporary? How do you break up with a toxic friend? And maybe the most important question: how can we live in the most connected age and still find ourselves stuck in the greatest loneliness epidemic of our time? It s killing us, making us miserable and causing a public health crisis. What if meaningful friendships are the solution, not a distraction?

In The Friendship Cure, Kate Leaver s much anticipated manifesto brings to light what modern friendship means, how it can survive, why we need it and what we can do to get the most from it. From behavioural scientists to best mates, Kate finds extraordinary stories and research, drawing on her own experiences to create a fascinating blend of investigative journalism, pop culture and memoir.

'The Friendship Cure is here to make us love our girl friends all over again... you'll want to buy it and give it to all of your friends immediately.'

Review by Ben Macnair (040420) Rating (7/10)

Review by Ben Macnair
Book Source: Not Known
Rating 7/10
Social Networks have been in the news a lot recently. From Facebook taking on personal information, and changing the outcomes of elections and major issues affecting the running of the country, to the detrimental effect that Twitter, or Instagram can have on mental health, both on a national, and also personal level, so a book looking at that seems timely.

The Friendship Cure is about analogue friendship though, rather than anything happening in the digital realm. Although it looks at Female Friendships, it also applies to all friendship groups and the importance of bonds that are formed in the world outside the computer.

It is written in an inclusive style that takes in elements of Sociology, and medicine. Kate Leaver has a background in journalism, with stints at The Guardian, as well as being a features editor at Cosmopolitan, so she seems ideally placed to have some insight into the connections, and disconnections between people, and what causes them.

Although many of us can count the number of good friends on our fingers, it also shows how deep-rooted they can go, and how important they are to good health, support and well-being. The book looks at friendships across the genders, across generations, gives helpful advice on how to end friendships that have become toxic, as well as ways of finding new friends in later life, or when moving to new areas.

The book is related through a number of contributors, as well as Kate Leaver’s own experience, which makes the book a lot more personal, and less academically dry than it could easily have been.

Although there is nothing really surprising in the book, it is very well written, well composed with enough science to back up the good advice. If you have a friend you haven’t seen for a while, phone them up, it will be good for the both of you.
Ben Macnair (1st April 2020)