Rosa Guy - The Friends

4. The Friends by Rosa Guy (1973)
The Cathy Family Trilogy Book 1
Length: 185 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 13 January 2015
Finished: 14 January 2015
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 25 July 2001
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Rosa Guy is a new author for me.

For fourteen-year-old Phyllisia Cathy, the problems that she has as well as her lifestyle have become increasingly overwhelming. Having recently arrived from an island in the sunlit West Indies - along with her mother, father and sixteen-year-old sister, Ruby - Phyllisia finds it a very difficult adjustment to live in New York. After growing up in such an idyllic paradise, she finds New York cold, cruel and filthy; nothing at all like her previous home. She is insulted daily and is constantly beaten up by her classmates. What Phyllisia desperately needs, as it seems divine intervention is currently unavailable, is a friend. 

When she first started out searching for a friend, Phyllisia would never have put fifteen-year-old Edith Jackson's name anywhere near her list of potential candidates. Edith's clothes are unpressed, her stockings worn and baggy with big holes. She is nothing but a ragamuffin in Phyllisia's mind. Edith's knowledge of school studies is essentially zero; she barely goes to class. She has no parents, she swears and she steals. But she is the only one kind enough to offer her friendship and protection to Phyllisia when she needs it most.

I must say that I found this to be a very intriguing book. In my opinion, it was a deeply thought-provoking and engaging story with a moral; told from a very different perspective. This is a story that I wasn't expecting to be as poignant as it was and I give this book an A+!

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight