User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
A sharply-drawn portrait of a lifelong friendship, THE OTHER'S GOLD follows four young women bearing past traumas and navigating unimagined futures. With an uncanny eye for detail, Elizabeth Ames charts the complex, ever-shifting topography of this "chosen family"--and illuminates the ways our closest friends sustain us over the course of our lives.
Rating: really liked it
You're either going to love this book or hate it. If you fall in love with its compelling, engaging writing style and care for Alice, Margaret, Ji Sun and Lainey as they move from adolescence of their freshman year in college to adulthood, you will not want the book to end, or at very least hope for regular updates in future to know how they are doing. If you don't connect with the book, the story is going to seem long and unnecessarily detailed. Life on paper...
The four girls were assigned the same suite with a window seat on their first day of college. They thought that they were placed together based on the fact that all of them were second daughters and only later noticed that their last names started with an R, an S and two Ts. As Elizabeth Ames spells her story you see the magic of becoming friends as powerful (if not more) as falling in love. There are people around them: boyfriends, acquaintances, professors, parents, siblings, some of them more important than others, some failing to make anything but a very fleeting impression. It is clear, though, that for Alice, Margaret ,Ji Sun and Lainey, their friendship is in part something that defines them. Perhaps, even more than their families, because it might have begun as a random decision of a housing officer, but it continued by choice, which is evident in how they continued to love and care for each other despite their worst deeds, their shameful mistakes.
We are told at the very beginning when the mistakes were made: Alice's before the college, when she was twelve, Ji Sun's in the sophomore year, Margaret's after the graduation and Lainey's already as a mother to her own child. Four mistakes, four parts of the book, one life that led to that moment and one life in which to make sense of what happened and live it down however much it changes you and people around you.
Don't think you are not going to judge them- you will. Because, to be honest, they are really inexcusable, those deeds. But you will judge them not as a stranger, but as an invisible friend, trying to see all the reasons and circumstances that led to their lapse of judgement. Reasons they might not be aware of themselves.
Are the characters relatable? yes, they are. I could see bits of myself and my own friends in the girls. The characters are unique and wonderfully complex, and go through intense changes moving from one part of the book to another. You know, you feel it in your bones, they will continue evolving long after the book because this is life, and what we've just read is just a glimpse.
The issues it deals with are not the easiest. Don't go into the book thinking it will be a light summer read: infertility, sexual harrassment and abuse, miscarriage, depression, adoption are here, among the other topics discussed. But the way the author talks about them is both painfully honest and sensitive.
A wonderful debut novel, lyrical, beautifully-written and emotional.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Viking (Penguin Publishing Group) for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
Rating: really liked it
I'm finding it difficult to figure out what I want to say in this review because I thought this was just an okay read. I think if I would have connected more with the four main characters, this could have been a more meaningful read like it was for other readers. I just feel like whatever point(s) the author was trying to get across just flew right over my head or something.
Lainey, Ji Sun, Alice, and Margaret are all assigned to the same suite during their freshman year in college. They become fast friends and the story will follow them thru their school years as well as what life has in store for them after college. The book includes four parts with each part dealing with a mistake made by one of the women. The titles of the mistakes are the Accident, the Accusation, the Kiss, and the Bite.
I'll give the author credit, even though I knew the titles ahead of time, I still was caught off guard with the direction the last two parts went in. Even though I didn't really enjoy much of what happened in the second half of the book, I guess I can award points for creativity.
My main issue with the book is the four women actually felt like a clique in the sense that I felt like an outsider and therefore never truly understood them completely. I've read many other books about friendships, and this is one of the few times I actually questioned why the characters were friends with one another. I just didn't 100% buy it and I guess that's why the story as a whole didn't really work for me.
There's nothing I hated about the book, but there also isn't anything I really loved either. So I guess this goes in the okay but nothing special category.
I won a free copy of this book in a giveaway but was under no obligation to post a review. All views expressed are my honest opinion.
Rating: really liked it
The bond formed between four young women in college continues to grow as they become adults. I had trouble relating to these women, neither actively liking nor disliking them. This had nothing to do with the writing, which I found quite good and the characterizations were finely drawn. It held my interest enough to keep reading, but in the end, I just couldn't sync up with the story. Kudos for the original title.
Rating: really liked it
The Other’s Gold is the story of four girls who meet in college, and become fast friends. Lainey, Ji Sun, Margaret, and Alice are each from different backgrounds, and despite their varied upbringings, interests, and taste in men, they grow close, quickly.
The story follows the group through college and beyond, with each of the four sections revealing a defining moment for one of the women. Some were more pivotal than others, which is, I guess, true in real life as well. I did
not care for the last section of the book - It felt too bizarre and I didn’t understand why
that was the defining moment. Didn’t necessarily love any of the four characters either, yet the book held my interest enough to see it through.
I would categorize
The Other’s Gold as more of a character study than a plot-driven novel and maybe that’s part of the reason I didn’t enjoy it more — The characters didn’t have enough depth for me. I didn’t like them more because outside of also being a millennial woman, I felt a disconnect from them. Not a bad book but not my favorite — The premise was more intriguing than the execution.
Rating: really liked it
2.5 stars, rounding up. Two reasons: 1)It's a debut 2) I don't think what I disliked about this was the author's fault.This is another book that I have been anxiously awaiting for most of the year. Four girls who become friends their first day of college and that friendship transcends throughout the rest of it and continues on? Hell yeah, sign me up. There couldn't have been a more perfect book description for me. I also really dug the layout. The book is split up into four sections that surround an "event" that all four girls deal with differently. Again, I thought this sounded really cool. The first two sections cover college and the last two cover after.
So now that I've given you enough information regarding the layout and what it's loosely about I guess I should tell you why I gave it the rating I did. I think Ms. Ames has a real talent. Her writing took me a little while to get used to (I had to pay closer attention at the beginning, but seemed to adapt just fine once I got further into the book) and she tackled some tough issues with a voice that was spot on. There are some trigger warnings for: sexual harassment/assault, childhood sexual abuse, miscarriage/fertility issues and postpartum depression. I will be honest and say that the one issue I identified with was not traumatic to read about in here to me personally, but because I had no idea it was coming and just didn't think it would be something covered in the book as much as it was. If I had known I might have skipped the book altogether. (Despite how well and accurately portrayed it was.)
I am also disappointed because I was expecting this book to really move me and it didn't. I desperately wanted it to, but I felt disconnected to the characters. I don't quite understand what made them such fast and everlasting friends. Maybe that's the whole point? Maybe we as readers were like everyone else that surrounded them? Background players who could even read their thoughts, but never were close enough to understand their bond and feel what they felt as closely as they did. I wonder if each section that corresponded with that character's "event" would have been better served coming solely from that person's perspective? It's possible then I could have gotten closer and connected more.
I will almost certainly read the author's next work, however I will be sure to adjust my expectations down a bit and not hold so close in my mind the book summary. Maybe that will serve me better in the future.
Thank you to Edelweiss, Viking and Elizabeth Ames for the opportunity to read this book and provide an honest review.
Review Date: 9/2/19
Publication Date: 8/27/19
Rating: really liked it
***NO SPOILERS***
(Full disclosure: Book abandoned on page 50 [out of 335 pages].)
The Other's Gold is the second disappointment I've read this year in one of my favorite sub-genres, academia. Academic settings offer so much built-in drama that I'm puzzled as to how any author could craft something so bland. I think they're trying too hard. Elizabeth Ames has that passive, overly contemplative style of an MFA student; in other words, a style praised and encouraged in the program but that will bore most readers. I found it impossible to sink into this story, and the characters, though different from one another, are...characters. They're indistinct and not true-to-life.
The Other's Gold is centered on four "mistakes," one for each character. If interested, I suggest reading Virginia's review for detailed spoilers about each "mistake." I'm positive I would've become increasingly enraged as I read deeper into a novel so ignorant and flat-out
wrong, on so many levels. Ames wasted her time in an MFA program when what she really needs is an education in life.
NOTE: I received this as an Advance Reader Copy from Goodreads in September 2019.
Rating: really liked it
"The Other's Gold" examines the relationships between 4 young women as they enter adulthood at a small private, Northeastern college and develop their personalities and their identities. Though they are dissimilar in background, heritage and goals, they are determined to have each other's back no matter what. This promise is tested time and again as they pursue their dreams and romantic relationships and become parents. This story had a lot of strengths for a debut novel.
Ms. Ames is a talented author. Her words are carefully chosen. Her dialogue is interesting and the storyline was smooth, especially as the four characters transition throughout the book each woman sharing her perceptions, motivations and actions. As the blurb states that each has a secret to hide, the others must decide if they can stifle her negative reaction to support her friend as she works through her trauma. None are perfect and each shows her weakest moment with her "sisters". This exposure leads to legal and ethical challenges and the others' responsibility in support of immoral behaviors. These challenges cause each to evaluate what her obligation is the others.
This story held my interest throughout. Unfortunately, I didn't connect with any of the characters. They were all pretty narcissistic particularly Lainey and Ji Sun. Thus, the author wanted to expose to us, our own narcissistic behaviors. This is portrayed with insightful authenticity. It is particularly accurate for Millennials (as this story starts around 2002 or so). My own observations among my peer group 20 years prior, was fueled by extreme levels of jealousy. I personally avoided these struggles with my peers and see this challenge fought valiantly by these women. That said, I still found them really annoying, selfish and off putting. I am not sure if I would have compromised my ethics to support what some actual had done. I do not think I would remained silent especially in regard to Margaret's actions, which deeply disturbed me (view spoiler)
[at age 27 , she is caught kissing a 13 year old boy residing as a guest (hide spoiler)].
Though I avoid awarding half points, this was possibly a 3.5 stars for me as a whole but due to the lack of redeeming qualities in the characters, I think I will stay at 3 stars. I liked that Ms. Ames gives the reader things to ponder rather than just a superficial read and that the characters were imperfect. However, none would have been people that I would see myself every being friends with in real life. I am definitely open to reading her future works.
Thank you to Viking Press, Goodreads and Author Elizabeth Ames for providing me with a copy of this story in return for an honest review.
Addendum - spoiler alert
This is the kind of book, I think is written to be read by other "writers" and academics. Her premise, that we don't always chose who is best for us, instead we select those can forward our agenda. Instead of being inspired to be better, some chose those who will validate us when we do wrong.
Each person had questionable moral character in some aspect of her life. Each person coped by minimizing her behavior and its impact to soothe her conscious, some had more of a conscious to start than others. I really disliked these characters, especially the pedophile...I think that was the author's point. That people with bad behaviors hang with others with bad behaviors, that they make this choice to affiliate with those equal or worse than themselves to seem less immoral. It goes along with the psychology of "group think", which was operational in several situations. I agree with this perception but that consensus on my part alone did not make this book more appealing. However, it did make it an interesting read.
Her technique and objectives were well executed but some of the things these women did were utterly despicable.
Rating: really liked it
I had such high hopes for this debut. Unfortunately I was left feeling underwhelmed and quite confused. I’m perplexed as to what the point was of it all. It clearly went over my head. The 4 very unique mistakes presented didn’t leave me with any emotional connection to the characters and felt a bit over the top. In fact, I don’t quite understand the friendships in the story. It might be because we are presented with a group of ladies that have forged instant bonds even before they have embarked on life. I understand college friendships are often ones we carry through life but they aren’t necessarily instant. These felt very forced and ingenious. Really, I felt like most of these women would dislike one another in real life. I also think the author missed the opportunity to explore some deeper topics. I’m rambling on right now and may circle back with more clarity. Until then I would unfortunately recommend passing on this one.
Rating: really liked it
This book was all kinds of crazy, in the best ways possible. Four women who become a close unit of friends in college each make one terrible mistake in this beautifully written book. These characters are unbelievably well drawn. Each one of them leaps off the page with vivacity and creative energy. I would read 3 more novels with these women featured, their flaws and fierce love for one another were addictive.
Perfect summer to fall read for those who need more punchy characters in their lives.
Rating: really liked it
4.5 stars
The Other’s Gold is the story of four young women’s path to adulthood, with ordinary ups and downs elevated through lyrical prose, containing current political and social events seamlessly woven in, making the reader feel like they could have been part of this lucky quartet.
Ames has a lovely way of writing, presenting everyday life as a magical secret that she’s willing to share, if you listen closely to her whispered tale…
She balances so much- family drama, sisterhood, sexual harassment, feminist ideals, disappointments, triumphs, and more. One can’t help but fall in love with the characters, share in their celebrations, and mourn their mistakes and loses.
This debut was top rate, and I highly recommend it!
This ARC was provided by Viking/Penguin, in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: really liked it
I'm not really sure about what I'm supposed to say right now because I probably I didn't fully understand the story.
In a review, I've read this is a book that you love or hate, but I feel I’m more in a grey area right now.
What's the meaning of all this? Tell the story of four young girls becoming women in the world or the one mistake they’ve all made during the years?
The author wasn’t very clear in the prologue about this but in this way, she pushed the reader to find something shocking in every chapter and, in my opinion, ruined the real nature of the story.
I've never read a book about friendship like this one, and I found out I love the genre.
Four is the perfect number for a group of friends - if two isn’t available -, and the girls here can't be more different but at the same time more perfect for each other.
Ji Sun, Alice, Margaret, and Lainey are far away from perfection and you'll find out how, but at the beginning - when they have just arrived at college and real-life is ready to start - there is this aura of new experiences and adult life. Everything is still possible.
Yes, the college years are the best, they’re everything I've ever imagined on the college experience that you can have only in American ones.
But from that moment on, the tone changes. The girls are adults now, it’s a normal thing but reading it became more difficult somehow.
The proper word is probably “heavy”.
While you're trying to catch up with everyone, the pages start to being too long and with all these tough words. It’s starting to feel less like a novel and more like an essay.
And while the author is too focus on telling you what is going on in that moment, there are these blank spaces of their life that we read - because she told us about - but we don’t fully know: how is now Alice’s brother? What’s the story behind Ji Sun’s family? Did Lainey and her sister made peace? Why Margaret always seems so foolish?
I truly think that the story could have been explained better, but I got the concept.
I just don’t think it’s the new great American novel.
↠ 3.8 stars
Rating: really liked it
I found this character-driven novel about the intense friendships between four young women very compelling, especially as they became older. I really like the way Ames writes and found myself re-reading many sentences. I didn't feel much of a connection with these four women - but I was fascinated enough to keep turning the pages.
Rating: really liked it
A 2019 favorite and one of the best adult fiction books this mostly YA readers has read in a while! Elizabeth Ames' writing style completely sucked me in, and I just loved this story so much!
Rating: really liked it
The Other's Gold is a gorgeous novel, brimming with the romance of budding, full friendships and the way we carry our pasts, our shame, and each other through it all.
The four female protagonists meet on a window seat in their freshman dorm. Their friendship is fast and deep, and we too, as readers, fall in love right beside them. While I loved the intensity of their friendship, I also loved each individually, too--despite, and in spite, of each of their mistakes that the book follows. I found myself thinking of the characters when I wasn't reading, counting the minutes until I could crack my copy open again and rejoin their lives.
I honestly couldn't put this one down! It is so interesting and intense, with a plot that keeps the pages turning quickly. Yet I wanted to slow down as a reader, and take in the beauty of Ames' prose, the nuanced way she can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, making sharp and witty observations about the worlds her characters live in. I read the last few pages over and over, not wanting my time with the characters, and this story, to end.
The Others Gold is exactly the kind of book you'll want to lose yourself in, then press into your own friends hands, so that they can discuss it all with you. Immersive and unpredictable, vivid and emotional, this is the book you will want to revisit again and again.
