Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Friends We Keep ~ by Sarah Zacharias Davis

Friendship can be complicated, can’t it? In The Friends We Keep, A Woman’s Quest for the Soul of Friendship, Sarah Zacharias Davis, explores some of the joys and difficulties of friendship. We love our friends and we need our friends, so why then do we get jealous or resentful of them? Broken friendships can often be more painful than even the breakups we’ve had with boyfriends. Some friendships are broken off suddenly, while others wilt away over time until there’s nothing left. These are just some of the topics Davis explores as she attempts to navigate the often murky waters of friendship between women.

I did have some difficulty in reading this book, not because it isn’t good – it is, but because it caused me to reflect on friendships I’ve had and still have. But I’m glad I read it, and I’m sure other women will also give thought to, and freshly appreciate their current friendships, and let go of those that have ended. There is a discussion guide included at the conclusion of the book.

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The Friends We Keep
A Woman’s Quest for the Soul of Friendship
By Sarah Zacharias Davis

During a particularly painful time in her life, Sarah Zacharias Davis learned how delightful–and wounding–women can be in friendship. She saw how some friendships end badly, others die slow deaths, and how a chance acquaintance can become that enduring friend you need.The Friends We Keep is Sarah’s thoughtful account of her own story and the stories of other women about navigating friendship. Her revealing discoveries tackle the questions every woman asks:

• Why do we long so for women friends?

• Do we need friends like we need air or food or water?

• What causes cattiness, competition, and co-dependency in too many friendships?

• Why do some friendships last forever and others only a season?

• How do I foster friendship?

• When is it time to let a friend go, and how do I do so?


With heartfelt, intelligent writing, Sarah explores these questions and more with personal stories, cultural references and history, faith, and grace. In the process, she delivers wisdom for navigating the challenges, mysteries, and delights of friendship: why we need friendships with other women, what it means to be safe in relationship, and how to embrace what a friend has to offer, whether meager or generous.

~~~

Author Bios:
Sarah Zacharias Davis
is a senior advancement officer at Pepperdine University, having joined the university after working as vice president of marketing and development for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and in strategic marketing for CNN. The daughter of best-selling writer Ravi Zacharias, Davis is the author of the critically-acclaimed Confessions from an Honest Wife and Transparent: Getting Honest About Who We are and Who We Want to Be. She graduated from Covenant College with a degree in education and lives in Los Angeles, California.

To get more information about The Friends We Keep, including online purchase options, simply visit: The Friends We Keep.

7 comments:

  1. I've been thinking about friendship a lot lately and how hard it is (for me) to make new friends. I have my old friends and we're still close, but geography has separated us and while I'm looking to make new friends I'm stuck wondering "How?" In school it was easy. As a SAHM it's quite a bit more difficult.

    I've heard it said that there are friends you have for a a lifetime, a season or a reason. I have my lifetime friends whom I adore and have had the "season" friends--even a couple of "reason" friends.

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  2. My wife has asked often in sixteen years why friends have to move away and why is it so difficult to keep up with them? She also has had single friends who marry and sort of leave her behind. Friendships are so difficult but worth the time.

    It's happened again recently--she's been pitted against this person's husband...they don't do anything together anymore and it's weird to me...I just love that she wants, has and does things with her friends. I don't feel as if I need to compete.

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  3. I think the friends book sounds awesome! I have always been interested in why I 've kept some friends and why others have gone to the wayside.

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  4. LA, What a great topic. This is something we often struggle with alone. Great review. Sounds like a great book. :)

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  5. Nice written by You..... Thanks for well defining The Word Friendship. find out some more on friendship

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  6. I'm the same with Heidi with being selective in who I choose as my close 'real' friends. I've learned that it doesn't happen overnight, just like most things don't. Not just space, but time, new changes in peoples lives, nearly everything can make or break that connection.

    I was just confiding in my Pastors wife today about how I long for that female bonding that for some reason is so hard to connect to yet I don't understan why. Strange in some ways but in other ways one would assume so simple....(confused)

    ~Sarah

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  7. I truly enjoy your book reviews! Dear one, you are planting seeds for the harvest.

    The Lord has asked me to cultivate friendships, and I am learning alongside of the master Gardener.

    Blessings to you,
    Sarah Dawn

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