Something Borrowed

by Emily Giffin

[Leah]

Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.

It's a testament to Emily Giffin that I have read Something Borrowed five times and I still don't get bored, I still don't change my opinions on the novel. I don't like cheating - in novels, in real life, I don't like it, I hate it in fact, yet everytime I read Something Borrowed, I root for Rachel. There's something innately wrong with Darcy that always ticks me off. I don't necessarily think that what Rachel does is right, but (and this might sound wrong) Darcy doesn't deserve Dex. I know it's wrong to say that, but ever since I first read the novel, Darcy and Dex never made sense to me and Rachel and Dex did. I even read Something Blue before I knew about Something Borrowed, and still my opinion was unchanged so, you know, it's hardly going to have changed now.

The characters are excellent, I loved Rachel and I understood how she felt. Understood what it was like to have a best friend who always gets what she wants, to have a best friend who constantly outmanouvers you. Everything Ethan and Hillary say about Darcy is correct; it's like it's a game to her, it's like 'Let's see what I can do to beat Rachel today'. That's not friendship, it's like she sees Rachel as an enemy she must beat at all costs and I can certainly see why Rachel worried the Dex relationship was merely her getting back at Darcy. I never liked Darcy. Never. She's consistenly shallow and only thinks of herself. The only time she's in the least bit redeeming is the final quarter of Something Blue.

Emily Giffin is one of the authors who made me a Chick Lit fan and Something Borrowed is quite easily my favourite Chick Lit book ever. It says an awful lot that Giffin's later books haven't held a candle to Something Borrowed. I would love it if Giffin ever wrote a third novel to feature Darcy and Rachel, particularly since the Rachel/Dex scenes are kept to a minimum during Something Blue. Although there's undoubtedly the worry that another novel may weaken what is a truly stellar novel all on its own. If there's one novel that stands the test of time it is Something Borrowed. It is a novel every Chick Lit fan and writer should read because it's simply amazing.