Title: MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search For A New Best Friend
Author: Rachel Bertsche
First published December 20, 2011
349 pages, Paperback
ISBN: 9780345524942 (ISBN10: 0345524942)
Rating: 3.44
Overview
Moving to a new city can be exciting and challenging, but for Rachel Bertsche, something was missing. She had left behind many great friends in other cities, but in her new hometown, she had no one to call for a quick chat or a spontaneous dinner.
That’s when she decided to take action. Rachel embarked on a journey to find a new best friend.
Through fifty-two friend dates, one per week for a year, she tried everything from improv classes to friend rental websites. Join Rachel on her quest to find a new BFF and discover the true meaning of friendship in this heartwarming and hilarious memoir, MWF Seeking BFF.
About the Author
Meet Rachel Bertsche, a talented author with an impressive body of work that includes The Kids Are in Bed, MWF Seeking BFF, and Jennifer, Gwyneth & Me. Rachel honed her skills as an editor at O, The Oprah Magazine, and her writing has been featured in a wide range of publications, from Marie Claire to CNN.com. She’s based in Chicago, where she lives with her spouse and two little ones.
Editoral Review
MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search For A New Best Friend by Rachel Bertsche takes readers on a relatable journey through the modern struggle of making and maintaining meaningful friendships. Bertsche, a journalist and married woman in her thirties, finds herself in a new city where she lacks the close friendships she was accustomed to having.
She decides to embark on a search for a new best friend, going on fifty-two friend dates in one year. The book falls under the genre of memoir and offers a humorous and warm account of Bertsche’s experiences.
The themes of loneliness, social anxiety, and the importance of connection are woven throughout the narrative. The style of writing is conversational, making readers feel as though they are sitting down with a friend to hear about their day.
The author does a fantastic job of creating a relatable and entertaining story that is appealing to a broad range of readers. The book is significant in its reflection of the current cultural shift towards prioritizing self-care and mental health awareness.
It highlights the importance of taking action to create and maintain a support system.
Bertsche is a well-crafted character, whose personality and quirks are endearing to readers.
The other characters in the book, the women she dates, are equally well developed, and the conflicts that arise between them reflect the complications of navigating friendships in adulthood. While the pacing of the book occasionally drags, and the plot structure could benefit from tighter organization, it is not a significant detriment to the overall reading experience.
Comparatively, MWF Seeking BFF shares similarities with other memoirs like Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. All three books depict women on personal journeys of self-discovery, but Bertsche’s is particularly relatable in its specificity.
For readers who enjoy memoirs about women and the struggle to connect with others, MWF Seeking BFF is a worthwhile read. It gives insights on what seeking new friendship looks like in different parts of the world, and despite its occasional flaws, it adds something relevant and significant to the memoir genre.
The book would particularly benefit those in their twenties or thirties who are navigating the challenges of developing and maintaining adult friendships. Washington Post’s score for the book is 4 out of 5 stars.
