Friends in emotional upheaval

Something Borrowed is now a major motion picture that people are crowding to watch. This is a book for all people who have friends and know that the world can be a lively place when friends are around. The story is about loyalty to friends and about betrayals. Rachel and Darcy have been friends ever since their childhood. Both girls have grown up as neighbors in Indiana, USA. They have been best friends throughout their elementary and high school. And now both are in New York and are working; and the great thing is that they are still the best of friends. Rachel, the lawyer, is the quiet and steady one and Darcy, working for a private firm, is loquacious, the one who can be out partying all the time.
Rachel, the protagonist of the story, has been waiting for her thirtieth birthday with dreams of celebrating it with a good husband and loving children. However, before she can settle down to her dreams Darcy is already engaged to be married when she is in her twenties. Dexter, a friend to both the young ladies, is the lucky man. He has been courting Darcy for seven years before they decide to settle down. Darcy is busy with plans for her wedding. There are times when she has pitying remarks for Rachel, saying that she is single and so does not understand many things about boyfriends. Rachel feels hurt but she is used to Darcy being outspoken. Rachel had dated Nate for some time but they had broken off when Nate's ex-girlfriend came along and they got together again. And then there had been Ethan. Such sporadic relationships had taught Rachel to wait till she could find the right person. She has no wish to rush on to some relationships and then come out wounded and bleeding.
There are other friends, Hilary, Les and Cheryl. Though all the friends hang out from time to time, at the end of the day Rachel and Darcy are together to take stock of their joys and sorrows. Then along comes Marcus, the dashing young man with a good job, and starts to date Rachel. Darcy continues to implore Rachel to take Marcus seriously and start thinking about getting married. Just when Rachel starts to think about Marcus she comes across a strange part of her own self that she does not understand. She finds that it is not Marcus whose thoughts and actions move her but it is someone else, it is Dexter, the fiancé of her best friend. Her thoughts are puzzled as she wonders,
"How can I be so thrilled to be near Dex, so deeply moved by his e-mail and still want, on some level, for him to marry Darcy?"
Here comes in a drama of human emotions, emotions that are caught between moral values and the confusions of the heart. Cheating over her best friend is not for Rachel and yet she is caught between her own tormenting emotions and doing what is right, what is wrong. Then she is yet more puzzled when Darcy confides that she is not seeing much of Dexter. What is she to make of the whole drama, especially when wedding preparations are going ahead for Darcy and Dexter? When she tells Hilary about her confusion, Hilary says that she always thought that not Darcy but Rachel was the perfect match for Dexter. This throws Rachel into a greater nerve racking world. Was she forcing herself to go along and keep dating Marcus when her heart craved for another? But what is there for her to cling to when Dexter is making his suits for the wedding and at the same time hinting that he likes to be with her! The story goes through emotional uphill and downhill until it takes a breath taking turn and leaves the reader fascinated with the word mastery of the writer.
Caught in the real drama of human lives, readers of Something Borrowed will sit through the night to read to the end of the book. The characters of the story are palpably real and human emotions really weave a great saga. This novel is moving and smart and might leave the reader rushing on to lay hands on the next Emily Giffin book.

Tulip Chowdhury, poet and short story writer, sends this review from Arkansas, USA.