All The Right Mistakes by Laura Jamison

 

They met at Dartmouth University almost twenty years ago.  The five women are about to turn forty and have retained their friendship.  Their lives have changed as they have moved into professions.  One is a doctor who no longer practices, two are attorneys.  One has stayed at home with an absentee husband and another has a star-studded life as a CEO at a tech startup.  

They come together for their annual vacation.  They stay at the California friend's Carmel house although she didn't make the reunion this year.  She is busy writing a book.  So busy in fact, that when one of the women loses a family member, she can't be bothered to attend the funeral.  

But that's not her worst act.  The book is an expose, based on what the author calls the four mistakes women make.  She uses each of her friends as an example, and while she doesn't name them, she uses their initials and family facts so that they are easy to identify for anyone who needs them.  The other women are outraged and they feel that her book has made things more difficult for them at work and in their families.  

But as they turn forty, each of them finds a way to carve out a life they want.  One divorces and finds a new lover while another finds a way to have the baby she has wanted for years.  One adopts a child and another finds a way to take a job on her own terms with almost twice her prior salary.  Another starts her own law firm which is highly successful.  

Laura Jamison has written a book about female friendships and how women must fight for the lives they want.  While it is interesting, many readers will not be able to relate to these five women with tons of money and huge houses and professional careers.  The husbands all agree to either cut back on their professional jobs or become consultants so that they can help more at home which doesn't seem that realistic to most women's lives.  This book is recommended for readers of women's fiction who are interested in female friendships and how to nurture them and on how to get the life you want.