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The Best Of Friends CD: The Best Of Friends CD (2010)

by Mariana Pasternak(Favorite Author)

2.83 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0061768146 (ISBN13: 9780061768149)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

HarperAudio

review 1: The book is written by Mariana Pasternak, Martha Stewart's former best friend and witness for the prosecution in the stock trading trial that landed the domestic diva in jail. The book is riveting, not only because it provides a fascinating glimpse into the rarified life of Martha and her people, but also because Pasternak is such an unreliable narrator. Sometimes she is almost unbearable in her narcissism and other times you cannot help but cheer for the single mother who, after fleeing Romania, came to live the American dream. Mainly, I thought that she and Martha deserved one another as friends.At the end of the story, I found myself hitting repeat on one of the tracks. After the dramatic ups and downs of Mariana's life, she takes stock of what she has learned:"The real... more worth of a life cannot be measured by its mortar or its materials. The real worth of a life is best assessed by the pain one feels upon that life's undoing, and the lengths one will go to gather all the pieces, join the joists, and, relying part of prayer, part on muscle, and mostly on love, resurrect the roof."I just love this and have had it rolling through my brain for the last two weeks. I love that Pasternak knows that, at some point, everyone's life will come undone. Because I've learned this to be true. And I love that she recognizes that the natural instinct is to rebuild that life: to gather the pieces, join the joists and resurrect the roof. And I think she says it all so beautifully.But what Pasternak does not ask is what happens when the life that is lost is not worth salvaging. What if you decide, instead, to scatter those pieces, pocketing a few gems and leaving the rest behind? What if the original plans no longer make sense? What then?
review 2: This book is about the friendship of twenty years between Mariana and Martha Stewart. Mariana and Martha and their husbands were all friends, then M & M continued their friendship with each other after their divorces. They lived in a world of luxury and power and hobnobbed with the rich and famous. Mariana was a European immigrant with sophisticated tasted who helped to smooth Martha's rough edges; Martha introduced Mariana into a world of travel, adventure, and big-money people. From the book jacket: "As time passed, money, men, and the arrogance of wealth frayed the bonds they had built so carefully over more than twenty years. The final break came when Pasternak was called as a witness in the high-profile trial that brought about Stewart's conviction and prison sentence." I thought Mariana told of her long relationship with Martha very honestly, with a great mix of the things she liked about Martha as well as they things that made her question the friendship. The book confirmed what I'd read of Martha's huge desire for money, fame, and power. There were some interesting quotes on wealth. Arthur Schopenhauer: "Wealth is like seawater; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame." Alexander Pope: "Get place and wealth, if possible, with grace; if not, by any means get wealth and place." A good summary of Martha would be from her high school yearbook: "I do what I please, and I do it with ease." Mariana had lots of references to books that are of interest to me. I don't know how she had time to read so much with all her travels and parties with Martha. less

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