Title: What Did I Do Wrong
Author: Liz Pryor
Review: I am shocked what I learned in this book, I have been at both ends of a friendship. The one ending it and the one being ended with, I could see both sides and it made me really think about my friendships. Being ‘Dumped’ is tough and especially if it is someone you have known forever, but it happens and this book helps you understand that and how to cope with it.
Choosing to end a friendship is difficult and takes much thought, but once you make the decision you are already gone. You just now need to let the other person know, but how? Liz has some really great ideas on how to let the other person down without destroying them. When you just stop calling or coming over, you set them up for heartache as they try to figure out what they did wrong. Maybe it was nothing, maybe you just out grew them or maybe they did do something. Liz tells the reader that it is better to let them know or let them down easy then to just stop all contact. Either way someone is hurt, but maybe then they won’t wonder what they did, they will know what happen and they will quit calling you wondering why you don’t call back.
The personal stories and the interviews she did for this book add another dimension to help the reader understand why and how to end a friendship and how to keep one from ending. I enjoyed this book, it was fast to read and really showed me things about myself and other friends I’ve had. Great book for all women to read.
Publisher: Published May 17th 2011 by Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Copyright: 2011
Pages: 208 pages
ISBN: 1451649657
Quick Review: 4 Stars out of 5.
Why I Read it: The publisher was looking for reviewers for an upcoming Book Blog Tour and the book interested me.
Where I Obtained the Book: Sent by Free Press
Synopsis: STORIES AND SOLUTIONS FROM GOOD MORNING AMERICA’S ADVICE GURU
It happens without warning, and it devastates you: Your closest girlfriend cuts you off completely. No more late-night phone calls and emails, no more catch-up lunches and dinners. She has decided for whatever reason to move on with her life and has left you to try to make sense of what happened. The experience can be as painful as the death of a loved one and as confusing as an unexpected breakup with a significant other. You replay scenes from the friendship and wonder what you did wrong. You’ve lost a loved one and you don’t know what to do.
Now, What Did I Do Wrong? gives voice to this painful, common, yet rarely discussed phenomenon and provides a resource—and some answers—that you can rely on. Relationship expert Liz Pryor has had a number of these breakups herself, and so she set out to discover why they were happening in order to help herself—and others—get through the pain and prevent it from happening again. Through personal interviews and her popular website, lizpryor.com, Pryor collected hundreds of stories of friendships gone wrong. She draws on those stories to explore the dynamics of friendship breakups in a candid, intimate way, revealing the patterns, the warning signs, and some ways to put a friendship right or help it change so that it meets your friend’s and your changing lives. She also explains how to end a friendship—if you find that you need to do so—in ways that honor both parties’ feelings and your history together.
Like the best kind of girlfriend—one who really will stay friends forever—Pryor blends plain, old-fashioned, feminine good sense and good humor with genuine empathy for the thousands of women who live with the confusion and anxiety that linger after the sting of an ended friendship. What Did I Do Wrong? will validate your feelings and inspire you to be more forthright and compassionate with new and old friends. You will be moved and uplifted by the many stories of strong friendships, broken friendships, and renewed friendships that make this book a treasure of women’s wisdom and experiences.
Author Biography: I was born the fifth of seven children in the quiet town of Winnetka on the north shore of Chicago. As the third of the five Pryor girls, I vividly recall observing female communication and dynamics from a very early age. My mother’s commitment to her own female friends and the valued place they held in her life, amid the raising of seven children, set an early and unforgettable precedent.
During my childhood I discovered music as my first creative outlet. I found my love for writing while composing songs on the guitar and creating lyrics. Eventually I landed at Kansas University, where I studied journalism. When I moved to Los Angeles in 1990, I decided to sharpen my writing skills at UCLA. Over the next ten years, while committed to my work in short fiction, I earned a living as a commercial and television actress.
After the birth of my first child, I became a full-time mom, but continued writing during nap-time. Human behavior and self-exploration remained the focus of my short stories, until I wrapped myself around the subject of women in friendship, which ultimately resulted in the birth of my book, WHAT DID I DO WRONG?
Navigating women through the uncharted waters of female friendship ending, has led to an entirely new and exciting chapter in my life. What I hadn’t anticipated after the release of my book, was the surge of consistent communication from women via my website. Their stories, experiences, and interest has created an amazing platform for what appears to be some much sought after commiseration.
The challenges and hilarity of life and the relationships that surround it, has become my niche. Communicating effectively and staying true to who we are…make up most of what I help women seek.
Cheers, and great things for everyone.
Other Reviews: Her book just came out May 17th.
Are you giving this one away? I would love to read it since I'm currently being dumped by a friend and am not handling it well. -Heather
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