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In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks from April 22nd-28th. Don’t miss out—purchases support We Are LIT!
Shop nowBig Friendship
How We Keep Each Other Close
Length
5 hours 33 minutes
Language
English
Narrators
Aminatou Sow & Ann Friedman
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“This is one of the most meaningful and thought provoking books I’ve read in a long time. It will forever change how I think about the friendships in my life. I was provided valuable tools to develop and maintain these valuable relationships with greater intent and thoughtfulness. I want to put it into the hands of each of the most significant people that make up my own friendship web along with me sharing how much they mean to me. When I discovered it was written by the friends profiled in Traister’s "All the Single Ladies" who met and connected at a Gossip Girl viewing party, I knew it was for me. I loved the story about their friendship and was curious to see where they were now. The audio book is narrated by Ann and Aminatou and also includes sound clips from various people they interviewed from their book. It was certainly lovely to hear more about their lives and their friendship. Their narration elevated and personalized this reading experience for me. I was unprepared for how much their research and reflections on friendship would resonate for me and challenge me to start taking more conscious steps to actively work on those I cherish the most and wish to have with me until the end of my days...Although this is primarily a story about female friendships, I think their ideas, information, and reflections are relevant to anyone who wants to be a better friend and develop and maintain meaningful personal relationships with others.”
— Cori • Bright Side Bookshop
A close friendship is one of the most influential and important relationships a human life can contain. Anyone will tell you that! But for all the rosy sentiments surrounding friendship, most people don’t talk much about what it really takes to stay close for the long haul.
Now two friends, Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, tell the story of their equally messy and life-affirming Big Friendship in this honest and hilarious book that chronicles their first decade in one another’s lives. As the hosts of the hit podcast Call Your Girlfriend, they’ve become known for frank and intimate conversations. In this book, they bring that energy to their own friendship—its joys and its pitfalls.
Aminatou and Ann define Big Friendship as a strong, significant bond that transcends life phases, geographical locations, and emotional shifts. And they should know: the two have had moments of charmed bliss and deep frustration, of profound connection and gut-wrenching alienation. They have weathered life-threatening health scares, getting fired from their dream jobs, and one unfortunate Thanksgiving dinner eaten in a car in a parking lot in Rancho Cucamonga. Through interviews with friends and experts, they have come to understand that their struggles are not unique. And that the most important part of a Big Friendship is making the decision to invest in one another again and again.
An inspiring and entertaining testament to the power of society’s most underappreciated relationship, Big Friendship will invite you to think about how your own bonds are formed, challenged, and preserved. It is a call to value your friendships in all of their complexity. Actively choose them. And, sometimes, fight for them.
Aminatou Sow is a writer, interviewer, and cultural commentator. She is a frequent public speaker whose talks and interviews lead to candid conversations about ambition, money, and power. Aminatou lives in Brooklyn.
Ann Friedman is a journalist, essayist, and media entrepreneur. She is a contributing editor to The Gentlewoman. Every Friday, she sends a popular email newsletter. Ann lives in Los Angeles.
Aminatou Sow is a writer, interviewer, and cultural commentator. She is a frequent public speaker whose talks and interviews lead to candid conversations about ambition, money, and power. Aminatou lives in Brooklyn.
Ann Friedman is a journalist, essayist, and media entrepreneur. She is a contributing editor to The Gentlewoman. Every Friday, she sends a popular email newsletter. Ann lives in Los Angeles.
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Reviews
"The hosts of the 'Call Your Girlfriend' podcast prove to be warm, open, and matter-of-fact as they share personal details about the path their friendship has taken. Sounding comfortable and natural behind the mic, Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman trade off narrating as they chronicle how they met, maintained a long-distance friendship, supported each other's careers, took the leap to becoming business partners, and navigate the specific challenges of their interracial friendship. But BIG FRIENDSHIP is also prescriptive, making a compelling case for putting in the effort to sustain these essential relationships in our lives. A bonus of the audiobook is that many of the experts on relationships, technology, and more that Sow and Friedman cite chime in to deliver their own quotes." Expand reviewsWe Are LIT is proud to partner with Libro.fm to give you a great audiobook experience.