Deb Rachel Names Her Literary BFFs

I’m reposting an excerpt from my personal blog today, because I love this list and I’m dying to hear who you’d add! (And I loved that Deb Joanne touched on this too… It’s a fun game!)

Here, the literary characters I would want as a best friend:

1) Boy, The Giving Tree. Some say he’s selfish and greedy, I say he’s lonely. He loves his tree. He could use a BFF.

2) Jo March, Little Women. Or maybe Beth. For one of my college applications, I had to name which fictional character I most identified with. I chose Jo. But I wonder if we could really be best friends? We might be too similar. As much as I love her, I could see us bumping heads. I might benefit more from Beth’s warm heart… You know, before her gutwrenching end.

3) Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter series. She’s awesome. Half badass, half girly. Not as goody-two-shoes as Hermione, but just as brave. I can totally picture us whispering together in the corner.

4) Alice Cullen, Twilight. Whimsical, fiercely loyal, and loves to play dress up. That she can see into the future doesn’t hurt.

5) Harriet the Spy/Nancy Drew. I really wanted to be a child detective back in the day. Sadly, there were very few (read: zero) mysteries that needed solving in my hometown. But I would still very much like to be the sleuthy sidekick.

6) Lisbeth Salander, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and sequels). I would not want to be on her bad side. But she is crazy protective of her friends, could dig up dirt on anyone at anytime, and would be one of those never-a-dull-moment BFFs.

7) Skeeter Phelan, The Help. She’s passionate, determined, sneaky when she has to be. I think we could be good writing buddies. Read each other’s work, give honest critiques, take breaks to discuss Hilly’s horribleness.

8 ) Oskar Schell, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I’m aware that most people think Jonathan Safran Foer’s first book, Everything is Illuminated, is his best. But I fell in love with Oskar, and this novel, early on. He’s eager and vulnerable and precocious… and he’s just really funny. I mean, he plays the tambourine and invents things like talking teakettles. Who wouldn’t want to be his BFF?

9) Bridget Jones, Bridget Jones’ Diary. I was on the fence about her at first. Isn’t she kind of a hot mess? But as my very wise coworker reminded me, “You need a friend to get drunk with. And who’s more f’ed up than you.” Fair point.

Honorary mention, as Joanne pointed out, definitely goes to Dahlia, Lilah and Ciel. It’s no surprise that such a fun group of Debs produced such a BFF-worthy bunch of characters.

Did I miss anyone? Who’d be your literary BFF?

8 Replies to “Deb Rachel Names Her Literary BFFs”

  1. Aw, thanks, Rachel! 🙂

    I already mentioned Trixie Belden, girl sleuth, this week–I sooo wanted to be a member of The Bobwhites of the Glen! I really like your idea of one of the March girls, too. Jo, of course, would be all kinds of fun, but Beth is really sweet, and would probably knit me some mittens, so there’s that to consider.

  2. Thanks from me too, Rachel! 🙂

    I’ve been looking forward to your post this week, knowing you have a special understanding of what it takes to find and BE a BFF! I love this list for its diversity–you’ve covered all your BFF bases with these choices!

  3. Can I say here that I wouldn’t want to be Shel Silverstein’s friend? I know we’ve talked about this before, but his author photo still haunts me.
    But yeah, I love the Bridget Jones justification. There’s something really appealing about hanging out with a hot mess sometimes. Especailly a really lovable one.

  4. I always wanted Dawn from the BSB as a best friend. I figure she’d probably invite me to her house in California and I would get to go to Disneyland, sit on the beach and eat avacados. Those were the dreams of a 12-year-old…and come to think of it, they haven’t changed much!

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