"NW", by Zadie Smith is about a group of friends who grew up on a council estate in North West London (hence the title). The core of the book focuses on 2 friends who got out. Some of their friends moved sideways. Others slipped into heavy duty drug up.

It wasn't a bad book. It's certainly well written. For example, she caught how they talk to each other pretty well. It's just a little depressing. No one, even the girls who got out, are particularly happy. I don't expect my books to necessarily end all rosy, but part of me hoped it'd end cheerier than this 1 did.