We Should Not Be Friends

In his last year of university, Will thought he knew everyone he cared to know. Openly gay and volunteering at an AIDS helpline at the start of the crisis, he had found community at a frightening time amongst the theatre students, writers, and visual artists. He also knew who he wanted to avoid: the jocks. Until one day Will was invited into a secret Yale society that brought opposites together. On his first day, he was faced with Chris Maxey - a physically imposing, loud, star wrestler who seemed to be uncomfortable around Will and embody everything he reviled and feared.

But through months of mandated dinners, and many beers, the two swapped life-stories and forged an unexpected bond that became a ballast in each other's lives for forty years. From New Haven to New York City, from Hong Kong and London to a remote Bahamian island-through marriages and divorce, triumphs and devastating losses-We Should Not Be Friends tracks an extraordinary friendship through decades of challenge and change. It is a testament to the miracle of human connection, if only we can see past our differences.