The Friends of Eddie Coyle vs The Widening Gyre: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Massachusetts, Boston, Fiction
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
More
"Eddie Coyle is a small-time punk with a big-time problem - who to sell out to avoid being sent up again. Eddie works for Jimmy Scalisi, supplying him with guns for a couple of bank jobs. But a cop named Foley is onto…
The Widening Gyre
“I was nursing a bottle of Murphy's Irish Whiskey, drinking it from the neck of the bottle sparingly, and looking down from the window of my office at Berkeley Street where it crosses Boylstone.”
More
The adoring wife of a senatorial candidate has a smile as sweet as candy and dots her "i's" with little hearts. A blond beauty, she is the perfect mate for an ambitious politician, but she has a little problem with sex…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- The Friends of Eddie Coyle has the widest readership — 11456 ratings behind its score.
- The Friends of Eddie Coyle reaches further in scholarship and criticism — cited 5 times.
- The Friends of Eddie Coyle runs the darker storyline; The Widening Gyre stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| The Friends of Eddie Coyle | The Widening Gyre | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.0 (11456) | 4.0 (42) |
| Hardcover | 3.8 (31) | 4.3 (14) |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (276) | 4.0 (341) |
Reception
| The Friends of Eddie Coyle | The Widening Gyre | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 11456 | 341 |
| Editions | 25 | 13 |
| Citations | 5 | 1 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 12790 | — |
| Reading it now | 833 | — |
| Written reviews | 1148 | — |
| Wikipedia attention | 6936 | 120 |
| Pages | 192 | 183 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: The Friends of Eddie Coyle or The Widening Gyre?
The Friends of Eddie Coyle has the higher combined reader rating across sources (The Friends of Eddie Coyle 4.0/5, The Widening Gyre 4.0/5).
Which is shorter to read: The Friends of Eddie Coyle or The Widening Gyre?
The Widening Gyre is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: The Widening Gyre (183 pages, ≈ 3 h 23 m); The Friends of Eddie Coyle (192 pages, ≈ 3 h 33 m).
Which is harder to read: The Friends of Eddie Coyle or The Widening Gyre?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — The Friends of Eddie Coyle: Moderate; The Widening Gyre: Moderate.