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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
Cute, but the first one ("Good in Bed") was much better. I thought "Good in Bed" was an example of a book that is better than the genre (in this case, chick lit). This sequel was fine, but not nearly as well-plotted.
I would have given this book four stars if Jennifer Weiner hadn't duplicated her story lines in two separate books within 4 years of each other! I recently read "Then Came You", and not to give anything away, but the exact same, very specific and very catastrophic situations happened at the end of both books! If you're going to write as many books as you do, make sure you can create multiple plot lines with their varying twists and turns. With that being said, I already have another of her books on hold at the library...
The sequel to Jennifer Weiner's debut novel 'Good in Bed'. This book continues the story of Cannie Shapiro and that of her teenage daughter who wants to know more about her mother's past. Even though this book was written 7 years after the first book, the style and feel of the story is very much the same as Weiner's first novel. I enjoyed it!
I really enjoyed this book. It had been quite a while since I read Good in Bed, but I immediately reconnected with the character of Cannie. I thought that Joy's character was so well conceived - it felt like a very realistic depiction of a girl at that age.
Despite the dramatic details of Cannie and Joy's relationship, this is essentially a story about mothers and daughters.
Despite the dramatic details of Cannie and Joy's relationship, this is essentially a story about mothers and daughters.
This is a lot of fun to read, but it has a lot more depth than it appears to. Told from two characters' views- the mom and the 12 year old daughter.
Such a great coming of age/mother daughter story. She did a fantastic job alternating first person narrators. Very relatable life material in this book. I enjoyed it a lot.
OK, there were some things I really liked about this book, chiefly the way in which it twists the premise of "Good In Bed" around to where Cannie is the one whose published accounts of past relationships disrupt her present ones. When the novel serves as a roman a clef of the contemporary publishing world and dramatizes the old warning (which I believe I once heard attributed to Tolstoy) about having a writer in one's family, "Certain Girls" fizzes along nicely. However, there is one big plot point, coming rather near the end, that almost completely derails my opinion of the book. No spoilers here, but what happens is abrupt, unforeshadowed, and seems wholly out of synch with the world created in the two novels. The decision to give Cannie's daughter Joy a voice in alternating chapters isn't bad, but what could be an entertaining coming of age story in which Joy's world becomes more complex and nuanced is short-circuited by the fact that we already know what she's going to find, having read the first book and being privy to Cannie's inner life in this one. It definitely has its moments (I like the scene in which Cannie reviews the litany of snobbish criticisms that have been levied against so-called "chick lit," a term I really dislike by the way), but I was ultimately disappointed - and not a little bit peeved by what Weiner chooses to have happen to at least one of her most likable characters.
I had to put this book down several times due to the annoying chapters from the 13-year-old's point of view. I have little patience for self-absorbed people in literature (and real life!). I was thinking it was a two-star book until the last quarter of the book when it redeemed itself a little bit. I think over-all I was disappointed.
...I did NOT see [spoiler] coming and while it made (sort of) sense in hindsight, I felt so emotionally blindsided by it that, and how it completely changes the tone of the book (and "fixes" some of the problems between Cannie and her teenage daughter) that I just couldn't say I enjoyed it by the end.