jenkepesh 's review for:

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

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This is a Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Reading Guide pick, and several people said they found it surprisingly good. It happened to be available at the library, so I snagged it, despite being less satisfied with Weiner’s previous book, Mrs. Everything.. But this book worked better for me. I did not realize that Part 1 was going to end so dramatically and take the book in a different direction, which worked well for moving the story along briskly. The examination of how early friendships shape one’s view of oneself, the difficulty we have in seeing people change, our blindness to our own good fortune, how money can be used as a weapon and quickly pull the rug out from under the feet of those who don’t have it, and the way that social media commodities every aspect of our being, often with our complicity, are all important parts of the books though it’s still light enough to qualify as a summer read. I’d call this one “pleasantly surprising.” I also think that it’s would make a good paired read with “Followers,” which explores many of the same themes (especially friendship, social media, and the intersection) but in a dystopian world.