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A review by bookishlifeofbrie
Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
3.0
2.5 rounded up to 3 stars.
I recently read Good in Bed (the first book in this short series) and really loved it so figured I should carry on and read Certain Girls. I liked that it picked up more than 10 years later from when the first book ended, but overall I didn’t love this book as much as Good in Bed.
The Cannie I loved in that book was not the same Cannie in this book. Granted, a lot of time had passed, and circumstances shape us, so it’s not unrealistic that she changed. I just didn’t particular love this new Cannie. In Good in Bed, Cannie is a strong heroine, making the best out of her life in sometimes not so perfect situations. She’s funny, witty, loveable and full of perseverance. In Certain Girls, she’s a housewife hiding in the shadows, coddling her only child. As a mother myself, I struggled to relate to her as a mother and the choices she made. When she knew her own daughter was digging around, looking for answers on what truths lied in the book Cannie wrote when Joy was just a baby, why didn’t she use that opportunity to have some heart to hearts with her? Why on earth she found it so hard to just talk truthfully and openly with her own daughter is beyond me.
This book is told in alternating chapters from the POV of Cannie, and her 13 year old daughter, Joy. Joy is your stereotypical, brat of a teenager, but what really irked me about her was how she thought about her own mother, particularly her mother’s weight. Gosh I hope my own children are never so disgusted with me.
And the ending? Absolutely unnecessary. Also made the book a lot longer than it needed to be, but also made it feel rushed to wrap up.
Sigh. I love most of Weiner’s books I’ve read, so I’m going to chalk a lot of this one up to not just not aging well.
I recently read Good in Bed (the first book in this short series) and really loved it so figured I should carry on and read Certain Girls. I liked that it picked up more than 10 years later from when the first book ended, but overall I didn’t love this book as much as Good in Bed.
The Cannie I loved in that book was not the same Cannie in this book. Granted, a lot of time had passed, and circumstances shape us, so it’s not unrealistic that she changed. I just didn’t particular love this new Cannie. In Good in Bed, Cannie is a strong heroine, making the best out of her life in sometimes not so perfect situations. She’s funny, witty, loveable and full of perseverance. In Certain Girls, she’s a housewife hiding in the shadows, coddling her only child. As a mother myself, I struggled to relate to her as a mother and the choices she made. When she knew her own daughter was digging around, looking for answers on what truths lied in the book Cannie wrote when Joy was just a baby, why didn’t she use that opportunity to have some heart to hearts with her? Why on earth she found it so hard to just talk truthfully and openly with her own daughter is beyond me.
This book is told in alternating chapters from the POV of Cannie, and her 13 year old daughter, Joy. Joy is your stereotypical, brat of a teenager, but what really irked me about her was how she thought about her own mother, particularly her mother’s weight. Gosh I hope my own children are never so disgusted with me.
And the ending? Absolutely unnecessary. Also made the book a lot longer than it needed to be, but also made it feel rushed to wrap up.
Sigh. I love most of Weiner’s books I’ve read, so I’m going to chalk a lot of this one up to not just not aging well.