Certain Girls: A Novel | Jennifer Weiner | A Beautiful Act of Insight

Certain Girls: A Novel | Jennifer Weiner | Weiner Delivers a Range of Emotions and Likeable Characters - Recommended!

books:

Certain Girls: A N...

	Certain Girls: A Novel Jennifer Weiner Atria, 2008 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 162 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

A Beautiful Act of Insight

The only complaint I have about Certain Girls is how forgettable the title is. This book is not meant to be the same kind of book as Good in Bed. This is the book about what happens after Prince Charming comes along and the gorgeous child becomes a teenager. Jennifer Weiner does a stunning job of voicing the concerns of the mother: her love for her daughter, her inability to see her daughter accurately, her fears for her daughter, her personal and professional struggles, her faith, her fears--and the separate but equal concerns of her daughter: her love for her mother, her inability to see her mother accurately, her humorous and heart-twisting attempts to discover who her mother is, her struggles to be accepted at school, her need to assert herself, her personal struggles. As a mother and a daughter, I know how incomprehensible mothers and daughters can be to each other--how deeply intertwined the love and pain can be.

Reading the other reviews I wonder two things: first, if others who heard the story on CD/cassette (as I did) loved it more than those who read it. The reader is extraordinary. Second, if there is a correlation between the age of the readers and their ratings. Maybe you have to have been both daughter and mother-of-a-teenager to appreciate what Weiner has done here. Or maybe you just had to be ready for Weiner to be writing something different. I think it's her best book.

for more information click here

Weiner Delivers a Range of Emotions and Likeable Characters - Recommended!

While this book stands on it's own legs, I would recommend reading the author's prior book, "Good in Bed", since it picks up approximately 10 years after that one leaves off. This story is told from the perspective of Cannie Shapiro, who is the central character of "Good in Bed" and her daughter, Joy, who is now 12 years old and preparing for her bat mitzvah.

One of the things I find most enjoyable and endearing in Jennifer Weiner's books is her ability to develop characters and families that are real, imperfect and eminently likeable and this one is no exception. While Cannie's unorthodox family remain characters in this book, they are on the periphery and mainly add a little interest to a story with a great mix of tradition, family, friendship, love and acceptance.

As with all of her books, Jennifer Weiner writes with great humor (I can't help but think she would be as likeable as her characters) and I believe this is her best so far. While I was prepared for a good read, I was still surprised at how the range of emotions I felt while being entertained by this book. As they say, it made me laugh and it made me cry - and I found this a very touching story that goes beyond the cliched Chick Lit.

for more information click here

I missed the Shapiro's-a great addition to the family

I love Jennifer Weiner's funny, flawed characters. I was so excited to see this book I bought it in hardback and proceeded to read it during the first week of summer break even with my kids out of school! I had missed Cannie and crew. I enjoyed catching up with her 13 years later, and again exploring family relationships this time with her in the role of a mother to a teenage girl. Weiner again is hilarious and poignent. I was sad when Certain Girls ended.

Another exquisite book; this time the story of Cannie Shapiro from Good in Bed continues...

Cannie married Dr. Peter Krushelevansky after giving birth to her daughter Joy, whose father is Bruce, Cannie's dope head ex boyfriend.
The book is mostly about how Joy and Cannie interact as mother and daughter.
Joy is not an easy child, she was born ahead of time and has hearing problems so she has to wear hearing aids that she just hates to wear. She is insecure and is looking to be approved by the collest girl of her class. She wants to be treated as a grown up and make her own mistakes but Cannie is overprotective and tries to help her too much so they fight a lot and now that Joy will turn 13 and celebrate her bat mitzvah everything just blows apart and both mother and daughter will have to learn to live with each other since Peter dies of a heart attack leaving them all alone and with a baby on the way. They had opted for a surrogate mother to carry their child and now that peter is gone, Cannie and Joy will have to take care of the new family member and try to get along and accept their differences.

Weiner with her brilliant eye for character sketches and her natural art of storytelling makes her characters messy, lovable, funny, and smart.
Her warm heart makes her connect with her readers and we all empathize with her and her characters.

for more information click here

Lacks the magic

I LOVED "Good in Bed", "In her Shoes" and "Little Earthquakes", and found each of them insightful in their own ways. All of them went above the stereotypical "chick lit" style and morphed into something quite meaningful. I enjoyed "Certain Girls" but it lacked the magic of the first book. Cannie's character does not sparkle like it did in the first book. Joy's voice is an interesting addition to the story. Weiner did have me nodding my head vigorously in some places; anyone who has grown up and experienced pain and rejection will sympathize. If you liked Weiner's previous work you'll like this book too.

for more information click here