Certain Girls: A Novel

et me start this review out with a warning--I read Certain Girls immediately after finishing Good in Bed, and I guess I was expecting more of the witty, strong Cannie that had filled Weiner's first novel. That is not what I got.

Certain Girls picks up 12 years after Good in Bed ends--and I have to

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mention that this timing doesn't work since Good in Bed was supposed to end in 2000 and this book is obviously set in 2007/2008 (WAY too many pop culture references for it be set in the future). Cannie and Joy are still in Philadelphia, and she's still with Dr. K (who is still perfect). Cannie made it big with her book "Big Girls Don't Cry" and has spent the past 12 years raising her daughter.

And that's where the book started to unravel for me. Cannie is WAY mellowed out, almost to a point where its unbelievable that she is the same character we knew in Good in Bed. After I wrapped my brain around the fact that this character that I had loved so much had changed so much, and I read the book not so much as a sequel, but as a stand alone, I started to enjoy it more. The mother-daughter interaction between Cannie and Joy is good and Joy's adventures nicely mirror those of her mother. And the story moves and keeps you engaged. But it just wasn't the story I was hoping for, with the characters I had loved intact.

Like I said at the beginning, I loved Good in Bed, and I still think it's Weiner's best work. Certain Girls is good on its own, but if you are hoping for a book to recapture the spunk of Weiner's first book, this is not it.

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This was my least favorite Jennifer Weiner book. It was a more tedious read, and I have previously flown through the pages of her books. Still, not a waste of time. I appreciate Weiner's take on the evolution of family dynamics and how you truly learn to accept and love where unusual circumstances

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land you in life.

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This eagerly awaited sequel to "Good in Bed" was a bit disappointing, though I'll keep it in my collection. Daughter Joy, born at the end of the first book, is now approaching her bat mitzvah and is one of the more annoying tweens on the planet. A wrenching plot twist near the end added to my

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discomfort. Still, I'll read anything Jennifer Weiner writes.

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Maybe I'm not cut out for chick lit. Or Weiner was on auto-pilot. Probably a mistake to return to old characters.

I knew this was what I call an airport book, what others call a beach book (but beaches are for hard books!). That's when I read them--when I know I'll be killing time. But flipping

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through this I realized it wouldn't last long enough. While better written than that Hollywood Wives writer, I read it in the same way: Will Cannie and cookie-cutter perfect husband get a surrogate child? Will the bratty teenager--oh, who cares? The chapters are told in alternate voices: the mother's, then the kid's. It's not working when the reader skips a chapter or three to keep with the mother narrator. The kid isn't convincing. I don't have much sympathy for a 12-year-old that wants a $300 dress that will only be worn for a single event or for their parents that ultimately shrug and buy it.

Weiner's grammar, punctuation and writing are fine. Often they're pretty bad in chick lit books, or what I think is chick lit. I have read one of Weiner's previous books. In comparison, this one seems lazy: stereotypes in lieu of description. The return of Weiner's/Cannie's fugitive father--ouch. Cameo appearance by movie star friend who doesn't get a line or a character.

Perhaps this book wasn't chick lit because there wasn't a romance? I don't think the Samantha friend counted because she was like a male author's caricature of a 40-something single woman. This is the kind of woman more likely to hire a surrogate or visit a sperm bank.

I think, tho, if you're a well-maintained lawyer of that age, it's really not so difficult to find male compansionship. Women like that often have much younger partners. Don't men vastly outnumber women on these dating sites, just as in the heyday of newspaper personal ads? Marriage, yes, may be more difficult. I also found it dubious that a beautiful lawyer just looking for a date to a wedding to would be sticking to a Jewish singles dating site. And the bratty kid doesn't have any non-Jewish schoolmates or friends? But I digress.

So (spoiler alert!) with no warning (well, I'm not going to flip back), the adoring diet doctor husband (who doesn't have a problem with 2 quarts of ice cream in the fridge, though his wife is fat) drops dead in one of the final chapters. Readers seem upset by this but I think the reasoning is obvious: we're going to see another sequel with Cannie character as single middle-aged mother seeking love while (one hopes) her bratty kid is off at college.

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In contrast to the rave reviews for this book I found it to be trite, predictable, choppy and stupid, with the occasional great line thrown in. Publisher’s Weekly calls it hilarious, while I would say it’s strained, and LJ refers to Weiner as ”a talented writer who consistently delivers the

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goods.” I have to ask, What goods, and are they worth delivering? The story picks up on the character of Candace Shapiro from Weiner’s debut novel, “Good In Bed,” thirteen years later, now married to a successful diet doctor (Bariatric Physician, if you please), and with a daughter, Joy, who’s about to embark on preparations for her bat mitzvah. The story wanders all over the place, from Joy abandoning her friends and moving to the popular table, stealing credit cards and running away (several times), to Cannie’s abusive father, her ditzy sister, unnecessary appearances by her gold-digging best friend, and even flashes of the character from the sci-fi novels Cannie cranks out. Characters are introduced and pretty much dropped, many of the characters sound like whiners and the death at the end feels contrived. I’ll stick with the movie versions of Weiner’s books.

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I have really enjoyed Jennifer Weiner's books, but not this one. I just had to put it down after the first chapter. I had an Elizabeth Berg waiting for me and had no time for Certain girls.

I agree with a previous review, I'd read nearly anything Jennifer Weiner wrote. This novel's ending came out of nowhere and I also cried and felt genuine feelings of sadness for Cannie and Joy. It is amazing sometimes how much a character can impact you and I feel this way about all of Weiner's

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characters.

Great story!

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Jennifer Weiner can always be counted on for a good story, with a heroine that is very real. Here, in "Certain Girls," she brings back one of my favorites, Cannie, from Good in Bed. Told in alternating chapters between Cannie and her daughter, Joy, we experience how life at its best is still full

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of pitfalls, and life at its worst, full of light.

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I'm a die hard Cannie fan. It was hard for me to have a follow up for Cannie, though. For some reason, this book fell short for me. I still love JW will still rush out to read all her books the first day they hit the shelves, this just wasn't a personal favorite.

Loved this book! Chapters alternate POV from mom, Cannie to her daughter, Joy. There is an unexpected ending and I cried like a baby!

I loved Good in Bed, and I love this book even more. I re-read GIB before reading Certain Girls to get back into Cannie's life and mind. This book is wonderful. Funny, witty, happy, sad, irreverent. I loved the POV of Cannie and Joy for each chapter and how the same things are seen so differently

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at different times and ages. The ending is poignant and moving. There are certain passages in that book that not only speak to me, but have happened to me. Loved it.

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I have to admit that I would read Jennifer Weiner's grocery lists I'm pretty sure -- so if you have enjoyed her other books, I believe you won't be disappointed with Certain Girls. I enjoyed how the story was told from different perspectives, and the overall pace of the story was great. I enjoyed

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the character development of Cannie's daughter - but I was sad to see how Cannie became middle aged (as many of us do...myself included) and I did ponder that a bit -- a good book gives you a chance to reflect without being too sad about it all. ...less

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Certain Girls is the sequel to Jennifer Weiner's hit debut novel, Good In Bed. Now, I loved Good In Bed so I had pretty high hopes for Certain Girls that it didn't quite live up to.
The book fast forwarded us a few years from the end of GIB; Cannie's daughter is now 12 years old and quite the snot,

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I have to say. More than half of the book I was screaming in my head, "Discipline her, already!"
Getting past the pre-teen angst was a bit hard to do since the premise of the book was built upon that. But there were redeeming qualities.
Weiner's writing still had me in stitches, although not as frequently as GIB. Cannie was just as sincere and witty as I hoped she would be. There were surprises and heart-warming moments. There was heartbreak...so so sad, I must add, though I wont ruin the surprise to tell you what was so sad.
All in all, I would say stick with Good In Bed and you'll be happier than if you tried to read both as a pair.

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From the outset, I was put outside of my comfort zone by the style in this book. Each chapter changes perspective, from mother to daughter and back again. While it became clear very early on in each chapter whose perspective I was reading. That was one of my main complaints about the story,

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however: it was easy to forget that the perspective was going to change, and I spent the first few sentences of most of the chapters slightly puzzled until I remembered the style.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed the story. It flowed well, and I liked the amount of description throughout. The characters were interesting, and I really got a sense that Cannie had moved on from the part of her life that Good in Bed had described.

My only other complaint about the story was that Joy's inner monologue was incredibly well-spoken, and that it was so similar in style to her mother's. Obviously, since both characters were written by the same person, this is something to expect, but I felt that some of Joy's vocabulary was perhaps beyond her years, particularly for someone who is said to be much better at math than at English. This minor complaint aside, I found the book touching and emotional, and it has definitely earned a permanent spot on my shelf.

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Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner is the sequel to Good in Bed. In this book, we meet up with Canny Shapiro when her daughter, Joy, is getting ready for her bat mitzvah. Joy is growing up and is arguing with her mother while also trying to find her place in the world. Joy reads her mother's book and

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begins to question everything that she held true from her childhood. Does her mom even want her? Was her grandfather such a bad man? Did Bruce care about her, or was she totally unwanted by both parents? As Joy struggles with her identity, Canny and Peter have tough decisions to make as well. Canny's publisher wants her to do another book as herself. The public wants to have another Candace Shapiro best seller. Peter also wants to have a baby. Should the two of them go through the process of getting a surrogate mother because Canny can not have any more children?

I really enjoy Jennifer Weiner. I started out reading her books with a bit of hesitation, but each story seems to catch my interest and her characters are always endearing. Joy reminds me of my students. She is questioning everything that adults tell her and finding her own way. She goes through some extremes, but she is constantly learning and reevaluating life. Her character is written beautifully. Weiner has captured the adolescent spirit perfectly. Canny is as sharp-witted as she is in the first novel, but she does not shine as brightly in this novel. She seems to be more subdued as a mother. The only part that I did not like is the ending. As things were starting to get better in the novel and I was preparing myself for a happy ending, Weiner through in a twist that shattered my heart. It was an extremely shocking ending and I can't really say that I liked it. That could just be because I like happy endings, but it through a wrench in what I expected. I'm not used to being surprised in books. I am sure that a lot of people enjoy this type of thing, it just didn't work for me.
4/5 stars

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Thankfully, Weiner wrote a good story again! (I did not much like her collection of short stories much. I was a tad disappointed by Goodnight Nobody, too.)
I like it that she wrote a sequel to Good in Bed, because I actually did wonder what would happen next.
I finished the book in the train, a

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crowded one at that, but that didn't keep me from crying a lot. I loved this book. It was warm, funny, realistic and frustrating - in a good way.
Again, I wonder, what will happen next?

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Writers are often told to write about what they know, but what happens when a novel hits too close to home? Jennifer Weiner attempts to answer this very question in "Certain Girls," the sequel to "Good in Bed." More than 10 years have passed since the first book ended, and now Cannie Shapiro is

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happily married and planning the bar mitzvah of her daughter, Joy. Weiner takes a look at the intricacies of the mother-daughter dynamic, alternating chapters between Cannie's and Joy's perspectives. Joy has discovered her mother's book and is trying to reconcile the fictional story of her birth with life as she knows it. This sends her off on several quests to discover more about her family, none of which give her exactly what she is looking for. Cannie, at the same time, must try to figure out what is going on with her little girl.

As always, Weiner's witty prose makes the characters instantly likable and easy to relate to, which is why the tragic turn of the novel is so affecting.

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A lot of people told me they didn't like this book compared to "Good In Bed" because it was a more serious tone. I think that helped me go into it with the knowledge of what to expect. Yes it was more of a serious book than a "chic lit" book but I think it was a very very good story.

The story was

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easy to read, even though it did change back and forth from Joy and Cannie. The ending was bittersweet, definitely didnt see that coming. But I loved this book and I definitely think anyone who read "Good In Bed" should read it to find out what happens but just go into it knowing that its a serious read so you're not disappointed with the style.

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Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner is a sequel to her popular book Good in Bed. We get a return of heroine Cannie Shapiro, who is now married (to the lovely doctor from the first book), has a bestselling novel (based loosely on her own life), and a teenage daughter, Joy.

I was pumped up to read this

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sequel ever since I read Good in Bed and was able to find it at my public library after trying a few times. I was sucked right back in to the story, which was easy because I had just read the first of the series not too long ago. The book has a lot of flashbacks to describe things that had happened in Good in Bed, and also developed Cannie's character. At first I was disappointed that the gap between the books was so large (more than ten years), but it ended up filling in enough information that I was satisfied in the end. For having such high expectations about a book, I wasn't let down, and feel closer about the series. (I still wouldn't mind reading another book about Joy or Cannie if one happens to be written, though.) There was one event in the book that I could have done without, but I won't mention it here in case you are planning on reading it - it is possible you will feel the same after you finish.

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An absolutely wonderful read by Jennifer Weiner. Cannie Shapiro is back, this time with her 13 year old daughter Joy, and the rest of the family and friends--just in time for Joy's bat mitzvah and the entry into the most difficult time in relationships between mothers and daughters. Told from both

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Cannie's and Joy's points of view, it is a rich view of the layers within this family dynamic. Weiner's characters are so real, and have such amazing voices, that it is impossible to stay above the emotions of all of the characters. The book ended up being pretty emotionally draining, and Weiner's plot twist gave me a good cry (like 6 chapters worth!) This book sealed Weiner as a favorite author for me.

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Chick Lit . Sometimes laugh out loud funny - sometimes far too predictable.

I enjoyed this story, which alternated between the mother and the young teen girl's perspective. The love between the mother and father was palpable and funny. I didn't like the ending. I wonder if Ms. Weiner selected it so her book would be taken more seriously? I wish she had ended it in a more

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typically chick lit way. It was nice to revisit Cannie and I'd like to see this family continue with another book...

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so i really, really, really loved the first book Good in Bed. Now, that is not to say i didn't like this one. But....i didn't like it as much. It was a good read. Told from the mouths of mother and daughter it was interesting to hear both sides of the story. now i am not married and i don't have

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kids. so part of that i just didn't care about. i am also not jewish so although i do understand that there is an importance about certain ceremonies in many religions there was a lot of emphasis around a bat mitzvah that has very little meaning to me. all that aside....the book was good. towards the end when there is a sudden death in the family i cried (as it was unexpected and the one thing the author is good at is showing that emotion) if you like Jennifer Weiner read the book. i am not sure i would randomly pick it up for fun.

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Thirteen years have passed since Cannie Shapiro was the victim of a nasty article in GOOD IN BED. Her daughter is a teenager. She has finally found love. Things are looking good. But if you are familiar with Cannie, things are never easy ... this light read was very enjoyable with a few surprises.