Certain Girls: Book Review

Of course, once I read a book and find out there's a sequel, I have to read that one too! I mean how could one not want to find out what happens to those characters you fell in love with, or the one's who annoyed you! Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner was definitely a roller-coaster. I disliked the first half of the book because I just couldn't fathom ever being 13 and hating my mom, and disrespecting her like Joy did, but I mean that was 8 years ago.. and I've heard I was the queen of attitudes, so I'm sure I was exactly like her.. maybe that's why I didn't enjoy reading about Joy. I have to admit though, the last half of the book definitely made me laugh, cry, and eventually smile.

Synopsis by Barnes & Noble:

Readers fell in love with Cannie Shapiro, the smart, sharp-tongued, bighearted heroine of Good in Bed who found her happy ending after her mother came out of the closet, her father fell out of her life, and her ex-boyfriend started chronicling their ex-sex life in the pages of a national magazine.

Now Cannie's back. After her debut novel -- a fictionalized (and highly sexualized) version of her life -- became an overnight bestseller, she dropped out of the public eye and turned to writing science fiction under a pseudonym. She's happily married to the tall, charming diet doctor Peter Krushelevansky and has settled into a life that she finds wonderfully predictable -- knitting in the front row of her daughter Joy's drama rehearsals, volunteering at the library, and taking over-forty yoga classes with her best friend Samantha.

As preparations for Joy's bat mitzvah begin, everything seems right in Cannie's world. Then Joy discovers the novel Cannie wrote years before and suddenly finds herself faced with what she thinks is the truth about her own conception -- the story her mother hid from her all her life. When Peter surprises his wife by saying he wants to have a baby, the family is forced to reconsider its history, its future, and what it means to be truly happy.

Radiantly funny and disarmingly tender, with Weiner's whip-smart dialogue and sharp observations of modern life, Certain Girls is an unforgettable story about love, loss, and the enduring bonds of family.

My Review:

"As the days piled up into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, and fall slid into winter, I realized one of the great truths about tragedy: You can dream of disappearing. You can wish for oblivion, for endless sleep or the escape of fiction, of walking into a river with your pockets full of stones, of letting the dark water close over your head. But if you've got kids, the web of the world holds you close and wraps you tight and keeps you from falling, no matter how badly you think you want to fall."

11 years later, following Good In Bed, Joy is now 13 years old and getting ready for her Bat Mitzvah with her parents, Cannie and Peter. She knows that Bruce is really her father, whoever, she wishes she had a 'normal' family, like her friend Amber's. I feel like she compares herself a lot to her friends, and is always trying to appear normal, whether it's with her family, or her appearance, without hearing aids. I think at that age many young teens just want a normal family and to be seen as normal. Yet you learn, without a doubt, that being original is what makes your family unique. She learns it a rather hard way, but I won't ruin it for you. As for Cannie, she is as overprotective as she can be, and also discovers herself along the chapters. Should she write another book? Should she have another baby, this time with Peter? Should she tell her daughter everything, including that risque book she wrote years ago? Although all these questions prove to be difficult to answer, they are eventually answered... with time, and with signs.. everything happens for a reason, even if we are blinded by tragedy and cannot see this reason.

My Rating: 3 Stars