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i enjoyed this book very much, but it was an emotional journey for the mother in the story and also for the daughter. The ending was tragic for me, but that is due to my own fears. Overall a book worth reading and easy to read.
I would give this book 1 1/2 star is it would let me. That was such a cruel and horrible mistake that made me want to stop reading.
What happen to Candace. Gone was her wit and spark that made you fall in love with her.
Let me start by saying that I loved Good in Bed and this sequel was not worth the money spent. But killing Peter is where I draw the line.
She was such a nag in this book. And the daughter was so ungrateful, but then most teenagers are.
I am so glad that I read a review that prepared me for it, but even then it still seems like such a cruel joke. Save your money, I wish someone had warn me.
Needless to say, I was thrilled to pick up "Certain Girls" and rejoin Cannie on her journey 12 years down the road from where I left her. Cannie and Joy are in the thick of the mother/daughter angst that most of us deal with as we're growing up. She's let herself go physically. As the final nail in the coffin, Weiner throws in an extremely sad event out of the blue at the end of the novel that completely took me off guard and honestly, didn't really seem necessary. Honestly, about halfway through the book (when I had conviced myself that I was too far in to quit now) I had a pretty vivid fantasy of physically shaking some sense into her.
I just didn't get it. I have to also note, the book is also spends a lot of time discussing Jewish life events, traditions, and uses a lot of traditional Jewish vernacular. Since I've had little exposure to this culture, a lot of that content was lost on me. She writes science fiction books under a pseudonym.
After the thrilling success of her mostly autobiographical and largely scandalous book, "Big Girls Don't Cry," Cannie has taken herself out of the limelight to quietly raise her daughter, Joy, with her husband, Peter. She was a feisty 20-something writer and self-proclaimed "big girl" that really touched a cord in me as a reader. Not really. Cannie Shapiro, Weiner's heroine from her best-selling book "Good In Bed" has always been at the top of my list of fictional characters I'd love to be friends with if they ever decided to jump from the page. "Certain Girls" was just an early reminder that, yes, someday soon, my pink-loving princess that adores me now will hate me with a venom I may not deserve, and will definitely not be prepared for. She smothers her almost-teenage daughter.
The bottom line is, I didn't really like this story, but I love Jennifer Weiner. I liked this element, because I think it provided a good perspective of the complex issues facing mothers and daughters and how hard it is to communicate with almost-teenagers. Reading Jennifer Weiner's "Certain Girls" was kind of like bumping into an old friend from high school or college on Facebook, getting excited about the possibility of rekindling a relationship with someone you thought was uber-cool in the past, and then being totally befuddled and oddly disappointed about the path their life has taken. Other than making readers cry (which I did - buckets) what was the purpoose. Did it advance the characters or the plot.
And it kind of made me wish I had quit halfway through the book, when I was just annoyed and not yet depressed over Cannie's story.
But these exchanges were also hard for me to read.
I like her voice as a writer, and even though I think she might need a life coach and a good swift kick in the tush, I still love Cannie Shapiro, too.
Unfortunately, Cannie seems to have kind of lost herself.
If you like chick lit or have a teenage daughter, you'll probably enjoy this book.
The book is written in a split point-of-view, alternating chapters in Joy and Cannie's voices.
My little girl is only three, and my stomach still turned when I thought about dealing with similar issues with her in the future.
After this review, I'm puzzled about my own decision to give this book three stars.
Maybe I'll enjoy it more if I reread it in 10 years.
Good book, enjoyed her others more but it arrived in good condition and I was pleased.
It took me back to what it's like to be that age and go through the awkwardness and anger of being a young girl and how that makes relating to your parents (ESPECIALLY your mother) so hard. This novel did not disappoint. Jennifer Weiner's book 'Good in Bed' was a great read; so I decided to give Certain Girls a shot. This book covers so many aspects of the mother-daughter relationship and how it grows and changes over time. Weiner writes the book from two perspectives- One is from a mother, Cannie's, vantage point and the other is from her soon-to-be teenage daughter, Joy's, point of view. I loved how well the author tapped into the pre-teen angst with Joy. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Cannie, Joy, their family and the progression of their lives as Joy grows up and eventually becomes a woman the day of her bat mitzvah. I highly recommend this book; just be sure to have some kleenex nearby because there is a sad, unexpected twist at the end of the book.
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