Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

Genre: Chick Lit, Fiction

Jennifer Weiner is back with her sequel to “Good In Bed”. “Certain Girls” begins 13 years after the first book ended. Candace “Cannie” Shapiro is now a married woman with a 13 year old daughter, Joy. They are preparing for Joy’s Bat Mitzvah. In the years we last saw Cannie, she married her diet doctor and wrote a best seller. Her books is a thinly disguised novel of her own life events.

Joy is horrified when she secretly reads her mother’s book. No wonder her mother never told her about it, it’s humiliating to the young woman. It may be called fiction, but Joy clearly recognizes her family in the book – the overweight heroine (her mother), the heroine’s lesbian mother (Joy’s grandmother), the creepy boyfriend (Joy’s biological father), and the heroine’s mean father (Joy’s grandfather). Embarrassment consumes Joy, not to mention her mortification at learning her parents never wanted her.

Cannie is an overprotective mother dealing with typical teenage angst, not to mention having to do damage control when she finds out her daughter read her book. Joy is determined to find out if her mother’s version of the events are really fiction or perhaps a bit of truth mixed in.

I listened to the audio version of both books. The first book was really good. The second was good, but I did have a few problems with it. Cannie is almost overbearing in her protectiveness of her daughter. While some is understandable, some of it is just over-the-top. Joy, too, can be over-the-top in her quest to learn the truth about her family. It seemed to me if Cannie just sat down with her daughter and had a discussion, Joy wouldn’t have reacted as she did. Of course 13 isn’t exactly old, but it’s old enough to learn about a few things, especially if the girl is curious and won’t let it drop. The more secretive Cannie became, the more intrigued Joy became. I wanted to strangle both of them. LOL

There was some humor in the book, but mostly it was kind of sad. It was fast listening though and I found myself totally caught up in these characters’ lives and wanting them to have a happy ending.

For reading challenge: 2009 Audio Book Challenge