Certain Girls: A Novel - Dark Publications

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Product Description
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.

Customer Reviews: Read 138 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

Joyless sequel to the sublime "Good in Bed" April 22, 2008
34 out of 39 found this review helpful

It's been thirteen years since Cannie Shapiro survived the humiliation of her former lover's public wrath to write her own best selling fictionalized tell all. Now she is battling with her teenage daughter over her upcoming bat mitzvah and trying to decide if she and husband Peter should hire a surrogate to carry their child. Cannie is living down her notoriety choosing to write sci-fi fiction instead. But daughter Joy is teetering on the brink of becoming an adult and just about everything about her mom embarrasses her - especially a certain book she has just discovered. When she starts acting up, she crosses the line and learns that perhaps her mom does have her best intentions at heart.

Like many readers, I loved the wisecracking character of Cannie, who had her happily ever after with the hunky diet doctor, uh bariatric physician despite the odds. Unfortunately throughout the majority of this book, that Cannie is long absent. Daughter Joy was a pain in the butt, and I found those chapters told in her voice to be somewhat boring. Readers who didn't read "Good In Bed" might be a little lost due to all the references to characters and pets that appeared in the far more original first novel. This one is just an okay read, and unfortunately she incorporates a decidedly unhappy event at the end to preclude this reader from embarking on any further adventures with Cannie.

3 out of 5 stars

This is NOT chick lit April 8, 2008
21 out of 38 found this review helpful

I absolutely loved Good In Bed (some of the best chick lit I have read) - and was delighted when I saw that this book would continue (at least partly) from there.

I don't know what happened, but somewhere along the line Weiner started getting boring for me. 'Certain Girls' felt more like your standard 'woman's fiction' to me and less like the 'chick lit' that was 'Good in Bed'. Yes, I know that this book is not advertised as chick lit and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the standard woman's fiction, but I wanted chick lit and I feel cheated.

The tone of this book is way too serious, the opening chapter is boring and way too descriptive and frankly, I could not get into any of the storyline.

If you want some chick lit, this is not the book for you.

4 out of 5 stars

ENGAGING READINGS BY TWO GIFTED ACTRESSES April 10, 2008
21 out of 30 found this review helpful

Mother/daughter relationships are a labyrinth of complexities - loving, angry, close, distant, confiding, secretive. Even more confounding is the fact that all of these feelings may occur within a 24-hour period. We are reminded of this in Jennifer Weiner's witty, insightful novel Certain Girls.

Many fondly remember Cannie Shapiro first introduced to us in Good In Bed. She was then a handmaiden to fashion, and determined to make her mark in the world by writing. Her chosen oeuvre? A tell-all, racy but not real story of her life that flew off the shelves.

It is now thirteen years later. Cannie is out of the spotlight and happily relegated to a question on Jeopardy. She's up to her ears in domesticity, married and planning her daughter Joy's bat mitzvah.

Joy does not share her mother's contentment. After all, she is barely into her teens and navigating the shoals of junior high school. When she discovers her mother's long ago written novel it casts a new and surprising light on who she is.

At the same time Peter throws his husbandly ingredient into the mix by announcing that he'd like to have a baby.

Weiner's prose is as winning as ever and her humor delightfully barbed. Adding luster to the author's words are the engaging readings of two very gifted actresses Michele Pawk and Zoe Kazan.

Tony Award winner Michele Pawk is a seasoned Broadway actress who has also received Drama Desk and Outer Circle Award nominations for her work. Her teaming with Zoe Kazan for this reading is quite a coup as it brings together two major talents.

Daughter of screenwriter Nicholas Kazan and granddaughter of renowned stage and film director Elia Kazan, Zoe Kazan is a multi gifted actress with numerous television and film roles already to her credit. Her voice is aptly suited to the questing, questioning Joy.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

1 out of 5 stars

definitely not a beach read April 30, 2008
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

I loved Good In Bed so I was really excited to find out what happened to Cannie and Joy. This book was a disaster. I am so disappointed to find out that the happily ever after that I'd pictured turned out to be so depressing.
Were these books really written by the same author? How could you turn such a smart and fun character as Cannie into a smothering, insecure, out of touch mother?
And I agree with previous reviewers who stated that the ending was completely unnecessary and ruined the whole story.

4 out of 5 stars

Stop reading when you get to page 344! May 4, 2008
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

I was very excited to read "Certain Girls," the sequel to Jennifer Weiner's bestselling novel "Good in Bed," which I liked very much. Although most of the book was a lot of fun to read, the ending left me very disappointed.

"Certain Girls" takes place more than a decade after "Good in Bed." Cannie and Peter are now married and raising Cannie's daughter, Joy, who is now 13 years old. Cannie and Joy alternate chapters as narrators, and they have the kind of relationship that's pretty typical between teenage girls and their mothers. Joy thinks that her mom is an overprotective pain in the butt, and Cannie worries constantly about her daughter, especially when she notices changes in Joy's behavior. Meanwhile, Cannie struggles with the notion that her husband wants to have another baby with the help of a surrogate, and Joy eventally breaks down and reads the popular book her mother wrote 10 years ago. "Big Girls Don't Cry" is a sensationalized version of the events that led up to Joy's birth, and after reading it, Joy is so traumatized that she begins to question every aspect of her life. Eventually Joy embarks on a quest to discover the truth about her mother and herself.

At first I wasn't sure what to make of "Certain Girls." I enjoyed the first few chapters, but everything about the novel seemed so predictable and obvious. However, Weiner is a pretty fantastic storyteller, and despite the fact that I had most of the story figured out right away, I was completely drawn in by the book's characters and the emotions that they experienced, which are all unbelievably honest and relatable. As I continued reading, I thought that "Certain Girls" may end up being Weiner's best book to date...until I got to page 344!

The last 40 pages of this book SUCK! The events that unfold are so depressing and completely unnecessary. I think Weiner was trying to recreate the exact same chain of events depicted at the end of "Good in Bed," when baby Joy arrives prematurely and Cannie is unsure if her daughter will survive. I was so disappointed with the way Weiner regurgitated all those emotions at the end of this book, which was so stupid! I'm telling you, the ending of this book is what prevented me from giving "Certain Girls" a five-star rating. To be perfectly honest, a four-star rating is probably too generous of me.

I'm sure many fans of "Good in Bed" will be eager to dive into this much-anticipated sequel, and for the most part, "Certain Girls" is a very enjoyable read. However, if you want to get the most out of this book, take my advice and stop reading after Chapter 36. Trust me!

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