Certain Girls | 
 enlarge | Author: Jennifer Weiner
Creators: Michele Pawk, Zoe Kazan
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $11.82
You Save: $18.13 (61%)
New (38) from $11.82
Avg. Customer Rating:  114 reviews
Sales Rank: 279417
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Abridged
Number Of Items: 5
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 5.9 x 5.2 x 1
ISBN: 0743569865
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780743569866
ASIN: 0743569865
Publication Date: April 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: NEW & SEALED!
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Product Description
"My mother," Joy Shapiro Krushelevansky writes in her diary late one night, "is the most embarrassing person to have ever been born." It's been almost thirteen years since we've last seen Cannie Shapiro, the heroine of Good in Bed, whose journey toward happily-ever-after, and peace with her fractured family and plus-size body, made millions of women the world over laugh, cry, and see themselves on the page. The last decade of Cannie's life has brought some surprises. Her life story, in fictional form, became an unexpected best-seller, and Cannie has since choosen to retreat from fame's fallout, writing science fiction under a pen name. Her daughter, Joy, has descended into the throes of moody adolescence, just in time for her bat mitzvah. Her best friend, Samantha, is looking for love in all the wrong places (specifically, an online dating site called AJew4U.com). Her husband, Peter, has decided that he'd like to have a baby, and the family's first choice for a surrogate is none other than Cannie's flamboyant kid sister. Just when things can't get any worse -- or weirder -- Cannie's long-lost (and largely unlamented) father shows up at her doorstep, and Joy swipes her mother's credit card and heads West in pursuit of the grandfather she's only seen once. Funny and tender, with memorable characters and Weiner's trademark whip-smart dialogue and sharp observations about modern life, Certain Girls is a story about family (biological and chosen), love, loss, and the enduring bonds between mothers and daughters, husbands and wives.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 109 more reviews...
 Really amazing sequel! July 3, 2008
I really loved this book, because Good in Bed left me wanting more of a story. While Certain Girls is different... I still loved how Weiner treated the story.
 Not fair to compare it to its predecessor July 2, 2008
I think readers need to remember that this book is set many years after Good In Bed was written so, essentially, you're being introduced to a character who, while she may bear a resemblance to her younger self, is a changed person. I think that is actually one of the most fascinating things about this book, to have watched a character become engulfed so fully in their domestic role as a mother and wife, even despite the success of her career as a novelist. It is this character shift that held my interest throughout this book, an at times disappointing but also sympathetic feeling of understanding, knowing that all of us grow up and lose bits of ourselves as we take on other roles in life.
That being said, I did think the storyline didn't manage to follow any real path until the very end. This book at times almost felt like an exercise in trying to write descriptive passages with humor, one after another, and didn't quite gel together into a cohesive story. This makes the ending all the more jarring, and not necessarily in a good way. I suppose maybe that was for effect, but I didn't think it worked all that well, especially given the more genial tone of the pages that came before it.
Overall, a pretty good read but not one of Jennifer Weiner's finest efforts. However, as a revisit to an old, beloved character, it was certainly enjoyable.
Can Cannie keep her Perfect Life? June 27, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Can the heroine of Good in Bed, Cannie Shapiro, screw up her happily ever after life, where she is married to the handsome doctor Peter Krushelevansky and is the mother of a her daughter Joy? Especially since Joy is now a teenager and Shapiro's perfect husband wants to expand their perfect family?
 Disappointing June 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I loved, loved, LOVED Good In Bed and Weiner's other books and I was so excited when there was finally a sequel. Unfortunately it's a disappointment. It's hard to believe that this is the same characters, the book falls flat, and the ending is just dreadful and left me depressed. Not what I expected at all.
Disappointed June 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I conider myself a fan of Jennifer Weiner, having read almost all her previous books. Although I had a hard time putting Certain Girls down it disappointed me.
First there are the way too many obligatory gay characters which seem to be a staple of chick lit and/or womens' books. It's like the author is screaming "hey, look at me, I'm a good liberal". Blech. It's so predictible.
Next is the ending, which I won't spoil. The main thing I can ascertain from Ms. Weiner's books is that she has a serious problem with men. Male characters are either evil, gay, or not entirely fleshed out. Or they meet an untimely ending.
Her female charaters are for the most part interesting and endearing. I just wish that she would be able to create a fully functioning, interesting and surviving male character!
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