Certain Girls

Way too long, not enough action ...

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I have read/listened to a lot of Jennifer Weiner's books and she is an amazing talent, but after so many books her themes start to get a little repetitive: the Jewish mother, Philadelphia, fat girls, girls with some kind of deformity, Princeton, etc. I know this was supposed to be a sequel to "Good in Bed" and while the characters were well-rounded, the plot was so slow it took a lot of patience to make it to the last third of the book when something finally happens.

What was most disappointing about Jennifer Weiner’s story?

A weak plot with too much character development and background and not enough action. Jennifer Weiner loves to delve into the life story of all of her characters, and that can get tedious sometimes. This book moves painfully slow, like a long trip in the car.

Which character – as performed by Julie Dretzin and Rachel Botchan – was your favorite?

I didn't love either character. Joy was probably more fun in terms of her misadventures but she also had a lot of behavior and wisdom not believable for a 13 year old. And Cannie was annoyingly stiff and conservative considering where she came from. You would think she'd be able to meet her daughter halfway without having her run away from home before she conceded to buying her a damn dress.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I do love Jennifer Weiner's writing but after listening to a few of her more recent books, they're starting to all sound the same with themes obviously borrowed from Weiner's own life being used over and over again.

Any additional comments?

Maybe try the abridged version...?

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

i was disappointed!!!

Im not sure how I feel about this book. I loved the first book Good in Bed and I love all the other books written by Jennifer Weiner but this one seemed a little..hmmmm..not sure the twist at the end seemed unnecessary. I really didnt like it.. I was trying to love it but didnt. The tragedy almost seemed to try to make the book interesting. I think i loved the first book because it didnt seem so much like the "big girl" whining book. But this one was so....boring...everyone in the book seemed annoying and just kind of thrown in. I was very disappointed I just wish I wouldve read it because some times the sequel makes you hate the entire series.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Well Good in Bed sequel

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Well let me say this was not worth a credit at all. The story is long and dull. I can understand the child wanting to know about the book her mother wrote. But wow going from the past to the future to many times. I would stop listing and turn it back on and wonder if i missed anything. This audio will be finished, if i purchased i will listen no matter how bad it is. My day just lagged on and keeping my eyes open just so hard.

With this book being a sequel to the first Good in Bed I thought it would be just as good.


Sighhh, I really dont like giving bad reviews but i wasted a credit on this and feel i should get my credit back.

Has Certain Girls turned you off from other books in this genre?

Yes

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Oh yes both of them could of went the extra mile.

Was Certain Girls worth the listening time?

NO

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great narration

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes

What other book might you compare Certain Girls to and why?

Good in Bed. Because it was the sequel.

Have you listened to any of Julie Dretzin and Rachel Botchan ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Haven't listened to any of their performances before

Any additional comments?

At first I was a little put off with Julie's narration, but only because I had listened to the previous book with a different narrator. As I listened I found myself liking her narration better than the previous book. I found both narrators to be very believable. I enjoyed the book tremendously.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Begins as chic-lit but has a depressing end.

This book, based on the title and cover promotes itself as a fun chic-lit book that will leave you feeling good, Sadly, this is not the case. The book takes a depressing turn in the last quarter which left me feeling sad and unsatisfied at the end. I think that story would have been much better without this turn and would have lived up to my expectation of a chic-lit novel. If you are like me, sometimes you just want a book that does not require a lot of thinking and leaves you in a good mood when it is all said and done. This is not that book. However, if you can handle some sorrow along with your girly drama then this may be the book for you!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Loved it!!

Cannie & now Joy are my hero’s! The performance was fantastic! Jennifer Weiner is my guilty pleasure.

great follow up and I hope for a book 4

Cannie's character is honest, funny, and bold. to hear how her life continued after book 2, but the end of this book makes me really interested in hearing more from JW and her Cannie Shapiro stories.

Overall enjoyable, but a tad disappointing

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed the resolution of some of Cannie's story arcs, and it satisfied my curiosity about what happened after Good In Bed (which was one of my favourite books).

Certain Girls did leave me feeling somewhat deflated. Cannie's internal conflict about her father, her mother, her mother's partner, her ex-boyfriend - all of these issues were very relate-able with a 20-something character. We all go through this type of personal growth.

But now Cannie is in her 40s, and I had hoped she had grown. The sarcastic and sometimes mean comments about her mother's homosexuality are cringe-worthy. Has she really not gotten over this? Has her mother's partner really not redeemed herself in Cannie's eyes by now? This detail of her mother being a lesbian could be so fun, but Cannie seems to have held on to this sense of resentment about it all. It was understandable when it was a fresh development for Cannie's character, but has she really never grown to love and accept her mother's partner in 15 years?

That was disappointing, and it seemed that the "gay jokes" or sarcastic remarks just made me dislike Cannie, and sympathize with her mother, and it made me notice all the other sarcastic remarks that passed for humour in the book. It seems to me that Cannie was incredibly fortunate in Book 1, which ended on a high note, why was she still hurting or resentful in Book 2? Girl, things worked out well for you!

I was also surprised and a bit saddened that Cannie and Bruce's relationship hadn't evolved either. It's realistic, but it's a missed opportunity too.

I bought Good In Bed the audiobook version shortly after listening to Certain Girls, wondering if maybe *I* had outgrown Cannie, but the audio version of Good In Bed is just as funny and sympathetic as I remembered.

I did really enjoy the development of Joy, Cannie's daughter, and I loved the increased presence and development of Cannie's sister.

I feel like an event at the end of the book was unnecessary, and it left me feeling sad and angry. Yes, life is hard sometimes, but this seemed cruel in a fictional world, and although it resulted in some further growth for Joy, that growth could have been achieved through another plot device.

It's also a bit tough to empathize with Cannie knowing she got a book deal that secured her future, yet she shied away from the attention she received. Why not have her go all in, like Lindy West - Cannie was described by Bruce as a "foot-soldier in the body wars" in Book 1 - what happened? Why didn't Cannie get a twitter account? Learn to stand up for herself, set boundaries in real life, deal with trolls? Where is our fat girl heroine? And her friendship with Maxie seemed so strong and immediate in Book 1, yet Maxie was barely there in Book 2.

I'm glad Certain Girls was written, as a Good In Bed fan, I really appreciate the continuation of the story and the characters, so I can have some resolution as to what happened after Book 1... but it's a fictional story, so I wanted a happier ending, to be honest. It was sort of a happy ending. I feel like we need a third book!

Jennifer Weiner is AMAZING!!!

I've read all her books and loved every single one of them! This is another great read by a great author! Don't ever stop writing JW! I live in Philadelphia and love all of the references to our city!

she does it again

tried and true. jennifer weiner delivers. the narrarator was perfect for this part and i easily fell into the story and couldnt stop listening. it was good enough that i didnt even mind grouting the bathroom tile because it gave the opportunity to keep listening. highly recommend.