The Summer Place

Title:  The Summer Place

Author:  Jennifer Weiner

Publication Information:  Atria Books. 2022. 432 pages.

ISBN:  1501133578 / 978-1501133572

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "For forty years, the house had stood, silvery cedar and gleaming glass, on the edge of the dune, overlooking the waters of Cape Cod Bay."

Favorite Quote:  "A person's happiness is his own business. Or hers."

Sarah Danhauser is one woman. Around her are...

• Ruby, her stepdaughter who wants to pull a wedding together in 3 months. Whether or not she wants to be married is a different question.
• Ruby's birth mother, who walked out on her but is now back for the wedding.
• Sarah's mother Veronica.
• Sarah's twin brother Sam who is dealing with issues of his own.
• Sarah's husband Eli who has seems estranged since the beginning of the wedding.
• Sarah's son Connor.

Surrounding Sarah is also the life of New York brownstones and Cape Cod beach houses.

Where this book is going... "Staying married ... was a choice." And "A Little selfishness could be healthy. It could even be what saved your life. That, she thought, was a message more girls and women could stand to hear, a thing that few were every taught." A valuable message, but unfortunately lost in the context of this story.

This summer beach read is about family secrets and a wedding weekend to bring them all out. It is about reminiscing about and testing the paths not taken. It is about communication or lack thereof. It is about family and love.

The premise is a common one and a relatable one, except for that kind of wealth. The multigenerational approach indicates the presence of multiple perspectives with different life experiences. The location indicates an immersion in a beautiful place. 

Unfortunately, the book goes from those beginnings to focus on different things. The family secrets and relationships do come out but in a way as to be far-fetched. The "secrets" also attempt to bring in so many different elements that each individual one gets lost. In addition, several characters end up a representative of an element being highlighted rather than a fully rounded individual. It's is more a checklist of relationship combinations. The multigenerational approach gets subsumed by descriptions of relationships that may or may not be across generational lines. The location ends up playing no real part of the story; the beauty of the place does not truly feature in the book.

On top of that, this book has scenes that are graphic. There is no real warning, and that is not my thing. Romance, yes, perhaps. Graphic sexual descriptions, no thank you. The fact that these encounters introduce the possibility of incest raises the question. Why? Just why?

Too much, too scattered, and ultimately, not for me.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

Big Summer

Title:  Big Summer

Author:  Jennifer Weiner

Publication Information:  Atria Books. 2020. 368 pages.

ISBN:  1501133519 / 978-1501133510

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "By the second week of September, the outer Cape was practically deserted."

Favorite Quote:  "The trick of the Internet  I had learned, was not being unapologetically yourself or completely unfiltered; it was mastering the trick of appearing that way. It was spiking your posts with just the right amount of read... which meant, of course, that you were never being real at all."

The cover and the title of the book imply a summer beach read about a "big" girl and the trials and joys that entails. Daphne Burg is a "big" girl. She has overcome many of the challenges that brought as a young woman. "I thought my body was unacceptable, and that I had to hide. That's what the world tells us, right? But, now, maybe, if enough of us stand up and show ourselves, just as we are, if we post about our thriving, busy, messy, beautiful lives, our daughters won't have to swallow the same lies." She is happy with herself (some of the time) and is now an internet influencer encouraging others to be the same.

Part of her, like many of us, never escapes the middle school years and the insecurities that entailed. For her, that experience is rolled up in Drue Cavanaugh, who was her best friend until she wasn't. Now, Drue is back, and she wants Daphne to be in her wedding. For many reasons, Daphne says yes. Part of the book devolves into reliving the middle school mean girl years and reads as if written for a young adult novel.

Then, much to my surprise and delight, the book turns into a mystery. Someone is murdered, and, of course, Daphne must find out the truth. "Everyone deserves justice, I thought. Even people who lie. And everyone lies. Especially on social media, where there were lies of commission and lies of omission on everyone's page, woven into everyone's public presence."

Sprinkled throughout are handsome men and gratuitous sex scenes I could do without. To some degree, they also don't ring true. The idea of bikinis and jumping into bed with men does not go with the idea of someone who has body image issues. Overall, the mystery takes center stage. That makes for a fun read. The solution to the mystery is a surprise, but when it comes, it seems a natural conclusion.

The book rounds out with a feel good, if cliché, lesson about life, acceptance, and the internet. "I'm not brave all the time. No one is. We've all been disappointed; we've all had our hearts broken, and we're all just doing our best. Make sure you have people who love you, the real you, not the Instagram you. If you can't be brave, pretend to be brave, and if can't do that yet, know that you aren't alone. Everyone you see is struggling. Nobody has it figured out."

The book is still a quick, easily read, summer beach read. It's just not the exactly the one I expected, and that is a good thing in this case.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

Mrs. Everything

Title:  Mrs. Everything

Author:  Jennifer Weiner

Publication Information:  Atria Books. 2019. 480 pages.

ISBN:  1501133489 / 978-1501133480

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "Her cell phone rang as they were on their way out of the movies."

Favorite Quote:  "She'd lost her taste for fiction. Sometimes she thought it was because spending even a few hours in an imaginary world would make it too tempting for her to consider other versions of her own story, other ways it could have unfolded. A different ending, a truly happily-ever-after."

Mrs. Everything, as the title implies, is a story of women. It is a story of a woman trying to do everything and be everything that society expects her to. It is a story of that continuing for a long time until finally she cannot. It is a story of a woman making the choice to go her own way and of the impact that leaves on her family.

The story begins with Jo. It is a story that begins at the end. It begins with a diagnosis that signals an ending. It offers a final opportunity to make things right, to impart lessons, to heal wounds, and to soothe a conscience:

• "Women had made progress ... but she wondered whether they would ever not try to have it all and do it all all and do all of it flawlessly. Would the day ever come when simply doing your best would be enough? Her generation hadn't managed it, and neither had her daughters."
• "We lose ourselves ... but we find our way back ... Wasnt' that the story of her life ... You make the wrong choices, you make mistakes, you disappear for a decade, you marry the wrong man. You get hurt. You lose sight of who you are, or of who you want to be, and then you remember, and if you're lucky you have sisters or friends who remind you when you forget your best intentions. You come back to yourself, again and again. You try, and fail, and try again, and fail again."
• "She wished she'd spent more time teaching her girls that women should forgive themselves, showing them how to take care of themselves with kindness. The world was hard enough, would beat them up enough without them adding to the pain."

The story begins with sisters, Jo and Bethie. The names, of course, make me think of Little Women. Coincidental or not? I have no idea, but misplaced in this setting. The correlation, intended or imagined in my mind, does not work here.

The story is also Jo and her own daughters - the decisions, the choices, the heartbreak, and the love as it can only exist between mothers and daughters.

I appreciate the premise of this book. I even somewhat agree with the thought of women who still try and do it all and be everything to everyone. I even see the futility of that.

Yet, I end up not the reader for this book for a couple of reasons. I am not a reader for books with a lot of sexual display or discussion, and this book has both. I am also not a fan of the drug use and discussion that finds its way into this family story. Mostly, though, the book loses me because I find it to be over dramatized. To me, the need to include drama after drama and a little bit of everything that could face a woman in the book diminishes the challenges that the title of "Mrs. Everything" poses. There are challenges enough in daily life without reaching out for the extremes. The extremes leave the lasting impression rather than the strength of the women navigating the challenges.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

Good in Bed

Title:  Good in Bed

Author:  Jennifer Weiner

Publication Information:  Atria Books. 2001. 384 pages.

ISBN:  0743418166 / 978-0743418164

Book Source:  I received this book as a publisher's galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "'Have you seen it?' asked Samantha."

Favorite Quote:  "I've learned a lot this year ... I learned that things don't always turn out the way you planned, or the way you think they should. And I've learned that there are things that go wrong that don't always get fixed or get put back together the way they were before. I've learned that some broken things stays broken, and I've learned that you can get through bad times and keep looking for better ones, as long as you have people who love you."

"There were a thousand words that could have described me - smart, funny, kind, generous. But the word I picked - the word I believed the world had picked for me - was fat." That thought should be the heart of this book. Cannie (does anyone else see Connie throughout?) Shapiro has never really thought of herself as a larger woman until she opens a magazine and sees her ex-boyfriend writing about loving a large woman. So begins this adventure into Cannie's spiraling life.

Unfortunately for me, a few issues keep me from following Cannie on what I think is going to be a journey of moving beyond body image. First, Cannie is not a particularly likable character. A loving family, a Princeton education, a job, friends .... Cannie has a lot going for her in life. Unfortunately, her focus remains on what she sees as lacking in her life. At this time, it is not even her body image; it is primarily the boyfriend that got away. This critical approach to life permeates to Cannie's treatment of the people in her life. Her treatment of her mother and her partner is particularly atrocious. Cannie often times comes across as whiny and self-indulgent such that it's difficult to empathize with her predicament.

Second, the trigger for the book is an ex-boyfriend's very public article about their relationship, specifically about loving a larger woman. The article does not mention her by name; rather, it is about "C". However, Cannie knows, and her friends know. At first glance, the article is poking fun, and Cannie feels humiliated. Reading through the entire article, Cannie discovers the underlying sensitivity and understanding. This is a guy who gets this issue and gets her struggle. His article is by far my favorite part of the book. The problem is that his portrayal through the the rest of the book is inconsistent with that mindset. It doesn't flow. Without a spoiler, let's just say that the insight this article depicts does not match his actions later when his understanding is needed again.

Third, the entire Hollywood aspect of the plot is too far fetched. I am all for suspending disbelief in what is supposed to be a feel good fiction book, but this plot line is too far over the top. A chance meeting leads to an instant new best friend which leads to all kinds of amazing things. All the stars align a little too perfectly; it doesn't work because too many things are too far beyond belief. It also doesn't work especially with a main character very focused on what is not going right. At times, this segment of the plot gives the entire book a somewhat juvenile tone.

Fourth, a lot seems to happen in Cannie's life. Major family changes. Major career changes. Major life changes. The book goes from thing to thing to thing. Perhaps, less would have been more in this case. This book begins with the main issue of body image. As a result of all the other happenings in this book, that focus gets lost. This book has no message in that regard; it just is. Perhaps, I over analyze, but this was not the book for me.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.