About this title: A woman named Cannie Shapiro is (like the author) a columnist for a Philadelphia newspaper. Life is good until her ex-husband starts writing his own column, for a hip magazine, called "Good in Bed," in which he details the intimate truths of their relationship, including his opinion of her plus-size body. Finally determined to lose some weight, Cannie discovers instead that she's pregnant--an unforeseen complication that rocks her world even further.
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Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Washington Square Press/Pocket Books, New York
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780743418171ISBN:0743418174
Description: Good. Slight curl at edge of front and back covers. Small tear (1" x 1") out of flyleaf page. 392 p. Includes A Readers Club Guide: A Conversation with Jennifer Weiner, Reading Group Questions and Topics for Discussion. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Washington Square Press, New York
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780743418171ISBN:0743418174
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Very good clean flat paperback with only very light overall wear. pages clean and unmarked. price sticker on back cover. nice copy! read more
"I read this very quickly, and was interested in it, but I had a lot of trouble with too many things.
I can't stand reading books or seeing plays/films where the main character is a writer. I know, you should write what you know, but couldn't the character have met interesting people being an accountant? Doing their taxes? Finding ways to expense capital assets? I only know one writer, and they write quarterly reports for a mutual fund company, not "features". Their desire to be "published", their "writer's block", even Cannie's dressing down of Bruce, when she calls his writing "unimproved" to me are all so contrived.
Why are all of Cannie's friends (Samantha, Maxi, Dr. K), the people that she surrounds herself with, thin, attractive and successful? Why can't she be friends with someone who is a larger person? Is it because there can only be one fat person in the book? Just curious.
And how about those names? Cannie? Maxi? Why can't they just be Mary and Anne? I saw a review on this site that referred to her as "Connie", which I truly understand because "Cannie" is so ridiculous to me. And the reason doesn't hold water. They didn't want her to be "Candy" because that would prompt jokes about her weight. I hear plenty of men refer to a woman's breasts as "cans", and some even refer to a woman's posterior as her "can". I'm sure our Cannie would have provided plenty of opportunity for jokes with the name Cannie. Perhaps she could have just called herself Candace?
"Good in Bed" required the largest suspension of belief of just about any book I've ever read. 1. Her loser boyfriend gets a monthly column in a national magazine! 2. She meets the famous movie star whose publicist intentionally blows her off and they become great friends!! 3. The overweight Jewish girl who's not getting any younger meets a tall, lanky, attractive Jewish doctor who finds her "special"!!! 4. The screenplay she wrote gets handed to the people who can get it produced by her new Hollywood best friend!!!! It was all just way too Cinderella-ish. I wanted her to be happy, but frankly, I didn't find her so compelling that all these things would happen to her.
In spite of all of these issues, I read this book very quickly, so there were obviously things that I did like about it. I found Weiner's writing style very conversational and easy to follow, but not simple. I think her "voice" is incredibly readable. I also liked her relationship with her father. As unhappy as it was, it was very moving and explained Cannie's insecurities and self-loathing. I liked how her siblings were also affected by their parents' divorce, and I would have liked her to expand on that a little.
The last "part" of the book was a little slow for me compared with the rest of it, but it showed her making a paradigm shift in the way she sees the world. I don't know that I would recommend this book to anyone, but I would consider it a better beach read than a book club read."
"I couldn't put it down, or quite believe it. I'm just shocked that this hasn't been made into a movie yet. I did like it. It was thoughtful, and the writing was alright. It just kept going. Maybe it packed too much into too small of a space. The main character has a really wild life ride spanning less than two years, but lifetimes worth of events, in 300 pages. I'm not sure what it was that made me give only three stars for a book I couldn't put down. Maybe it was a little like those horrible marathon shows on MTV that you just can't stop watching even though you really want to - the MSG of visual input. I could picture all of it (hence thinking it would make a good movie), but I couldn't feel very much of it at all (maybe the writing lacked something, some depth). I think that's the problem for me. It was a good story, but the writing was maybe a little empty emotionally despite the story being eventful. I'm still not sure that's what I mean, but hey, no one is paying me to write... not this anyway. Totally worth reading. Not worth keeping on your bookshelf."
""Cannie is a 28-year-old Philadelphia Examiner reporter preoccupied with her weight and men, but able to see the humor in even the most unpleasant of life's broadsides. Even she is floored, however, when she reads "Good in Bed," a new women's magazine column penned by her ex-boyfriend, pothead grad student Bruce Guberman. Three months earlier, Cannie suggested they take a break apparently, Bruce thought they were through and set about making such proclamations as, "Loving a larger woman is an act of courage in our world." Devastated by this public humiliation, Cannie takes comfort in tequila and her beloved dog, Nifkin. Bruce has let her down like another man in her life: Cannie's sadistic, plastic surgeon father emotionally abused her as a young girl, and eventually abandoned his wife and family, leaving no forwarding address. Somehow, Cannie stays strong for family and friends, joining a weight-loss group, selling her screenplay and gaining the maturity to ask for help when she faces something bigger than her fears. Weiner's witty, original, fast-moving debut features a lovable heroine, a solid cast, snappy dialogue and a poignant take on life's priorities. This is a must-read for any woman who struggles with body image, or for anyone who cares about someone who does." ~ Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
I have fallen in love with Jennifer Weiner's style. I saw so much of Cannie in myself it was almost uncanny (no pun intended) at times! I too am a "larger woman" and this book taught me that larger women are indeed capable and deserving of love and the good things in life. I related to these characters and this story. Extraordinary things happen to Cannie, all of them of her own making and because she always has the power, even when things go wrong, to look on the bright side and revel in the love of her family and friends. Despite the fact that this review sounds like a gushing teenie-bopper drama, the book is anything but and is a must-read for any woman who has ever had self-esteem doubts."
"- Fiction, a story about a overweight woman named Connie, and her life after breaking up with her boyfriend, Bruce, that she later realizes that she still loves. After he writes a column called "Good In Bed" for a the magazine Moxie, she has to deal with the fact that they will never get back together even though finds that she is pregnant with his baby after they have sex when Bruce's father dies. Connie deals with other issues including her weight, her mother's girlfriend Tonya, and going through with having the baby as a single mother. After an terrible incident in which Bruce's new girlfriend pushes Connie, it causes complications for the baby's birth. Then after Grace is born with many problems, Connie goes through a terrible time in her life, where she pulls away from the world, and all she will do is go on long walks. However, with the help of her former weight loss coach, she pulls her life back together and he ends up proposing to her.
The book was a little slow to start off, and kind of long with not much substance. However, the story turned out good in the end which made the book worth reading, but I would suggest it only if there is nothing else to read. This book helped my not eat as much because I saw what she deals with being overweight and it made me not want to be like that.
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