Week 5: Good In Bed – Jennifer Weiner (375 pages)

After a few weeks of reading some rather depressing books, I decided to call my Project 52 buddy – Lara and let her know that I needed some light fare. See, Lara has an extensive library of books and they are all meticulously maintained on well-lit bookshelves. The books are grouped by genre and sometimes, it seems, by location. I am ENVIOUS of the beautiful library that she maintains! I told her that I would not be opposed to some so-called “chick lit”, a light/romantic book, written by a woman, which generally has a happy ending. She located the shelf I was looking for and I chose Good In Bed and two other books that will be showing up later in this project.

Lara said that she didn’t think that I would like this book. Cannie, the main character, struggles with her weight and self-esteem issues. I asked Lara why she thought I wouldn’t like it and she pointed out that I have little tolerance for those in the “woe-is-me” mindset. This is true, I am not the most empathetic person in the world, and I have been known to be supremely irritated by whiny main characters (see Bella in the first 2 Twilight books) but I figured I could power through.

I was instantly captured by Jennifer Weiner’s style of writing. I connected with Cannie and felt her pain as she discovered that her boyfriend, with whom she was on a “break”, wrote an article about her that was featured in magazine. The article was titled “Loving A Larger Woman”. I was incensed for Cannie but was also excited to see what she was going to do and how it would all turn out. Cannie’s process of dealing with a break-up, her reaction to that article and those that followed, her family and friends all helped to move this story along. Weiner writes with a dry wit that had me giggling out loud. 

This book was quite good. I cannot say that I was always happy with some of the decisions  Cannie made or the ways she chose to carry them out.  Yes, there were a couple of “woe-is-me” moments I could have lived without, but then this would have been a different book and not the gem I read. 

I am glad I let go of my personal ideas long enough to get thoroughly enraptured by Good In Bed. Thanks to Lara for letting me check it out of her library.