Good in Bed
2002 • 376 pages
Ratings27
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings27
Average rating3.5
For twenty-eight years, things have been tripping along nicely for Cannie Shapiro. Sure, her mother has come charging out of the closet, and her father has long since dropped out of her world. But she loves her friends, her rat terrier, Nifkin, and her job as pop culture reporter for The Philadelphia Examiner. She's even made a tenuous peace with her plus-size body.
But the day she opens up a national women's magazine and sees the words "Loving a Larger Woman" above her ex-boyfriend's byline, Cannie is plunged into misery...and the most amazing year of her life. From Philadelphia to Hollywood and back home again, she charts a new course for herself: mourning her losses, facing her past, and figuring out who she is and who she can become.
Series
2 primary books3 released booksCannie Shapiro is a 3-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2002 with contributions by Jennifer Weiner.
Reviews with the most likes.
If only this book doesn't drone on self-pity, maybe I'll consider adding another 2 stars.
But it hits some spot, all right. Larger women, behold.
What's this? Chick Lit here?
Sure, why not?
I've actually read a piece or two lately about how useless the term is, and where people like Franzen or Tropper or Hornby can write about the same themes that appear in the better Chick Lit works and not be dismissed with a label quite as easily. Maybe that's true, probably is. At the same time, it's a label that works pretty well most of the time–and like all genres, the better works don't get the recognition they deserve, but those who are up on things will get rewarded.
Anyway, I do read Chick Lit–at least a couple of titles a year. I'd read more, but I try to be picky. So this weekend, I finally got around to taking my wife's advice and tried Jennifer Weiner's Good in Bed (probably helped by seeing it set forth as an example of the better Chick Lit being ignored in the articles I mentioned). I'm glad I did, and will likely read more of her. Not anytime soon, nothing against her, it'd just take time away from the mysteries I'm binging on lately.
Wow, I'm rambling today, eh?
So on with the book...our protagonist is Candace (but call her Cannie), an entertainment reporter for a Philadelphia newspaper. She's funny, smart, has good taste, a neat dog and is...well, fat. On the whole, she's okay with that–she's healthy and active, and though she's tried a few diets/diet programs, none of them has stuck. Still, overall, she has a nice life. Until her ex gets a new column in a Cosmo-like mag and starts off with an article called “Loving a Larger Woman” (or something like that). It's actually a pretty decent piece, fairly considerate–and everyone who isn't Cannie or her best friend really likes it.
This launches Cannie on a quest for self-improvement–emotionally, professionally, and physically. And honestly, I'm not sure how to go on from here without a lot of spoilers.
There's a big fairy tale ending here, but it's quickly derailed into something still unrealistic, but far more satisfying. Funny, insightful, touching (without being obviously sentimental), and charming. It's a satisfying read (and would probably hold up to a repeated read or two), no matter what label gets attached to it.
