Not Weiner's best work, but a decent collection of short stories..

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	• The Guy Not Taken: Stories Jennifer Weiner Washington Square Press, 2007 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 59 reviews view larger image
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My favorite writer of the 2000s

Jennifer Weiner really knows what I like to read! I wish there were more novels as I have read all of them, but I was excited to see this short story collection. I almost never buy hardback books (frugal me) but hers are always worth it. I would like to see her expand some of the stories into full length novels, especially Swim. (Please Jennifer Weiner if you are reading...consider it!) There are similar themes in all of them, but she writes them so well.

Pretty good

In these eleven short stories, Weiner tells stories of falling in love and falling out of love. The themes seem to be: children, divorce, the east coast, and Judaism. Although the short stories tell about the lives of different characters, many of them are experiencing similar life stages, emotions, or complications.

Quote: "He's sat across from girls like that in high school . . . laughing loudly and drinking too much and leaving with the first guy who'd whisper the word beautiful."

I liked this collection more than I thought I would- I'm not usually a huge fan of short stories, since I feel like I'm abandoning the characters just after getting to know what they're about. This group of stories was pretty entertaining and showed a variety of lives and emotions, and how the same general situations can be interpreted differently by different people.

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Not Weiner's best work, but a decent collection of short stories..

Not a big fan of short stories, I was hesitant to read this collection. However, having read and enjoyed all of Weiner's previous works, I decided I had nothing to lose by checking this out of the library.

My pet peeve with short stories is just that...they're short. Usually, just as I'm beginning to warm up to the plot and get familiar with the characters, the story ends. Usually, writers don't know how to do it well, so I'm left feeling like I was only provided with a percentage of the necessary information.

However, three of Weiner's 11 stories - "Just Desserts," "Travels with Nicki," and "The Wedding Bed" - are about the same family, only about five years apart. So, for a reader like myself, it's wonderful to be able to continue with the stories of the characters to whom I've already become attached.

Another story includes Bruce and Cannie, characters from "Good in Bed," so it's almost like getting an extension of the already-existing novel, from a slightly different vantage.

All the stories center upon women who are broken in some way -- all emotionally, and in the case of Ruth in "Swim," also physically -- and their issues with absent fathers. This seems to tie in, often interchangeably, with the men in their lives. (Doesn't history tend to repeat itself, as the old adage goes?)

All in all, I found "The Guy Not Taken" a worthwhile read. I didn't think it was Weiner's best work; nor did I change my overall opinion on short stories. However, if you give it a try, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

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Another winner...

Like people I go into any book with an open mind and no expectations based on previous books. I knew that this book had short stories so I was prepared to introduced to characters short term. Even though Jennifer has general themes to her characters they all still have their own personality.

These are real woman struggling through real life. I would say for those who don't like to read about reality or always need a happy ending then it may be best to stick to books that have men with long flowing hair on the cover.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, page 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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