Author tries to do too much, but made me laugh

books:


	• Goodnight Nobody Jennifer Weiner Pocket Books, 2005 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 195 reviews view larger image
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Wildly uneven...

"Goodnight Nobody" is a page turner and an easy read; I read this 375 page book in one day. The setup is arresting: suburban housewife Kate Klein happens upon a crime scene and soon she's in a mad dash to find the killer. The woman who died is a ghostwriter for a Dr. Laura/Ann Coulter type, and as Kate investigates there are many tantalizing leads and false starts.

Weiner's prose shines at times. To wit: "Sukie and I had been struggling for cordiality ever since the day we'd met, when she'd told me her kids were named Tristan and Isolde, and I'd laughed, thinking she was kidding, and she wasn't." And this: "The Cavanaughs had the same house we did, the Montclaire (six bedrooms, five full baths, hard-wood floors throughout.) The investors in our development were Italian, plenty of the residents were Jewish, and yet the homes had names that made them sound like members of British Parliament."

With a strong setup and good writing, the plot takes off for a while only to glide along and end up with an ending that doesn't satisfy. The resolution is a curious mixture of grand and mundane. Then there's the issue of Kate's marital situation, which ends on a similarly flat note. And the writing itself is wildly uneven too, vacillating from witty observations like the ones above to crass sarcasm ("What does Evan McKenna do?" he asked. "Models." I replied. ) I kept expecting to hear a rim shot.

Not a bad book, but not a great one either.

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Author tries to do too much, but made me laugh

Jennifer Weiner tackles multiple genres in Goodnight Nobody. Isolated mother of three Kate Klein is disconcerted to receive her first invitation from one of the model mommies of Upchurch Connecticut, or "Tal-bots" as Kate calls them. Since moving to Upchurch from Manhattan she feels frumpy and incompetent in comparison to the other preschool mothers who are perfectly dressed, always in control, and never let anything that isn't organic pass the lips of their little darlings. When Kate shows up at the home of her prospective friend, she finds the woman stabbed to death in the kitchen.

Kate becomes obsessed with investigating the murder, talking to her friends and family and going back through her past. One of the reasons for the obsession is that Kate and the victim have a man in common: sexy Evan from her single New York days.

Meanwhile, Kate learns the victim had been ghostwriting a column called "The Good Mother" for an outspoken conservative woman personality on the evils of mothers who work or use daycare.

Jennifer Weiner's gift of humor carries the book. Truthfully, Goodnight Nobody (yes, named from America's favorite bedtime story) tries to do too much. It's the saga of a disaffected suburban mom, that's also a murder mystery, with a side dish of feminist novel. The characters of Kate Klein and her crazy best friend from the city, Janey are believable and loveable. The various suburban characters are entertaining, although not particularly three-dimensional. Kate can't see them as three-dimensional either, so that's not a major problem.

I'm not sure what the mother-of-young-children sub-genre of chick lit is called, but Goodnight Nobody is an enjoyable member of it. It's not as good as I Don't Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother by Allison Pearson, but if you enjoy human drama or murder mysteries, don't live in suburban Connecticut, and have a sense of humor, you will enjoy this book.

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Very enjoyable!

This is a perfect romping beach read. I literally read it on the beach and it kept me engaged and entertained. Very fun.

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

"New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner's newest novel tells the story of a young mother's move to a postcard-perfect Connecticut town and the secrets she uncovers there. For Kate Klein, a semi-accidental mother of three, suburbia's been full of unpleasant surprises. Her once-loving husband is hardly ever home. The supermommies on the playground routinely snub her. Her days are spent carpooling and enduring endless games of Candy Land, and at night, most of her orgasms are of the do-it-yourself variety. When a fellow mother is murdered, Kate finds that the unsolved mystery is one of the most interesting things to happen in Upchurch since her neighbors broke ground for a guesthouse and cracked their septic tank. Even though Kate's husband and the police chief warn her that crime-fighting's a job best left to professionals, she can't let it go. So Kate launches an unofficial investigation -- from 8:45 to 11:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, when her kids are in nursery school -- with the help of her hilarious best friend, carpet heiress Janie Segal, and Evan McKenna, a former flame she thought she'd left behind in New York City. As the search for the killer progresses, Kate is drawn deeper into the murdered woman's double life. She discovers the secrets and lies behind Upchurch's placid picket-fence facade -- and the choices and compromises all modern women make as they navigate between independence and obligation, small towns and big cities, being a mother and having a life of one's own. Engrossing, suspenseful, and laugh-out-loud funny, Goodnight Nobody is another unputdownable, timely tale; an insightful mystery with a great heart and a narrator you'll never forget. "

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