I hate to say it, but as far as Jennifer Weiner’s books are
concerned, The Next Best Thing was a colossal disappointment. I fell in love with Weiner’s wit and
refreshingly honest sense of humor. She
was brash and ballsy, and she called it like she saw it. Her characters were charming, devilish, and
likeable. I anxiously anticipated the
release of The Next Best Thing, and I had my name on the request list at the
library before the book was even available.
When I finally got my copy I went ahead and started reading it, even
though it meant I’d have to return some other books that I hadn’t gotten around
to reading because the due date was fast approaching.
Maybe my standards have been set to high, but this book just
felt all wrong. It seemed rushed, thrown
together, and not at all like what I’d come to expect from Weiner. Sure there were some good scenes but there
were some other kind of raunchy (and in my opinion unnecessary) scenes as
well. I’m no prude, but the sex we did
see in the book seemed either dirty or smutty or just plain weird.
Usually I fall in love with Weiner’s heroines, but this time
I found myself liking other supporting characters like Grandma and Big Dave
better than I liked Ruthie. And while I
didn’t find the jumping back and forth in time to be hugely difficult to
follow, as some other reviewers have pointed out, I found that I liked the back
more than the forth. I couldn’t seem to
help but wish that the entire book would have been about Ruthie’s childhood
instead of her adult life because it was more interesting and compelling.
There were a few moments of greatness where I sensed that
the Weiner I know and love was still present, but overall the book was a
flop. In hindsight I found that she had
dealt with some personal letdowns within the realm of Hollywood that may have helped to taint this
latest project. I hope that if The Next
Best Thing was her way of purging her own painful Hollywood
experience that she has managed to expel it completely, so she can come back in
her next book, stronger than ever.
I’m not ready to write Weiner off yet, no one is perfect,
and I can’t expect anyone, even famous authors, to always bat 100. I’m still going to read her next book and
give her another shot at wowing me like she did in all of her previous novels
then we’ll just pretend this book never happened. J