Good In Bed - Jennifer Weiner

I cannot think of any book that has touched my core is such a light-hearted, funny yet deep way. Maybe its because I relate to the core with Cannie – the lead character of this lovable novel. There are few novels I have re-read as often. But this one, cheers me up and gives me strength every time I pick it up. It’s a chick-book so before you pick it up – don’t expect any life changing philosophy – though I know I got a lot of that from this book.

The easy to read book is written in first person and begins with Cannie finding out that her ex has bared his soul in a national magazine. The title of his article – “loving a larger woman” – yes Cannie is a larger woman and knows it – being called that in print is another matter altogether.  That’s when we are loving and laughingly taken on a journey into what it is like to be Cannie – to have a career but not one that is a dream, to have a person love you and understand you but to be unable to understand that love and understanding – except in retrospect when it cant be yours.  

We walk with Cannie through some funny battles with weight. My favourite is the one where she is at a weight loss centre and made to fill out a questionnaire. I wanted to laugh and cry at the reality of her thoughts. Just like her ex’s bare-all made me wonder if ANY man could get it more.

Cannie has some childhood issues, she has family issues she has career issues. Mostly she has human and woman issues. She pines, she whines. She also uses her wit – sometimes to protect herself but mostly to just be herself. She thinks on her feet she fights for her dreams, she gives up she fights again. She finds love, loses it,  finds it again. She never loves herself, but she learns to. She doesn’t know whether or not she can cope with life. But she does. She is a hero for herself but she is very human. She gets some lucky breaks no doubt something that may be difficult in actual life – but she is a character in a novel – the novel has to sell right!

But the story is about more than weight and more than Cannies’ life and its wound up way of creeping up on her. Its about a woman who is strong willed and won’t give into what life throws at her. Instead she chooses to ensure that whether she has a glove or not, she will use whatever it takes to make sure she hits that curve ball called life right towards a homerun.