Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner
Little Earthquakes is my favorite book from my favorite up-and-coming American author Jennifer Weiner. A cross between “chick lit” and contemporary literature, Weiner’s work is easy to read, intelligently written, and features realistically motivated heroines who are easy to relate to and inspire me to cheer them on. Weiner’s first book, Good In Bed, features a plus-size heroine who finds love and self-acceptance. Her second book In Her Shoes was made into a movie recently. Little Earthquakes shows Weiner’s developing skill in characterization and story-telling as she interweaves the tales of four new moms who find friendship and support in each other as they discover the difficult, often funny, realities of marriage and new motherhood. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of Weiner’s books as they come out. See the link to her website on this blog. Feel free to comment on any of her books, I’ve read them all. --Valerieposted by Miss Val | 12:10 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Val! Great idea for a blog! Whenever I want to read a book, I feel overwhelmed by choices, so now I have somewhere to look for ideas! I put Little Earthquakes on my Audible account to listen to after I finish the book I'm on.
I finished this book a while back. Listened to the audiobook. Ladies, I will have to say that I did not relate to this book that much, mainly I think because I am not a mother.
The story interweaves the first-person narratives of four women. An unexpected friendship begins between three very different pregant women in a yoga class. There is an overweight chef who is vital, confident, down-to-earth and sexy. Her life very much revolves around the comfort and sensuousness of food. She struggles with a ridiculous, overbearing mother-in-law and a husband that can't say no to his mother. There is a mixed-race career woman who puts her career in newscasting on hold while her husband takes the limelight as a basketball player. She has a cold, emotionless mother, and with her husband being on the road frequently and her being in a new city, she feels isolated. Lastly, the supposed materialistic blond cheerleader type turns out to be from a very poor family and have an alchohlic mother. This woman is single-minded on creating the life she never had, and cannot give up control over any detail of her life. Her world falls apart when her husband gets laid off. Then enters the stalker: a struggling actress who is in the middle of a breakdown over the death of her young child. She left another identity behind her in L.A. and returns home. She notices the three yoga women at the playground with their children, and after some initial stalking and anonymous gift-giving, becomes part of the group.
I personally could have done without some of the drama in the book, such as the buildup to revelation of the death of the child. And sometimes I thought the characters were verging on stereotypes, sort of like Sex in the City. You have the Normal One, the Career Woman, the Bubbly Extrovert, and the Psycho. I wouldn't be so harsh about the actress (aka Psycho), but I really don't relate to her skewed view of the world.She created a world of lies based on her own misperceptions. She felt so sorry for herself, that I didn't have to feel sorry for her.
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