Yep, it's not even out yet and already we have a review for you- how good are we to you ? (Clue: very). The Guy Not Taken is out next Tuesday in the U.S (September 30 via Amazon in the UK), and... I highly recommend it! A collection of stories formerly stuffed into shopping bags in Jennifer Weiner's spare room(!) her agent suggested she might want to think about maybe... publishing them. (After a little updating, of course!)
And thank goodness she did! They're full of Jennifer Weiner's trademark humour, warmth and poignancy and the majority are very real and entertaining.
The collection opens with a trilogy about the Krystal family at different times of their lives, the first of which was written while Weiner was at university, the last very recently to tie up the loose ends. It's fascinating to see the threads of her novels in the earlier two stories- I noticed aspects of both In Her Shoes and Good In Bed. There's also a story (called Good Men) about Bruce and Cannie, the main characters of Good In Bed, which is told from Bruce's point of view. I loved this insight into the author's creative process, and the fact that she's sharing these steps in the development of her writing. There were one or two stories I didn't feel would stand alone as narratives, however...
Dora on the Beach seemed very unlikely and quite silly and the eponymous heroine is weedy to say the least- 62 is too young to be acting like a little old lady! Some of the stories are slices of life where nothing much happens and I can see that they'd be better suited to being part of a novel, although they're still very well-written. The best two stories in the book are Oranges From Florida, a very moving story of divorce from a father's perspective which is gently heartbreaking, and The Mother's Hour- a pacey and slightly shocking tale.
Despite some stories being stronger than others, the book works as a whole and is very entertaining. It's a treat for Jennifer Weiner fans who love her previous work, but newbies would get a lot out of it, too. Although I raced through (er, I mean savoured slowly!) the stories, my favourite part of the book was actually the "Notes on Stories" at the back of the book, sharing some of the gossip behind the writing process. I'd love to have read even more of this and would like to formally suggest to JW's publishers that her next between-novels project be a work of non-fiction essays about her life and writing (they don't even have to pay me for the idea!) It's certainly whetted by appetite for her next novel, and left me wondering if any of the ideas from her more recent stories will be showing up in her future work... you can bet I'll keep reading to find out.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Like this? The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank, In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner.
