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Tarfumes.com - Goodnight Nobody: A Novel
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List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $7.02
Your Save: $ 7.98 ( 53% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Washington Square Press
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: 2006-05-02
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Release Date: 2006-05-02
Studio: Washington Square Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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For Kate Klein, a semi-accidental mother of three, suburbia has 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 the most exciting thing to happen in Upchurch, Connecticut, since her neighbors broke ground for a guesthouse and cracked their septic tank. Even though the local police chief warns her that crime-fighting's a job best left to the professionals, Kate launches an unofficial investigation -- from 8:45 to 11:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, when her kids are in nursery school. As Kate is drawn deeper into the murdered woman's past, she begins to uncover the secrets and lies behind Upchurch's picket-fence facade -- and considers the choices and compromises all modern women make as they navigate between marriage and independence, small towns and big cities, being a mother and having a life of one's own.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A little disappointing but moments of humor
Comment: This was not my favorite Jennifer Weiner novel but it had its moments in describing the infamous playground crew in suburbia: "The other Upchurch toddlers had never seen so much as a minute of television. They didn't have tantrums that made us late for school...or occasion parent-teacher conferences because of their talent-show choices."
Funny insight as to the "perfect Mommy syndrom" of the perfectly coiffed, well-heeled and model-like bodies of the suburban Upchurch versus the former career woman of NYC now plagued with dirty cargo pants,a disheveled appearance, and a scattered lifestyle. However, the perfect mom, Kitty Cavanaugh, who pens an article (well she ghostwrites) about the elusive "perfect mommy" comes to a tragic halt when she is mysteriously murdered. Kate finds the body and is cast into the web with the strange tie to Kitty and to a mystery man in Kate's past. Suburbia is in chaos and the "playgrounds" of both the stepford wife-like crew and their hubbies and children become unsafe.
This novel has its moments but the plot is a bit disjointed. I did, however, sympathize with Kate's need to investigate Kitty's murder as it gave meaning to an otherwise mundane life where she made rather unsuccessful attempts to join the "perfect-mommy" club. The question becomes: Is there such a thing?
Customer Rating:
Summary: A fun spin on mystery
Comment: I laughed at the antics of the main character & found her crime-solving entertaining. It kept me reading, as I liked the character's real take on loving her kids while realizing need to be someone besides a caretaker. Also found the insight into attempting to make a life in one of America's most affluent neighborhood's interesting & realistic for a woman who doesn't put on a false face for her neighbor's. I found the novel simply fun to read!
Customer Rating:
Summary: I was disappointed
Comment: This was the first time I read a novel by Jennifer Weiner. I was expecting a laugh a minute but didn't get it. Sure there was plenty of humorous dialog and funny situations. I did laugh! But I tired of the descriptions of baggy pants and XL sweaters midway through. Kate was defined by her poor fashion sense and her inability to cook. None of the characters had enough guts to them to keep me interested. And the end was so dark and disturbing it made me wonder what the point was.
One Clown Short
Customer Rating:
Summary: Loved this Weiner Book!
Comment: Wow, I was expecting to see rave reviews for "Goodnight Nobody" and was surprised people didn't find it as fun as I did. This is my favorite JW book so far and I was really hoping she'd decide to write a second book as a follow up. I thought the dialog was crisp and interesting. Loved the cast of characters and the past that kept creeping up on Kate as she tried to solve the mysterious death of her neighbor. It wasn't so much the 'mystery' involved as it was the fact that Kate was using it as a spring-board to change her life. Perhaps I also related to this book as someone that had that career and found herself trying to fit into the 'mommy circle'. I thought Kate's observations of her new neighborhood was spot on. I really didn't want it to end. If you're a Jennifer Weiner fan, I think this is worth a read. If you haven't read one of her books yet, dive in!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Author tries to do too much, but made me laugh
Comment: 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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