Rating: 
Summary: kudos from another first-time author
Review: it's just great. funny and bright from the first page, but then something else happens. it gets deep. and it moves you beyond your initial expectations of a comic novel. by the end I was a loyal fan of ms. weiner. don't miss this superb debut!suzanne finnamore
Rating:
Summary: What a REAL book!!
Review: From someone who was known as "Big C" in college ... I felt this book to the core of my being! I read the exerpt in MODE Magazine and immediately went to Amazon.com to order it. Jennifer Weiner understands!! (And so did Bruce.)
Rating:
Summary: Terrific!
Review: GOOD IN BED is truly one of the most entertaining and moving books I have read recently. As a thin male, I may seemingly have nothing in common with our wonderfully funny and touching "larger woman" heroine, Cannie. However, I found her to be someone I identified with, cared for, rooted for, and reluctantly said "goodbye" to at the novel's end. Jennifer Weiner brings Cannie to life and takes you on a superbly wonderful adventure with this funny, brave character. I can't recommend this novel enough.
Rating: 
Summary: some parts unrealistic, but still hard to put down!!
Review: I loved the character Cannie. I thought she was a non perfect person that a lot of women could relate to--with her insecurity, her feeling of desperation when it came to getting her boyfriend back, etc!! I read this book in four days or so (i even dumped another book i was reading to finish this one!!!) There was even a part in the book where i thought "whoa, i never thought that would have happened!!" but i can't say what it is, cause it would spoil it!! But, there were some things that I also had a problem with... the friendship with the movie star for instance---wouldn't happen!! maybe im just one of those people that don't always want a happy ending because that's just not the way it is. but, overall, i thought that the book was a quick read (kind of like reading an elizabeth berg book or some other girl-y book) and if you are like me---you will feel connected to the main character. Oh, I also loved how she didn't have to change herself physically to have everything work out perfectly. Its about time we have books like this!! not everyone in the world is a size 6!! and just cause you are a size 6, it doesn't mean you are going to be happy!! (ok, lecture over) read this book!!
Rating:
Summary: Everything a great novel should have...
Review: This was a great book. I loved the heroine Cannie -- her realistic features and the absurdities in her daily life that are recognizable to so many of us: obnoxious co-workers, skinny nurses at fat clinics, [bad]men. I laughed, I cried, I ached and sometimes I hoped that Bruce would get beaten up. I mean, every girl that's been through college dated this guy, didn't they? The obligatory grad student ponytail, the smart-but-lazy pothead all around 'good guy'? Jennifer portrayed him perfectly, both the loveable parts and the parts we loathed. Cannie's weight -- what can I say? I read the shortened excerpt in Mode Magazine -- so I obviously related to the 'body-image' aspect of Cannie's hang-ups. My favorite part of the book was when she stood up and did her tirade at the nurse in the fat clinic -- I absolutely cracked up and called a friend to read it aloud. At the beginning of the second half of the book, I was slightly annoyed at the very unrealistic turn of events (meeting Maxie, selling a screenplay, hobnobbing with stars, the whole Dr. K thing doesn't actually happen to many of us and I related so much better to the first part of the book) but -- isn't that the point? I mean, the book was entertaining, funny, sweet, tender and yes, a fantasy. It wouldn't have been nearly as interesting if Cannie went on like she was, pining for Bruce as he humiliated her in public on a monthly basis, becoming something of an overaged college-girl-never-reaching-her-potential with a funny dog. She grew up, 'came of age', whatever you want call it and in the end, got the sweetest revenge of all -- happiness and success. Thank you Jennifer, for writing this book, I will eagerly await your next novel. As one of the reviewers mentioned was possible, I did stay up 'til exactly 2 a.m. this morning to finish it. Now, tired with puffy eyes (I cried a lot at the end) I'd better get to work. I hope you don't change when you become wildly famous and successful -- you're a fabulous writer and judging from your wonderful sense of humor, I bet a fun person to know. Leslie
Rating:
Summary: entertaining, but really farfetched
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I like her writing style, and I like most of what she had to say. Would definitely read whatever she writes next. A few criticisms though, I agree with other reader comments that a lot of this is way over the top with coincidence upon coincidence. Also, the parts about the mothers love life and the chapter about her father abandoning her could have simply been cut....not necessary and too obviously autobiographical, but hey, I guess that is her right, and pretty much the norm for a first book. Fun stuff overall.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and Real
Review: Jennifer Weiner captures the hilarious and the painful absurdity of life in this excellent story of Cannie, a smart and witty heroine for everyone. While it's easy to say that most people don't have emotionally abusive fathers, late in life lesbian mothers, national magazine humiliation from ex-boyfriends, etc, there isn't a person alive who can't relate to Cannie's trip through the fire of pain and disappointment from those she loves, emerging finally as someone who can love herself. A great deal has been said about Cannie as a "plus size" heroine, but really, she is a heroine for anyone who has ever felt inadequate, unworthy, and generally unlovable. In other words, everybody. BUY THIS BOOK!!!
Rating:
Summary: Witty, funny, fun and surprisingly moving debut
Review: I must confess that I was predisposed to like "Good in Bed," since I've been a big fan of Jennifer Weiner's newspaper columns for some time. I wasn't, however, prepared for how fine a first novel she has produced, or how moved I was by Cannie's story. The book begins with a hilarious hook: protagonist Cannie Shapiro, entertainment columnist for a large Philadelphia newspaper, realizes that her recently-ex-boyfriend has been hired by a Cosmo-like magazine to write a [adult] column. To her horror, Cannie realizes that the pseudo-anonymous woman "C." in Bruce's first article is her. To make this invasion of privacy even more humiliating, the column is an unexpectedly perceptive treatment of Cannie's weight problem and its effect on their relationship. At first glance, one might assume the snarky tone of the first few pages would continue as the novel spun out in a kind of lightweight revenge fantasy. But Weiner uses Cannie's heartbreaking invasion of privacy as jumping off point for so much more. We see Cannie grow and change, exorcising childhood demons (mostly), getting over Bruce (at last), and most moving of all, finally coming to terms with her place in life (and yes, her weight, too). If the plot is moved along by a few too many incredible coincidences, if the book seems almost too jam-packed with characters and subplots, well, these are minor criticisms of a finely-written and sensitive first novel. Just promise me, Jennifer, you won't let Camryn Manheim star in the movie version.......
Rating:
Summary: Laughter, tears and so much more
Review: I couldn't put it down -- even through the predictable parts. Even though I couldn't always relate, I felt her pain, her passion and her dreams. Reading this book will give perspective to those that may have lost it.
Rating: 
Summary: Too slick for its own good
Review: This is a very canny novel about a woman named Cannie (what a coincidence). And by "canny" I mean slickly tailored to the prevailing literary market: young woman in publishing flails comically through relationship (and weight) issues in today's crazy mixed-up urban world. Much of the time this reads exactly like a Hollywood movie treatment, in fact the excerpt provided here ... gives you a swell idea right off the bat. If this is your thing, and you don't mind frankly unbelievable twists like Cannie (a reporter) bonding deeply with a movie actress she's profiling (happens all the time, right?), then I can recommend this novel highly. If you want substance and real atmosphere in a book about women's problems ....
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