In Her Shoes

Rating:
Summary: Fun read
Review: This book, while not as good as "Good In Bed," Jennifer Weiner's first novel, is a fun read. I admit, I was a little disappointed by this book in comparison to "Good In Bed" but maybe that's just because I loved "Good In Bed" so much that I had unrealistic expectations for this one.
"In Her Shoes" follows two sisters - Rose and Maggie Feller. Rose and Maggie are as different as two people can be (Rose is overweight and brainy while Maggie is thin and dyslexic,) and the only thing that the two have in common are their shoe sizes. Maggie does something atrocious, and so Rose gets mad at her and refuses to speak to her. We follow Maggie to Princeton, where she takes classes without the administration's knowledge. While Maggie is at Princeton, Rose is going through a hard time in her life, and Cannie, the lead character from "Good In Bed," even makes a cameo appearance. (Yay!) The two sisters eventually find their long lost grandmother Ella, who helps to reconcile them.
Overall, this book seems a bit slow at times, but is an entertaining read.

Rating:
Summary: Sweet
Review: I thought this was a fun, sweet book. Not having read Good in Bed, I have nothing to compare it too, but this book was interesting enough to get me to want to read other books by Ms. Weiner. Sure her characters were a little stereotypical, but that makes it much easier to find something in each one to identify with. Even after all Maggie does to alienate her sister, I still found myself wanting her to succeed and better her life. And as I was able to highly identify with the stuffy, uptight naive-about-men Rose, I kept wanting to shake her and make her wake up! When she finally did, I was happy to see her do well. Overall, an easy read that doesn't ask too much of you as a reader.

Rating:
Summary: Better than Good in Bed
Review: I loved Jennifer Weiner's first book, "Good in Bed" and highly anticipated her 2nd. I disagree with most of the other reviewers here that this second effort was disappointing - in fact I think it was better than the first. I loved the way the characters of the two sisters changed over the course of this novel to embrace more of what they originally disliked about each other. The love story is sweet; the conclusion of the book is one of most satisfying I have read. I was truly disappointed when this book ended. I read 3 books a week and this was the best I've read this year - I really loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as her debut, but still an enjoyable read
Review: Jennifer Weiner's strength is in her characterizations. She makes you want to get to know the people she describes, particularly the heroines of her novels. Her heroines are not perfect, physically, or emotionally, and so many of us can relate.

This time around, the heroines are Rose and Maggie Feller, two sisters who could not be more different. Rose is a lawyer, a size 14 with a neglible love life. Maggie is dyslexic and gorgeous, but lost in the world. The "shoes" in the title are both literal and figureative. The girls can wear the same size shoes, and Rose can afford the latest styles, which Maggie borrows, without asking. Maggie does many questionable things, and it is clear that Rose is the favored heroine for most of the book.

However, in this book, Weiner has chosen to bring in a cast of characters who simply crowd the novel. There is not enough room to go deeply into the estranged grandmother, the bi-polar mother who died at 29, the milquetoast father and the "step-monster" he married out of loneliness, not love, and a desire to have a caretaker for his young, motherless girls. There is simply too much going on. And, it seems that, once Weiner realizes this, she speeds up the events to reach a conclusion that is not completely satisfying. A lot of things go unexplained, and some changes are too easy, and hard to believe.

I still think Jennifer Weiner is a very good writer, and I was engrossed in this story, up until the last quarter of the book, when I felt she had kind of lost me. I read it in three days, so she definitely had me in her grasp. I hope that, with her next novel, she sticks to one or two main characters, and tries to minimize the outer characters. Also, in a bit of literary license, we "bump into" the heroine of 'Good in Bed' and find out what became of her. It is still a rare writer who can keep you enthralled, and make you feel that her fictional characters are people you may know in real life.

Rating:
Summary: Great Follow-Up
Review: I read Good In Bed and was instantly hooked. When I got my hands on this, I admit I was expecting the same kind of basic rhythm. It is different, but still great. The relationship between the sisters is detailed greatly and needed to help explain where they are in their lives. You find yourself pulled into their lives and rooting for one and despising the other. While it is not as funny as Good In Bed, it shows that Jennifer Weiner can move into other areas of fiction. I do admit that the moment where Rose meets Cannie seemed a little forced, but it was nice to see her attempt to cross-reference the characters. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loved her first book. It is not the same, but still quite good. I realize some people were disappointed by this follow-up, but anytime the author gets you pulled into a book, the have earned their paycheck and this book does just that.

Rating:
Summary: Great Fun Read....
Review: In Her Shoes is a great follow up to Good in Bed. I think that some of the negative reviews have come from those readers who don't like that it doesn't follow the chick lit formula (Gal's hunt for Boy), but this is one of the book's strengths. The other great strength is the author's fantastic sense of humor and her gift for translating her wry take on the world with a good natured turn of phrase. Written with the intelligence of "literature" but with a flair for comedy that the more snobbish lit types can't handle at all. BUY THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: The Worst!
Review: I SO looked forward to the release of this book, but good for me for waiting to get it at the library. I would have kicked myself had I shelled out [$$$] for this [book]. As other reviewers noted Weiner seems to have pumped this one out merely to meet the publishers dealine and ride of the laurels of Good in Bed. She failed miserably and even though I adored Good in Bed I will not read any further books from her. I have no respect for her as a writer after this mess.

Rating:
Summary: In Her Shoes
Review: Not much to say about this book....It was good, at times It was bad, blah, blah, blah.

I much rather read GOOD IN BED again then this book.

Rating:
Summary: Fast Fun Read
Review: I couldn't put this book down and read it in two days! I'm a middle sister with one older and one younger and can relate to everything in this book. If you don't have a sister it may be hard to understand why Rose (the older responsible one) keeps putting up with Maggie (the younger irresponsible one). It's a story about how family relationships mold you and your soul. in response to the other harsh reviews about the "unbelievable" characters- I think Weiner exaggerated their personalities to emphasis her point- that sister's are the same but different at the same time. This isn't a romance novel- it's a novel about coming of age and finding yourself. I haven't read Good in Bed so can't compare there- but I can say I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as Jemima J by Jane Green or Welcome to the World Baby Girl by Fannie Flagg. In Her Shoes is a great beach book but I think stuff literary types would hate it.

Rating:
Summary: Wrong sized Shoes
Review: I must reluctantly agree that In Her Shoes is not quite the follow-up novel I had hoped for from Jennifer Weiner. This is not to say that I actually disliked _In Her Shoes_, just that I had hoped for more. To me, this book reads like a not yet final draft of what could become a truly good book, but one which was published too soon, and that is a disservice to both Jennifer Weiner and her readers. If a writer friend had given me this as a manuscript and asked for my commentary, I would have given it back to them with the basic judgement ¡§All characters need further development to be truly believable.¡¨

I also agree that this book feels too hurried in its pace. The plot too, needed further development. And a subtler touch, as well. One more draft might have done the trick. The contrast between Rose and Maggie provides good basic material. Rose, who is capable and successful in the practical sense, but who has been made to feel self-conscious about her body and unattractive by the brow-beating of Sydelle the Stepmother. And Maggie, whose focus has been on her physical self but who realizes it hasn¡¦t taken her where she wants to go, or brought her real love or security. This contrast between the sisters is never used to its best advantage It¡¦s not that I don¡¦t believe that painful and shocking betrayals can¡¦t happen between sisters in a book, but I don¡¦t feel that this one was particularly well or subtly handled. You could hear it coming from miles away, and therefor it didn¡¦t have the needed shock value.

I actually feel that Maggie is more believable than Rose, but that¡¦s a very relative term. I liked Maggie best when she¡¦s learning to survive at Princeton, blending in where she doesn¡¦t really belong. We are rather hit over the head with her resourcefulness, but it¡¦s still one of the first truly positive qualities we see in her. Rose felt forced and not particularly likeable all the way through. If I were Maggie, I would not want a sister like Rose sitting in judgement on me, either.

One of the chief weaknesses in _In Her Shoes_ are the secondary characters. The appear to have been drafted out of central casting, and really, there was no need for Cannie to appear in this book. If she was going to be brought in at all, she needed to be more instrumental to moving the plot forward. Jim the bad boyfriend, Simon Stein, the Geeky but Decent Second Choice, Sydelle the stepmother or Stepmonster were all walking cliches. I was most disappointed in Rose and Maggie¡¦s father. Weiner needs to work on portraying difficult father-daughter relationships. In _Good In Bed_, the father is irredeemably awful through his deliberate cruelty and then neglect of his children by his first marriage. But he¡¦s a force that moves the plot forward, however unbelievably. In In Her Shoes Weiner sins in the opposite direction. It¡¦s hard to get an idea of WHY this father cuts Ella Hirsch out of her granddaughter¡¦s lives, as he seems incapable of ordinary emotion, let alone passion. He¡¦s an ineffectual sad sack who leaves his daughters very much to the mercy of their stepmother. Sydelle herself is another character who seems too awful to be real¡Xthe archetypal Evil Stepmother. It was impossible for me to feel sympathy for her two thirds of the way through Shoes when she whines that she ¡§was always second best.¡¨ This is hardly a new theme in literature, or an unusual awkwardness in modern blended families.

The grandmother, Ella Hirsch also needed work. She supposedly brings Maggie and Rose back together after their estrangement, but other than sheltering Maggie in her home, I couldn't see that she was really the catalyst through which Rose and Maggie can make up their differences.