Good In Bed
By Jennifer Weiner
$24.95/Pocket Books
Don't be surprised if Good In Bed shows up on the silver screen in the future. And though you may be tempted to shrug the story off as another Bridget Jones's Diary, Jennifer Weiner's first novel is in a league all its own, with a main character that is funny, feisty and full of heart.
Candace Shapiro (Cannie to her friends) is an entertainment reporter for the Philadelphia Examiner. Smart and funny, overweight yet attractive and full of personality, Shapiro easily laughs at most of life's situations. That is, until the day her ex-boyfriend shares the couple's bedroom secrets with the entire country via his column in a national magazine. Having the intimate details of your relationship splashed across the pages of a magazine for all to see is bad enough, but Shapiro is embarrassed further by passages like, "Loving a larger woman is an act of courage in our world."
Thoroughly humiliated, our heroine is catapulted into enrolling in an experimental weight loss study, befriending a movie star, selling a screenplay, confronting her ex and his new love, accidentally finding the father who ran out on her, and coming to terms with her mother's newfound lesbianism. All the while, Shapiro is discovering who she is, who she loves and ultimately what kind of person she wants to be.
Looking at the author's short biography, one can't help but wonder whether the entire story is a reflection of her own life (from her character's physical description to the author's job as a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer). But who cares if it is? With its bizarre twists and turns, sarcastic humor and true-to-life characters, Good In Bed is a winner, and the best debut novel I've read in ages.
—Kelli K
This article appears in Jun 21-27, 2001.