That Summer by Jennifer Weiner

Don't let the pretty pastel cover art fool you into thinking That Summer is a lightweight read. Jennifer Weiner's latest novel delves into the #MeToo movement, showing how toxic masculine culture impels conformist behavior that ruins women's lives. Her protagonist, Diana, struggles with how to hold her rapist and his friends accountable.

Understanding how young men make bad decisions does not exonerate them. 

Weiner's portrayal of a teenage girl destroyed by someone she trusted and cared for, and her long path to recover her derailed life, is a page turner. Diana decided on a plan of revenge, assuming a fake identity to infiltrate her rapist's family. But nothing turns out the way she expects, especially when she bonds with the wife of her rapist.

Diana's experience is handled carefully, showing the resulting emotional scars. The one sexual encounter described is one that models true care and respect, if too graphically detailed for my taste; it seems a model of the behavior women should demand of a lover.

I previously read Weiner's novel Big Summer, reviewed here, and Mrs. Everything, reviewed here.

I received a free gallery from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

That Summer
A Novel
by Jennifer Weiner
Atria Books
Pub Date May 11, 2021  
ISBN: 9781501133541
hardcover CA$37.00 (CAD)

from the publisher

Daisy Shoemaker can’t sleep. With a thriving cooking business, full schedule of volunteer work, and a beautiful home in the Philadelphia suburbs, she should be content. But her teenage daughter can be a handful, her husband can be distant, her work can feel trivial, and she has lots of acquaintances, but no real friends. Still, Daisy knows she’s got it good. So why is she up all night?

While Daisy tries to identify the root of her dissatisfaction, she’s also receiving misdirected emails meant for a woman named Diana Starling, whose email address is just one punctuation mark away from her own. While Daisy’s driving carpools, Diana is chairing meetings. While Daisy’s making dinner, Diana’s making plans to reorganize corporations. Diana’s glamorous, sophisticated, single-lady life is miles away from Daisy’s simpler existence. When an apology leads to an invitation, the two women meet and become friends. But, as they get closer, we learn that their connection was not completely accidental. Who IS this other woman, and what does she want with Daisy?

From the manicured Main Line of Philadelphia to the wild landscape of the Outer Cape, written with Jennifer Weiner’s signature wit and sharp observations, That Summer is a story about surviving our pasts, confronting our futures, and the sustaining bonds of friendship.

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

I've been in lockdown for two months, reading books on environmental justice and refugees and war; it was time to pick up something completely different. So, I snatched up Jennifer Weiner's newest novel Big Summer.

With some trepidation, having learned the protagonist is a plus-sized beauty with self-doubt. Could strike a little too close to home, or could make me seethe with stereotypes.

Daphne has built a career as an influencer and her latest sponsor is a fashion designer who wants to expand into plus sizes. Leela's clothing makes Daphne feel glamorous and confident.

Perfect timing, as Daphne has a wedding to attend.

Out of the blue, Daphne's high school friend Drue called with a request to be her maid of honor. Daphne was doubtful at first.

Drue was wealthy and had been a mean teen who took up, used, and dropped friends. But their adventures together were always exciting. And Drue seemed to genuinely admire Daphne's relationship with her folks, especially her dad.

Their relationship ended badly when Drue took Daphne clubbing where an arranged 'date' was to give her a night to remember. Daphne learned of the arrangement and had a melt down--recorded on a cell phone. The video became a social media sensation.

Daphne used the moment to rebrand herself into a fierce fat woman promoting self-acceptance.

Drue pleads she is a changed woman, making amends for her teenage terror years. Daphne gives her another chance.

At the wedding, Daphne learns that Drue isn't as excited as a bride should be. The over-the-top wedding costs big bucks, and Drue's dad interrupts the party with a meltdown. There's trouble in paradise.

The first section of the novel is typical women's fiction, its well-developed characters dealing with issues readers will relate to.

Then comes a sexual encounter between Daphne and a wedding guest. Warning: it's a bit of a sex manual about how to use hands, etc. The next morning he is missing.

Everything changes when Drue is discovered dead. Daphne and her mystery lover are prime suspects. The rest of the novel is the unraveling of Drue's family secrets and the identity of her killer. I didn't put the novel down. I loved the unraveling of the mystery.

Weiner nicely incorporates the current online culture of social media, living one's life online. Followers want genuineness, but how does one keep a boundary between the personal and the public?

At first I didn't relate to Daphne's relationship to Drue on a personal level. Then...I remembered...

When I was fourteen a girl from Eighth Grade took me up as a friend. She lived in the posh neighborhood in an amazing house her father designed. My dad was an auto mechanic and we lived in a modest, working class house. My friend encouraged me to lose weight and loosen up, have fun. (I was a serious kid who read the classics and played the classics etc.) Then, a year later, she pushed me away by being mean. I invited her to some parties over the years, but we were never again close. Years later she called my mother and admitted she treated me rotten.

Big Summer is branded as a 'beach read,' a term I don't quite understand since I don't do beaches. (Sunshine give me hives.) So, maybe a sit in the shade on the patio read? But in true Weiner style, it incorporates deeper themes of self-image, class, and social media issues.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Big Summer
by Jennifer Weiner
Atria Books
Publication Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 9781501133510

Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner

"We lose ourselves...but we find our way back." from Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner

Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner is an emotional roller coaster about Baby Boomer sisters Jo and Bethie. Pop culture and political landmarks set the novel in specific times and places, beginning in 1950s Detroit. When their father suddenly dies, their mother Sarah struggles on her own, finding affordable housing and a job at Hudson's.

Jo was the rebel, resisting girly dress and activities and early becoming involved in Civil Rights protests. She also falls in love with her best friend Lynnette. Lynnette buckles under social pressure unable to accept her sexual orientation.

Younger sister Bethie was always the perfect Jewish middle-class girl, her mother's favorite. She becomes a victim of sexual abuse and begins to alternately binge eat and starve herself. She is in a school play with Harold, who is African American, but they do not act on their mutual attraction.

Jo goes away to the University of Michigan, meeting the love of her life, Shelley. Bethie comes to visit where she is picked up by an older, drug-dealing, man who turns her onto drugs and sex, beginning a long spiral of bad choices.

When Shelley elects to marry, Jo is devastated and allows a man to woo and marry her. She loves being a mom, but as the children grow so does the distance between Jo and her husband until he betrays and leaves her.

Passivity allows bad choices to take the sisters further from their true selves while misunderstanding and anger drive a wedge between them. Meanwhile, Jo's three girls grow up and her youngest, Lila, makes her own series of bad choices.

Their stories become a synopsis of women's history from the 50s housewives to the women who juggle career and family to the last question of what kind of death to choose.

As entertaining as the book was, for a long time I was not sure what its purpose was until near the end of the story when Jo summarizes a woman's struggle between expectations and self-fulfillment, how we find ourselves far from our deepest truths and struggle to come home again.

I was offered a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Read an excerpt at http://www.jenniferweiner.com/mrs-everything

Mrs. Everything
by Jennifer Weiner
Atria Books
Pub Date 11 Jun 2019 
ISBN: 9781501133480
PRICE: $28.00 (USD)

Note: The story takes place almost parallel to my own life and the cultural references were a trip down memory lane. We moved to the Detroit area in 1963 and I enjoyed all the references to the places and stores and radio stations mentioned. But...I take issue with one thing in the book--The sisters go to Suzy Q's for burgers. Burgers! It was known for its chicken! Why would they go there for burgers!