Big Summer: a story of female friendships

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner is a novel about the ins and outs of female relationships. Daphne Berg and Drue Cavanaugh became friends in school until one day, a fight ended their relationship. Six years later, Daphne is a social media influencer for plus sized women and enjoys her life. She is shocked when Drue shows up in her life again with a huge favor. She asks Daphne to be her maid-of-honor at her society wedding the following summer. Daphne is speechless and has a hard time saying no despite her reservation and her friend and roommate, Darshi’s warning. When the weekend of the wedding arrives, Daphne is swept up in the glamour of the Cape Cod waterfront mansion and the drama that always seems to be involved with a wedding. Tragedy strikes and Daphne finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and finds herself determined to find out the truth. Will she be able to discover the truth? Will she be able to move forward?

Big Summer was hard to get through. Told in three parts, the story opens with a prologue about a mother and her son that does not seem to connect with the story of Daphne and Drue. When the connection is revealed, I thought “okay….?” The first part is super slow as the history and complexity of Daphne’s friendship with Drue and her own battle with her weight is the made focus. The second and third parts were much more fast paced as the murder investigation occurs and Daphne chases clues to who the killer could be. The book is marketed as “A sparkling novel about the complexities of females relationships, the pitfalls of living loud and online, and the resilience of the human heart.” In a way, the book is about these factors, however, I expected a more powerful commentary than what is featured. It was hard to sympathize with adult Daphne as she fell into the same patterns with Drue. And Drue was the stereotypical mean girl who seems to have it all but is jealous of the fat girl who has everything that matters. I even expected the death to be a fake and another ploy for attention or sympathy. Overall, the book was okay. I did not genuinely care about the characters, the resolution or the author’s commentary on fat shaming, social media, and relationships. If you are a fan of Jennifer Weiner, you may enjoy Big Summer.

Big Summer

is available in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook

Mrs Everything: a painful story about women and life

Mrs Everything by Jennifer Weiner is the story from two sisters, Josette “Jo” and Elizabeth “Bethie” Kaufman. From the idyllic 1950s through the turbulent 1960s to today, the sisters face choices as women in the society around them. Jo is the tomboy who turns into a wife and mother without much thought if she really wanted to and Bethie is the princess who turns to drugs and a vagabond lifestyle when events in her life throw her for a loop. As time goes on, the sisters learn to embrace who they really are and live their lives as they find that suits them. Through infidelity, divorce, sexual assault, eating disorders and drug use, the sisters struggle to find a purpose or meaning in the event of their lives. After her divorce, Jo reunites with her first love. Bethie finds peace with herself on a farm. It is a book about woman who try to be everything to everyone and finds out that you simply can’t.

I’m not a big fan of Jennifer Weiner. I have read a few of her earlier books so when I had the opportunity to read this book, I thought, why not? From the open pages to the closing chapter, this book was hard to read. It is overwhelming and I’m not just talking about the number of pages. At 460 pages it is a long book, but I’ve read longer books that I sped through, captivated by the story. Mrs Everything is not that book. The story is divided into 7 parts with most of the book dragging along with the events of these sisters’ lives and speeds up as the book is ending as if the author realized she was running out of room. The sex scenes were graphic for me, who is a fan of romance novels, to put the book down and say “yikes.” I’m no prude when it comes to sex and sexuality, but it wasn’t necessary and felt out of place. There are just way too many social issues crammed into the book that it becomes less a story about two sisters navigating the changing social climate and becomes a political tirade. Plus, there were so many historical inaccuracies that a simple Google search would fix. Songs Jo listened to in college that could not have been playing as they were not released yet. Sloppy research with a bogged down plot, I did not enjoy this book. I do not recommend Mrs. Everything.