GOODNIGHT NOBODY by Jennifer Weiner
GOODNIGHT NOBODY is a novel by Jennifer Weiner that encroaches on Susan Isaacs territory. It concerns a suburban mother of three who gets caught up in a murder investigation in her community and gets to play Nancy Drew. Along the way Weiner makes some observations about life in the bedroom communities that surround New York City.
Kate Klein is a product of New York City life. Her father is a musician and her mother is an opera singer. Since Kate is only so-so musically talented she feels she has been a source of disappointment to them. So she opts to get into the world of journalism and that is where she meets her best friend Janie Segal, of the carpet Segals. Janie is rich and fun and she takes an immediate liking to Kate.
Janie and Kate have a great life as roommates until Kate falls hard for a neighbor down the hall. Evan McKenna is engaged but that doesn't stop Kate from falling for him. But when this doesn't work out she marries solid, stable Ben on the rebound. Ben and Kate have a daughter and then twin sons, almost immediately. Since he wants his family to be protected he moves them out of the city and into Upchurch, Connecticut.
Kate never fits in with the other mothers she meets. They are too perfect but not so perfect that one of them doesn't end up dead, with Kate discovering the body. Kate doesn't have anything that challenges her like this murder so she takes it upon herself to solve it. That's where the Nancy Drew part comes in. She also brings Janie along as her co-investigator.
Weiner is very good at creating an atmosphere of total boredom for Kate to inhabit. She stays busy with her three kids but she doesn't stay satisfied. She still pines for Evan and when he reenters her life the flaws in her marriage become magnified.
The book is funny and interesting, but ultimately disappointing and flawed. Weiner is too cute by half. She is quick with a quip and a funny situation that is generally a putdown of stability in life and in the comforts of suburbia. Kate is a fish out of water, you get that in chapter one, but Weiner hammers it home over and over and over.
You will also be disappointed in this book if you expect loose threads to be tied up. Weiner expects you to be able to figure out what happens after the last page is read. If you can't, well too bad. She takes you to a certain point but doesn't take you beyond it.
GOODNIGHT NOBODY is a fun but disappointing book. You will have a good time reading it but you will be disappointed when it is over. It tastes good going down but leaves a bitter aftertaste.
GOODNIGHT NOBODY is published by Atria Books. It contains 376 pages and sells for $26.00.