Little Earthquakes : A Novel (Washington Square Press)

In Good in Bed, Cannie Shapiro conquered public heartbreak and shaky self-esteem. In In Her Shoes, Rose and Maggie Feller learned about family secrets and the ties that bind. Now, in Jennifer Weiner's richest, wittiest, most true-to-life novel yet, this highly acclaimed storyteller brings readers a tale of romance, friendship, forgiveness, and extreme sleep deprivation, as three very different women navigate one of life's most wonderful and perilous transitions: the journey of new motherhood.

Rebecca Rothstein-Rabinowitz is a plump, sexy chef who has a wonderful husband, supportive friends, a restaurant that's received citywide acclaim, a beautiful baby girl...and the mother-in-law from hell.

Kelly Day's life looks picture-perfect. But behind the doors of her largely empty apartment, she's struggling to balance work and motherhood and marriage, while entering Oliver's every move (and movement) on a spreadsheet, and dealing with an unemployed husband who seems content to channel-surf for eight hours a day.

And Ayinde Towne is already on shaky ground, trying to live her life to the letter of a how-to guide called Baby Success, when her basketball superstar husband breaks her trust at the most vulnerable moment in her life, putting their marriage in peril -- and their new family even more in the public eye.

Then there's Lia Frederick, a Philadelphia native who has just come home, leaving Los Angeles behind, along with her glamorous Hollywood career, her husband, and a tragic secret, to start her life all over again.

With her trademark warmth and humor, Weiner tells the story of what happens after happily ever after...and how an eight-pound bundle of joy can shake up every woman's sense of herself in the world around her.

From prenatal yoga to postbirth sex, from sisters and husbands to mothers and mothers-in-law, Little Earthquakes is a frank, funny, fiercely perceptive Diaper Genie-eye view of the comedies and tragedies of love and marriage.

Amazon.com Review
Jennifer Weiner, whose novels Good in Bed and In Her Shoes earned her a place among women's book club aficionados everywhere, proves she still has the touch with Little Earthquakes, a tale of love, heartbreak, redemption, and friendship. Weiner's novel centers around four new mothers, all of whom must learn to adjust their lives and their marriages to deal with the challenges of raising children.

Ayinde is a beautiful, biracial newscaster who moves to Philadelphia after her husband, a star player for the NBA, is traded to the 76ers. She meets Becky, an overweight chef who plays the "pregnant or just fat" game every time she passes a mirror, and Kelly, an overachieving event planner who has her whole life mapped out down to the most minute details, after going into labor at a prenatal yoga class. The three become fast friends, and come to rely on each other for everything from burping techniques to intense emotional support. The group grows to include Lia, a semi-famous Hollywood starlet who leaves her husband and returns to Philly after a sudden tragedy.

While Little Earthquakes may leave little to the imagination, and some of the characters are laughably stereotypical (the Mama's boy Jewish doctor and the cheating ball player, to name a few), it is Weiner's gift for creating compelling characters with whom her readers can identify that make her such a successful storyteller. --Gisele Toueg

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Much more than a good 'beach read', 2008-09-10
Like everything I've read by Jennifer Weiner, I absolutely adored this book. It featured real, fully realized and emotionally intelligent characters -- both men AND women. I fell in love with Becky, Ayinde, Kelly and Lia, so much so that I didn't even have to look up their names just now! I read the book more than a month ago and haven't stopped thinking about it.

While other reviewers have commented on the importance of motherhood in the book -- and this is clearly obvious -- I found the book to be about a lot more than simply women learning what it means to be parents. The novel was, for me, just as much about their relationships with one another -- how three of the women bonded through their pregnancies, and how Lia joined their circle slowly, tenderly. I actually found Lia to be the most fascinating character of all -- and the seamless, skilled unraveling of her story kept me riveted to the end.

I really did laugh and cry all through this novel, and don't think it's fair to generically slap a title like "beach read" on the book. While I, like many others, love good "fluffy" escapism, this book has real heart -- and is anything but fluff. I highly recommend it!


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Wonderment!, 2008-08-25
I loved this book!!!! it reminded me of sex in the city but with babies.... i am a mother of 3 with no life so i found myself envying these women who became and remained friends with their children.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Another winner from Jennifer Weiner, 2008-08-19
This is the third book I read by jennifer Weiner, and like the previous two, I really liked it. This amazes me every time, because her stories, written by someone else, would be just another chick lit book, a light "beach read" - in fact this is what you expect when you read the synopsis on the back cover of the paperback.

Instead she manages to turn a somewhat drab story line into an interesting view into someone else's life: someone else who inevitably turns out to be interesting though not incredibly special, and always relatable. You never resent that her characters are so real, that they aren't more exotic: because you get sucked into how real it all sounds, how possible it all is. And at that point, the book has long stopped being just another chick flick and has turned into something that is so close to real life to be biographic, but it's never boring, never showy (like many biographic tales are).

Jennifer Weiner is not just a great writer and a great story teller, but she's obviously a deeply empathic person too: for how else could she capture the voices of her characters so well, without ever sounding sappy or trite?

Thank you Ms. Weiner, for showing us once again that a great writer doesn't have to write in big words and boring philosophical abstracts! And for showing that "chick lit" can be well written and intelligent.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Thoroughly entertaining, 2008-07-25
This was the very first book I had ever read by Jennifer Weiner. And I'm glad I took the time out to read her work. This book was so entertaining. It was a page turner, funny and had very believable characters. I am a new fan of her work. And I can't wait to read another one of her novels.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Great Story!, 2008-07-24
This is a perfect book to read by the pool, before bed, at the beach, or anywhere. Jennifer Weiner is a fabulous author!

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