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Goodnight Nobody
Goodnight Nobody
Author: Jennifer Weiner
For Kate Klein, a semi-accidental mother of three, suburbia's been full of unpleasant surprises.  Her once-loving husband is hardly ever home.  The supermommies on the playground routinely snub her.  Her days are spent carpooling and enduring endless games of Candy Land, and at night, most of her orgasms are of the do-it-yours...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780743470124
ISBN-10: 0743470125
Publication Date: 5/2/2006
Pages: 400
Rating:
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 797

3.8 stars, based on 797 ratings
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Goodnight Nobody on + 75 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 14
I thought this was an excellent book. I did not enjoy Weiner's previous book, Good in Bed, but I LOVED this one. I have read other reviews by folks who liked Good in Bed and such that HATED this book. So if you didn't like her previous books, give this one a try. It's definitely a mystery, with some chick/mom lit too. I would love to read more like this from Jennifer Weiner.
MissAsh avatar reviewed Goodnight Nobody on
Helpful Score: 13
I find myself gobbling up all of her books that I can. I'm not too sure why, considering the endings to almost ALL of the books i've read have left me so mad. It seems like they are just unfinished and they leave you wondering "well what happened after?" If you're a fan of her books then you're probably already well aware of the style of her books and their endings. Other than the ending, I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read. I'd recommend it, but not without first making someone aware that becoming angry at the end is a definite possibility.
eagereditor avatar reviewed Goodnight Nobody on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 11
For once chick lit that kept me guessing. It was a lot different than I expected, but that's not a bad thing. The very end was a tad odd I thought, but I still enjoyed it.
reviewed Goodnight Nobody on + 164 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 10
This was a different read for me of late. I've read one other Jennifer Weiner book, Good in Bed, and this was good but I liked that one better. This one lacked that zany touch of humor -- feeling like I was bogged down in Kate's life along with her would have been a bit easier with a few more laughs, although that was probably part of what she was getting at.

Overall, good book, but not great. And remind me not to get married, move to Connecticut, have a few kids and become a supermommy while my husband works long hours, becomes dismissive, and forgets how to be good in bed!

My more specific impressions? First, Kate is living the life I think I dread most -- one everyone thinks is perfect from the edges, but once inside you see that Kate is just there for other people to use and ignore. Actually I think it wouldn't be so bad if she were going through it with her husband as opposed to knowing her husband is watching distantly and still can't be bothered... Anyway, very well titled book.

It's also a very slow book, at least in the first half. It picked up a lot past the midway point, once more and more interesting things started to surface and especially after Kitty became more fleshed out as a character, even postmortem. And I caught the little play on the childhood name as compared to the main character's.

There were a few things I'd wish had been more specifically spelled out at the end, but that's just me and my need to know everything that did and will happen!
reviewed Goodnight Nobody on + 36 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 8
Weiner's typical formula of overweight woman unhappy with some part of her life has worked for three books. In _Goodnight Nobody_, she sticks with this formula, but also tries something new. It is a mystery of sorts.
The perfect mother is found dead. Her death was not a natural one. So, the community of Upchurch, CT (a whole community of perfect mothers) seeks to protect their families while honoring the deceased.
Kate Klein is not a perfect mother. As the discoverer of the dead body, she feels a connection with the woman who has died and seeks to discover who was responsible for the death.

If this is your first Jennifer Weiner book, you will love it. If you have read several of her books, you will enjoy it, but realize it is not her best book. It's enjoyable for sure, but she has written better stories!
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reviewed Goodnight Nobody on
If you like Jennifer Weiner, you'll love this. A good page-turning story, but most of the characters are unlikeable.
reviewed Goodnight Nobody on + 22 more book reviews
Fluffy and cute.
reviewed Goodnight Nobody on
I hate to be mean but I really just did not like this book. Perhaps it's an East coast liberal thing, I dunno, but really not my style. Jennifer Weiner is funny but aside from that the story line was jumbled with lots of flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks. The ending drug on and was quite unclimatic and not really creative (IMO). It also wasn't a 'happy ending' which when I read it is for escape, I wanted a good ending...ho hum.
izzystella avatar reviewed Goodnight Nobody on
As always, a good read from a talented, young writer.
reviewed Goodnight Nobody on + 40 more book reviews
A quick, easy and fun read! I wish Jen would stray from the overweight woman who wants to fit in - but this was a fun, summer read w/a twist o' an ending. Forgettable but loads of fun while you're with it! I couldn't put it down.
reviewed Goodnight Nobody on + 385 more book reviews
Ok read
berd avatar reviewed Goodnight Nobody on + 214 more book reviews
I tried desperately hard to read this, but I couldn't get into it no matter how hard I tried. I had to put it down after a few chapters. I am usually a huge Jennifer Weiner fan, but this one left me very disappointed.
reviewed Goodnight Nobody on + 32 more book reviews
"Goodnight Nobody" is a very good novel that is several cuts above the average mystery which is forgotten as soon as you finish it. An unusual mix of the literary with satire and mystery, it is hard to peg but easy to recommend.

Kate is a fish out of water in her new Connecticut suburb, where everyone else is a Supermom and is careful to feed their kids only organic foods.

She tries to befriend Kitty, but unfortunately she turns up dead when Kate and her kids show up for a play date. Oops, sorry to bother you, Kitty. Oops, the discovery turns on her latent reporter instincts and she is off nosing around for leads and interviews.

There is much humor and hilarity in the novel, aside from the satire. Her own feelings of inadequacy, fed by her children's excellent timing in upchucking, her inventive lies which backfire on her, her best friend Janie who calls her back to herself as a reporter -- I only wish she had referred to her new hometown as Upchuck more often.

Underneath are themes of self-erasure and identity. Women marry and move to "Upchuck" and we hardly have any idea what they did or what they were before they moved. None of the housewives have a paying position outside the home, and they are rather shocked when it is discovered that Kitty was helping write or research a famous columnist's material. On top of that, Kate's own husband seems to be less than supportive of her efforts to uncover the truth behind Kitty's murder. At the end, Kate and hubby Ben are separated while they sort out their marriage.
reviewed Goodnight Nobody on + 6 more book reviews
I don't think that I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed Little Earthquakes, however, Jennifer Weiner doesn't miss with her great sense of humor. She does really hit the head on the nail describing a mother's frustration with her kids and how her life has turned out, even though it's a great life and you love your children unconditionally, you sometimes still wonder how things might have been different had you made different choices in life. This is a good read and I know if you are loyal Jennifer Weiner fan then you'll really enjoy this book.
reviewed Goodnight Nobody on + 8 more book reviews
This is a great book!!! Keeps you interested from the beginning!


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