Review: The Guy Not Taken - Jennifer Weiner

Release Date: 9/5/06
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 292
Source: Purchased
Challenge: 100 Books in a Year 

Jennifer Weiner's talent shines like never before in this collection of short stories, following the tender, often hilarious, progress of love and relationships over the course of a lifetime.  We meet Marlie Davidow, home alone with her new baby late one night, when she wanders onto her ex's online wedding registry and wonders what if she had wound up with the guy not taken.  We find Jessica Norton listing her beloved river-view apartment in the hope of winning her broker's heart.  And we follow an unlikely friendship between two very different new mothers, and the choices that bring them together-and pull them apart.  The Guy Not Taken demonstrate Weiner's amazing ability to create characters who "feel like they could be your best friend" and to find hope and humor, longing and love in the hidden corners of our common experiences.

My Thoughts

I wasn't really sure what to expect with this book.  I've read other books by Jennifer Weiner before, and I enjoyed those.  This book was a compilation of short stories, and I didn't know if I would like that.  I'm not a big fan of short stories being in one big book because I feel like it is so disconnected.  I was pleasantly surprised by this book.  While they were all separate short stories, they all had the same theme and I really like the way they were organized.  They started off with the youngest woman, and ended with the oldest woman's story. 

After I finished this book I kept trying to figure out which short story was my favorite, and I just couldn't decide.  I really liked all of the stories, even though some of them were definitely better than others. 

It is somewhat hard to review this book for a couple different reasons.  First, I am so OCD that I sort of feel like each story is its own, and it wouldn't be fair if I didn't write a little bit about each story...but I also don't want to give away too much...so I won't actually do that.  Second, I finished this book about a week ago, and I'm still having mixed feelings on it.  I really liked the book, and I would absolutely recommend it, however it hasn't completely changed my mind on short stories.  I'm not 100 percent sold yet.

Ratings

Likes: The speed at which I could read this -- with it being a bunch of short stories I didn't feel swamped down with a long, drawn out story.

Dislikes:  Still not really sure I like that there were just a bunch of seemingly (somewhat) disconnected stories. 

Cover: 4/5 

Characters: 4/5

Writing Style: 4/5

Plot: 4/5

Ending: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Reading!