by stacey palevsky
staff writer
When an author loves a character as much as her readers do, there’s only one logical next step.
Bring her back.
That’s precisely what Jennifer Weiner has done with “Certain Girls,” a new novel that resurrects Cannie Shapiro 13 fictional years after the gutsy, hilarious character entered the world with the debut “Good in Bed.” That 2001 best-seller told the story of Cannie, an overweight journalist who shook up her life after learning that her
ex-boyfriend wrote a column about her in a national magazine, with the headline “Loving a Larger Woman.”
“I liked spending time with Cannie, I liked writing in her voice,” Weiner said during a phone interview from her Philadelphia home. “But I didn’t want to pick up six weeks after ‘Good in Bed’ ended — I wanted to check in and see what’s going on at a different point in her life.”
A lot has happened to the fictional Cannie since “Good in Bed.” But Cannie’s creator has had some big changes, too: Weiner has since gotten married, given birth to two daughters and quit her job as a newspaper reporter to write fiction full-time.
The 38-year-old author is stunningly normal on the telephone, as though she’s sharing a scone with an old friend instead of answering a reporter’s questions about her fifth and newest novel.
Her good nature will surely be displayed in Oakland on April 28 when she gives the keynote address at Choices 2008, an annual gathering of women sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay.
In “Certain Girls,” we meet an older, more maternal Cannie and her 13-year-old daughter, Joy. Mother and daughter take turns narrating the book, giving the reader a dual perspective on parenting and adolescence.
“‘Certain Girls’ is a coming of age for Joy and for Cannie — there are moments where they both have to turn corners and grow up a little bit,” Weiner said.
Cannie writes young adult fiction books anonymously, is happily married and, um, a bit overprotective of her only daughter, Joy, who wants desperately to discover her own identity apart from that of her formerly famous mother, gay grandmother and biological and adoptive fathers.
The clash between a teenage daughter and her frustrated mother starts when Joy finally reads her mother’s best-selling book — definitely not G-rated — that was published the same year Joy was born. Meanwhile, Joy’s bat mitzvah is around the corner. Daughter wants something fun and creative; mom wants something that’s rooted in meaningful Jewish traditions.
“As a writer, I always want to catch my characters
in moments of change or rupture — big events in which choices must be made and obstacles must be surmounted,” Weiner said. “The moment of a bat mitzvah felt very natural.
“I’m fascinated by the culture of it,” she added. “My daughters are not bat mitzvah-age yet, but it’s interesting to think about, ‘How am I going to handle it? What will I want?’”
Weiner, a former Philadelphia Inquirer journalist who also wrote “In Her Shoes,” approached the storytelling with her “old reporter instincts.” In other words, she put on her dancing shoes.
She attended half a dozen bar and bat mitzvahs in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, from a small, intimate gathering to an Oscar-themed party with a fancy red carpet. When Weiner was 13, the most extravagant bar mitzvah she ever attended was one that had rented arcade games for the kids.
The mother-daughter relationship is just as central to the novel as is the tug-of-war between American pop culture and Jewish ritual.
Weiner said she plans to speak at Choices about her own family history, and her mother’s effect on her as a woman, mother and writer.
“All women can relate to that, whether they have been daughters or have daughters,” she said. “A mother has the most formative influence on a woman in terms of who she’ll become and how she’ll grow up to be in the world.”
Date, lineup for Choices
Choices 2008 is an annual event celebrating women’s leadership and community involvement. It is sponsored by the Women’s Philanthropy Division of the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay.
The reception followed by dinner begins 5:30 p.m. April 28 at the City Center Marriott, 1001 Broadway, Oakland. There is an $80 couvert and a suggested minimum gift of $365 ($180 for first-time attendees and women under 30) payable through Dec. 31.
Best-selling author Jennifer Weiner will deliver the keynote address; Alina Gerlovin Spaulding, a Soviet-born Jew who immigrated to the United States with the help of Jewish organizations, will also speak.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California