Goodnight Nobody, by Jennifer Weiner

Goodnight Nobody is Jennifer Weiner's most recent novel. Like Little Earthquakes, which I read first but haven't recapped here, it deals with motherhood, but adds a murder mystery into the plot.

Like her other books, this was fun and easy to read. It pokes fun at suburban Connecticut living, down to the pretentious model names of the starter castles lining the town's streets. (Kate, the main character, has her very own Montclaire.) The other mothers at the park, also known as the Tal-bots, are perfectly dressed, coiffed, and exercised. The name nerd in me had a good laugh at the names of these women's children. Kate did reasonably well with Sophie, Jack, and Sam, but Powell and Peyton, Tristen and Isolde, Madeline and Emerson, and little Hadley scream "trying too hard."

The mystery aspect, though, just seems a little off. It involves politics, journalism, parenthood, and a sharply written Ann Coulter clone known as "Laura Lynn Baird." Kate, bored by her Montclaire and suburban life, takes it upon herself to investigate. She does this with her hip, single, and rich friend Janie Segal (of the carpet Segals) and an old flame who never really comes into focus. (Kate apparently almost slept with him years before, and never really got over him. Why is anyone's guess - he doesn't seem to have many redeeming qualities.) The investigation takes them all over New York City, Connecticut, and Cape Cod, and into a variety of bank accounts and bedrooms, but just sort of peters out at the end.

In short, Goodnight Nobody isn't the pinnacle of the mystery genre, and it isn't the pinnacle of the chick lit genre, but it's still pretty funny. If you're going to read one Jennifer Weiner novel, though, I wouldn't pick this one.

In summary: Fun reading, but check it out from the library.