#Good in Bed

[ijustkindalikebooks]

“When I was five I learned to read. Books were a miracle to me - white pages, black ink, and new worlds and different friends in each one. To this day, I relish the feeling of cracking a binding for the first time, the anticipation of where I'll go and whom I'll meet inside.”

― Jennifer Weiner, Good in Bed.

[i-just-drink-coffee]

Natalie: Listen, hot people doesn’t mean they’re good in bed…

Van: Right

Mari: And ugly people doesn’t mean they deserve to live

Nat: w h a t

[howifeltabouthim]

'You've never loved me. All I am to you is a man who flatters you and pleases you in bed.'

Anna Biller, from Bluebeard's Castle

[darkpoisonouslove]

If I take a ship that's right up my alley and edit it to a song that's right up my alley, the result is only too perfect.

[maudiemoods]

If life is a never ending loop of dirty dishes and laundry then that means life is a never ending loop of home cooked meals and comfy clean clothes

[happyheidi]

𝖠𝗋𝗍 𝖻𝗒 𝖠𝗇𝗇𝖺-𝖫𝖺𝗎𝗋𝖺 𝖲𝗎𝗅𝗅𝗂𝗏𝖺𝗇 | 𝖨𝖦: 𝖺𝗇𝗇𝖺𝗅𝖺𝗎𝗋𝖺_𝖺𝗋𝗍

[teenageread]

Review: Good in Bed

Initial Thoughts:

Holy that novel took a lot out of me, and honestly one I thought I would never finish. Jennifer Weiner sets this novel to be a novel about self-love, where our main character, Cannie Shapiro, a plus-size 28-year-old woman, is going to love herself and know she is worthy of love despite her father leaving her as a child. Which does happen, but goddamn it took a while (aka to the end of the book) to get there, and in the meantime, you had to watch Cannie make the worst decisions at every possible turn, pine over a loser man who probably can’t even tie his shoes (no offense Bruce), and have the most wacko situations work out in her scenario. In this novel, Weiner tells the story in a way like you should be rooting for and loving Cannie, but instead, I find myself rolling my eyes at this impossible novel, and a hated main character who spent the novel being weak, selfish, and the opposite of the screenplay Cannie wrote, because this girl needs to be helped at every turn.

Characters:

Cannie, who is the only first-person perspective you hear from in this story, is a crybaby, who never learned life is unfair, and that you need to love yourself if you expect anyone else to love you. As a character, she is quite witty, smart, and can hold fantastic conversations with others, but her self-deprecation at every turn for her size and the fact that she does not have a boyfriend at 28, really brings the novel down. Any time a character does not agree with her, she does a 180 and says the worst things to them, and then cries about how no one likes her, especially Bruce, whom she broke up with, but Weiner never decides to expand on besides that Cannie was just “done” with him. No one holds Cannie accountable for her actions in this novel, as she is allowed to flaunt, complain, cry, and fight with everyone, and then in the end, it is them who are begging Cannie for her forgiveness. 

Plot:

Honestly, the plot of this novel is so confusing, however, there are some steady themes in this novel that keep the plot going. First is that this novel centers around Cannie's life, so the main plot climax is Cannie realizing she needs to love herself, which happens far too late in the novel. Within this novel following Cannie’s life, there are the dumb choices she makes that bring us mini plot lines that conclude within their own part. Oh yes, this novel had to be that extra and have the story divided into parts. 

Writing:

Speaking of those parts, yes, Weiner felt this book had to be even more extra and divided itself into five parts of Cannie’s life, each featuring its own plot point. Now you would think these parts would be interesting, except Weiner writes them to be dull and with nothing happening, except for the last chapter. The last chapter of each part has some cliffhanger ending, making you want to read the next part, only to find the issue quickly fixed and back to the daily boring schedule of Cannie’s life. 

Conclusion: 

Overall this novel sucks and leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and despite its New York Times recommendation, Weiner writes this story about a victim-complex main star, who thinks everyone else is the problem, makes the worst decisions ever, and has everything work out to her advantage despite not growing to be a better person.

[jay-wasstuff]

-

Bonus: the old man (+insp)

[howifeltabouthim]

What's annoying, though, is that he knows he's good . . . Whenever he's done eating me out, he looks up at me like he's ready to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Katherine Lin, from You Can't Stay Here Forever

[queruloustea]

my favourite area :]

[katsinspats]

I think my copy of the game is broken they've been doing this for 30 minutes

Crop of the Biolizard edit I did bc it makes me laugh:

[dramaqueer-commie]

everytime i see someone unbelievably hot in public and feel like im missing out bc i wont get to know them i remind myself of the wisdom my mother passed on to me that the most good looking people shes slept with are the worst in bed

[circuscountdowns]

many centuries down the line they can manage to have a civil enough family game night.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

getting older can be so amazing? you get more familiar with yourself. learn tips & tricks for troubleshooting your own brain. trial & error helps you build routines that minimize discomfort, maximize reward. your preferences/interests don't get set in stone, but you do find out which ones are going to stay with you in the long-term, and which ones are fun but transient joys to appreciate in the moment.

you learn that the world is so much more complex than you were taught, and that that's okay, and that there's an endless supply of things you can learn or watch or experience or think about if you want to. if you're lucky, you loosen up, stop putting so much pressure on yourself. if you're lucky, you learn to recognize that negative inner voice, and whack it with a baseball bat until it hushes up. if you're lucky, you learn to treat yourself gently, not because you are fragile but because you are worthy of gentleness. (i hope you are lucky.)

and some things will change. some things will get better. some things will get good. and maybe you start to recover from the dehumanizing stress of childhood/education. maybe you learn the power of your own autonomy. maybe you learn how to walk away from bad situations (which is a superpower even if you don't realize it yet). and you get to choose your own clothes. and your own food. and which relationships to pursue! and what you do with your free time. and with your life (but don't worry you get to choose that gradually). and that's crazy! and sometimes scary. and extraordinarily, indescribably precious.