The Next Best Thing

A sort of uninspired rom-com from Weiner about a TV writer finding a measure of success, love and stepping out on her own from the cocoon she was raised in. The saving grace is that with a writer as entertaining and skilled as Weiner, even the uninspired can be fun to read.

On the whole, it reads like a dramatization of Ben Blacker's podcast about TV writing (http://www.nerdist.com/podcast/nerdist-writers-panel/) with a couple of personal plotlines thrown in to the mix. So the non-family, non-romance stuff reads like a pretty authentic behind the scenes–nice for those of us who are into that kind of thing.

The sexual content was a bit more explicit than I'm used to from Weiner (as limited as my experience might be–my wife's is more extensive and she agrees)–it's not terrible, but just not what I expected from this writer, using this character to tell this story–seems out of place.

Not Weiner at her best, but a good way to kill a few hours.

This is my favorite Jennifer Weiner book since In Her Shoes. Instead of the melodramatic Women's Fiction of some of her more recent novels, she goes back to what she does best - telling the story of Ruth, an insecure girl who comes into her own and finds love along the way. So many things work well in this book - the fascinating look at the TV industry, the relationship between Ruth and her grandmother, the somewhat unorthodox love interest who demonstrates that people with disabilities can be just as sexy as anyone else. Weiner's own experience as a showrunner for a short-lived sitcom on ABC Family is put to good use, and I can't help but wonder how much of Ruth's frustration with the contrast between her vision of the show and the eventual whitewashed, dumbed-down network-approved version are autobiographical. Ruth's solution to the problem seems a little far-fetched, but this is fiction, after all.

One sidebar comment: The Jewish online magazine Tablet published a piece recently complaining that Weiner is doing her religion a disservice because her heroines aren't Jewish enough. I vehemently disagree - I love the fact that Ruth talks about Friday night chicken, getting married under a chuppah, etc., but being Jewish is just part of who she is. That's the reality for most American Jews, and Tablet should be thrilled that, unlike Ruth's TV protagonist, Weiner is allowed and encouraged to have Jewish characters.

I might have given this book 5 stars except for two things. 1. Too much detail during sex(y) parts. 2. The book could have ended at two other times. It almost seemed at one point that it was just dragging on. But the author brought it back each time to keep me engaged. Good story.