By A.D. AMOROSI
Jennifer Weiner made her name with her first two novels, Good in Bed (2001) and In Her Shoes (2002), the latter made more famous by its film version starring Cameron Diaz. Although the Philadelphia native's immediate follow-ups Little Earthquakes (2004) and Goodnight Nobody (2005) didn’t earn similar critical acclaim, they were popular with readers and made the New York Times Best Seller lists. The prolific Weiner (with six more books after those first four) just released her newest and possibly best novel, All Fall Down (Atria Books, June 17, 2014), and is touring both coasts starting with June 19’s twin events at the Princeton Public Library at noon and the Philadelphia Free Library’s main branch at 7 PM.
Weiner, a humorous author with a flair for snark, has jettisoned much of her cutting sarcasm for All Fall Down. Weiner made the central character (Allison Weiss) a working mom with aging parents and a new career as a successful blogger, and presents her ongoing tribulations as if she was reporting a news feature in real time. Moving actively and quickly through her protagonist’s life, Weiner is warmly in-your-face as she writes about Weiss’ need for painkillers – first for back pain, then for daily chilling-out stabilization – until that character crashes into drug rehab and pulls herself out of her problems. All Fall Down is about learning to deal with the fast pace of success (especially its focus on the quick victories and losses of internet blogging fame) while managing one’s real life. Truly, All Fall Down is a real page turner.
Photo by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi
Posted on Thursday, June 19, 2014
