Book #2: Goodnight Nobody: A Novel

Title: Goodnight Nobody: A Novel


Author: Jennifer Weiner


First of all, I have to say something about the cover of this novel. It bugs. You know absolutely nothing about the content of the story from the cover. In fact, it might lead you to believe the story is about something different-- a skinny lady with hot legs, for example. But if you're up on your literary allusions for the preschool set, you'll probably recognize "goodnight nobody" as the line from Margaret Wise Brown's children's classic "Goodnight Moon" and therefore be able to glean that the novel is about a woman with more domestic concerns.


Kate Klein is a 30-something former career woman with three kids ages four and under. She's now a SAHM living in Fairfield County, CT (where I grew up, incidentally), who never sees her workaholic husband, and who feels fat and frumpy in comparison to the ultra-polished supermoms frequenting the playground. When one of those supermoms turns up murdered, it becomes Kate's mission to solve the crime, not just to bring the killer to justice, but to prove to herself that she's more than just the fat mom on the fringes of the social circles at the playground.


Reading this book made me so glad to live in a normal, middle-class neighborhood. My parents live in a town (Naperville, IL) that's sort of similar to the fictional one where Klein's family lives (Upchurch, which could be New Canaan or Westport or Greenwich). Whenever I visit them and we take the kids to the playground or out to lunch, I feel like I'm being sized up. I think the mystery portion of the story is actually sort of flimsy, but I really liked her insights into stay-at-home-moms' perceptions of themselves and their peers.


--originally published 1/13/07