Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner

Kelly chose the book and hosted the meeting. She shared some facts about the author and created a "kids" meal for us to snack on. The juice boxes were fun!
Questions were shared and discussed:

• Kate did not feel like she belonged in Upchurch. In the end of the book, Kate was surprised that Sukie felt that Kate was better than the rest of the Upchurch moms.
• Kate and Kitty had many things in common. Kate made assumptions about Kitty in the beginning. We did not feel that they had a very deep friendship.
• Kate and Ben - Ben was a safe choice for Kate. Ben was often critical of Kate and her abilities (birthday party, getting shirts dry cleaned, etc.). We felt that they were not deeply in love with one another.
• Mystery of the book - murder/neighbor/affair - these were not well-defined and it wrapped up too quickly in the end.
• Universal Theme - balancing marriage, family, motherhood and career.
• Kate and Janie - deep friendship, were always there for one another, unconditional friendship. Opposites: Kate was married and stable while Janie was adventurous and a free spirit.
• Kate's mother - Kate and her mom did not have any bonding because her mom was absent in her life a lot. We loved the part of the book where Kate's mom had the ecstasy inadvertently from Janie. Good laugh! In the end of the book Mom seemed out of character by being there for Kate.
• Flashbacks in the book helped us to understand some of the characters: Evan and his role in Kate's life, Janie and Kate's budding careers, Kate's mom and dad's relationship.
• Ending - Many felt that there were too many loose ends at the end of the book. Lexie's disappearance, Kate's choice of Ben or Evan, and Kitty's father were all left in question.
• Comments: laughs (especially Janie), mystery, shallow characters, too much drama, large amount of characters, no connection with the book, "verbal vomiting" writing.

Jennifer Weiner's website: http://jenniferweiner.com/