Book Club’s latest meeting brought together a lively group. Discussing the ins and outs of Jennifer Weiner’s suburban sleuth story, Goodnight Nobody, was our first order of business.

General consensus – this was a good read. In fact, it boasts four out of five stars on Goodreads.

Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner

Synopsis (an excerpt from Goodreads)

For Kate Klein, a semi-accidental mother of three, suburbia has been full of unpleasant surprises. Her once-loving husband is hardly ever home. The supermommies on the playground routinely snub her. Her days are spent carpooling and enduring endless games of Candy Land, and at night, most of her orgasms are of the do-it-yourself variety.

When a fellow mother is murdered, Kate finds that the unsolved mystery is the most exciting thing to happen in Upchurch, Connecticut, since her neighbors broke ground for a guesthouse and cracked their septic tank. Even though the local police chief warns her that crime-fighting’s a job best left to the professionals, Kate launches an unofficial investigation — from 8:45 to 11:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, when her kids are in nursery school.

As Kate is drawn deeper into the murdered woman’s past, she begins to uncover the secrets and lies behind Upchurch’s picket-fence facade — and considers the choices and compromises all modern women make as they navigate between marriage and independence, small towns and big cities, being a mother and having a life of one’s own. 

Review

Goodnight Nobody had a little bit of everything…murder, mystery, romance, family, drama and humor. The Club agreed it may have been a little too much of everything. Some of us loved the mystery, some loved the romance and others loved that we told them about it because they didn’t read it.

For me, the sad suburban mommy from the city was played out. The fact that Kate couldn’t get her act together in any mothering situation was annoying. Admittedly, most of us in Book Club have teenage children. Those traumatic toddler days are long since forgotten or more likely blocked out. We didn’t relate. Also, Kate’s investigative tactics were outrageous, if not uncomfortable. It was over the top.

The romance was compelling and the whodunit kept us committed. Although the ending may have furrowed a few brows, Goodnight Nobody was a good book with some fun twists and turns.

Fun Fact

If you have kids, you may recall that “goodnight nobody” is a line from the bedtime classic Goodnight Moon, but we didn’t make the connection from the title alone.

What have you been reading lately?