Big Summer: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner

 

Six years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life, looking as lovely and successful as ever, with a massive favor to ask. Daphne hasn’t spoken one word to Drue in all this time—she doesn’t even hate-follow her ex-best friend on social media—so when Drue asks if she will be her maid-of-honor at the society wedding of the summer, Daphne is rightfully speechless.

Drue was always the one who had everything—except the ability to hold onto friends. Meanwhile, Daphne’s no longer the same self-effacing sidekick she was back in high school. She’s built a life that she loves, including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Letting glamorous, seductive Drue back into her life is risky, but it comes with an invitation to spend a weekend in a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. When Drue begs and pleads and dangles the prospect of cute single guys, Daphne finds herself powerless as ever to resist her friend’s siren song.

REVIEW: When I'm in the mood for a light and entertaining read, Jennifer Weiner is one of my go-to authors so I was excited to dig in to this book over my winter holiday break. Big Summer was entertaining, for sure, but pales in comparison to Weiner's previous book, Mrs. Everything. I appreciated the author's standard, strong themes around female empowerment and self-acceptance, and I LOVED her not-so-subtle digs at the disturbing social media frenzy that has overtaken our society ... I still can't believe that 'influencer' is a job. I thought the character work was a bit lazy though - Drue was a textbook, one-dimensional mean girl and attempts to make her appear otherwise late in the book felt like an add-on that didn't fit at all with the character's arc to that point in the story. I also have mixed feelings about the main character Daphne - I was happy to see a book about a plus-size character but I wish that her weight wasn't presented as the primary focus of every aspect of her life, from job to relationships to constant inner monologue. I appreciate that she has the normal insecurities and body image issues that so many women face, I just wish that she too could have been presented as more than one-dimensional. Overall, this was a quick and easy read and offered a bit of an escape from the world for a day, but definitely not Weiner's best work. 3 stars.