Back in 1980 when we started this blog, it was considered edgy that we routinely farted in Jennifer Weiner’s grossly middlebrow general direction. It was never that we reserved hate for light entertainment such as what you find in Weiner’s chick lit ouvre, it was more that here was the Cult of Lowered Expectations writ large for a new generation: Fat acceptance screeds, casual acquiescence to the patriarchy our smarter moms worked so hard to smash, bad post-Seinfeld meta-isms, jokes about SHOPPING FOR SHOES, for chrissakes, and so on. Weiner, for us, has always represented a giant step backward, like that kid you knew in high school who was soooo cool, but bump into him at the reunion, and he’s an alcoholic wifebeater who wears Dockers and hates his life. Bummer, right? Well, like all good ideas, this one about Jennifer Weiner just being a giant disappointment to all of humanity — and a rousing triumph for all who believe in Fake Women’s Lib - is catching on. And finally, someone from the literary establishment has piped up and called bullshit. In a review of Weiner’s new book Certain Girls headlined “Weiner is talented enough to aim higher,” Jane Smiley put a fine point on it:

Just so you know the target audience, Jennifer Weiner’s new novel, Certain Girls, is about the pinkest book you can imagine.
The jacket is pale pink; the endpapers are practically fuchsia. The jacket also sports a fluffy skirt and some very high heels.
[...] I mention these things because Weiner does not need to be published in pink - her publishers could target a general audience. [...] In her latest novel, she seems boxed in by her chosen genre, and it’s a shame, because she’s got the intelligence and the ambition to address larger questions than the psychological ups and downs of her nice Jewish characters. For whatever reason, though, she doesn’t dare.

It’s nice to know that we’re not insane. But just like any time a book reviewer plays rough, right now, Smiley is being castigated for being a self-righteous snob for daring to question the aesthetic merits of Weiner’s chosen genre of Fat Girl’s Woes Once Again Cured By Finding A Nice Jewish Boy. To which we say: Hogwash (literally), Smiley is dead on here. Anyone who can feed and dress themselves needs to be as far away from this type of pandering chick lit shit as possible. It kills dreams. It makes hope die. But today, there is a light at the end of tunnel. Now, if you move your fat ass, I just might be able to see it.
Inky: Oh No She Didn’t!
BooksInq: Oh Yes She Did!
EdRants: Well, I Never!

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 2:16 pm.