by Rachel Simon
It’s 1968. "Beautiful
girl" is Lynnie, a young, white woman with a developmental disability, locked
away in the School
for the Incurable and Feebleminded. Homan is an African-American male who is deaf
and falls in love with Lynnie. Martha
is a widowed, retired school teacher who owns a farm where Lynnie and Homan
take refuge when they escape the school. Other characters are woven in throughout the
story, including the baby Lynnie hands over to Martha when she and Homan are
caught. Lynnie gets sent back to the school, Homan escapes into the night and
Martha is left with a newborn infant. Who
is the father of this baby? What will
Martha do? Where will Homan go? Will
Lynnie ever be reunited with her baby? Simon
does an incredible job of telling the story of these three people over a 40-year
span.
by Jennifer Weiner
I'm a huge fan of Jennifer Weiner, especially of her earlier novels such as "Good in Bed" and "In Her Shoes." I love her characters and the voices she portrays for them. I was hoping I would enjoy reading about the four women in "Then Came You."
We have: Jules, a senior at Princeton who is considering donating her eggs and using the money to help her alcohol-addicted father. Annie, a stay-at-home mom of two young boys who is considering unusual options for bringing in more cash for the family. India, a 38-year-old (really 42) woman who marries a much older, wealthier man who wants to conceive his child to ensure her future wealth. And then there is Bettina, India's college-aged step-daughter trying to protect her father. As you might guess, the four lives eventually become intertwined in a tale of humor, motherhood and surrogacy.
The novel was a quick read, and I've never disliked any of Weiner's books. But "Then Came You" had too much back story in the chapters, where I found myself skipping pages and getting bored. I enjoyed this novel well enough, but I couldn't find myself relating to any of the women or their far-fetched lives.
-Jamie Matczak, NFLS
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