Customer Reviews

Good Girls Gone Bad

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Good Girls Gone Bad is a wonderful, wholly original, delightfully rendered novel. It's characters, especially Janey, are all parts of ourselves--gone to an extreme that puts us in touch with our deepest fears and desires. Not only are we all Janey, but we are every woman in this book. And we are also Tobias, who surprisingly does not turn out to be just an enemy, but becomes a full character through the course of this novel. The sharp humor, dazzling prose, and gripping plot all underscore the psychological depths this book explores. It is engrossing, engaging and absolutely unique. I laughed, cried, and was truly affected by Good Girls Gone Bad.

What a clever read! Medoff leads the reader toward one direction and then the course of the story changes dramatically. Good Girls Gone Bad is a dark comedy that is to be relished from cover to cover!

Janey Fabre suspects that she isn't quite normal. After all, she's stalked her ex-boyfriend for two years and is tormented with a painful past. But when she joins a support group that consists of female patients, she is comforted with the fact that there are far more neurotic New York women out there. The women in the group are all middle-aged single women. There's Suzanna -- a.k.a., the Dream Weaver -- a woman in love with her dog; Laura, a one-night stand enthusiast; Bethany, a forty-year-old divorcee who now lives with her mother. And there are the neurotics-bordering-to-insanity -- like Ivy, a sexy southerner who thinks that getting plastic surgery is like brushing her teeth; Valentine, an attractive overweight woman who overeats when she's anxious; and Natasha, who is preoccupied with contamination and diseases. Each of one of these ladies supplies laugh-out-loud situations.

Despite the dark language in the novel, Good Girls Gone Bad is a tale of friendship and sisterhood. The women, namely the protagonist, face events that change their lives. I loved this novel and I look forward to reading more books by this talented author.

Who would have thought that a book about group therapy could be so funny? This book is hilarious! I have caught myself laughing out loud many times, (and that can be really embarrassing while in public!) and I can't help thinking that this book would make a fantastic movie. It's that funny. The women in this book all have major physcological problems, but when they team up they don't seem so crazy. Together these women go on a revenge rampage getting even with anyone and everyone who ever wronged them.Makes me want to join group therapy myself!I loved it and will definitly look forward to more book by Jilliam Medoff.

Great read, twisted and dark with a lot of laugh out loud humor. I recommend it to anyone with single friends on the verge!

Good Girls Gone Bad starts off sounding like many of the other single women books out there--seven single women, aged 35 to 45, attend a therapy group together to work on improving their disasterous relationship histories. The main character, Janey, is obsessed with Tobias, a guy who slept with her while engaged to another woman; however, she carefully rationalizes her behavior to convince herself that she is not stalking him. As Janey and the other women in the group begin to bond, they dub themselves the "... posse" and vow to take revenge on Tobias, but as you might expect, their plan goes horribly awry. At this point, the book becomes more serious, as Janey questions her bond with her friends, delves into her childhood, and finally faces the truth about her mother. While the story seemed predictable early on, several unexpected revealations help set this book apart from its similar peers. A great read for someone who enjoys a fun story about women but with a little more depth.

Jillian Medoff's "Good Girls Gone Bad" is a page turner. I couldn't put it down ... On the surface, it might seem like a girl's (seven of them) search for Mr. Right, but beneath the surface it deals with serious themes--abandonment, suicide, the war of the sexes, female bonding, psychotherapy, and the power our parents have over us--with great humor and literary skill. Anybody who's had a friend, or a mother and a father, or been spurned by a lover should read this book. Medoff's women may obsess about the opposite sex, but they find empowerment with each other.

With "Good Girls Gone Bad" by Jillian Medoff it's ANOTHER case of the cover hooking me in and then being very pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the book. I found this tale of female bonding, therapy and self-discovery very enlightening, funny, heartbreaking and charming all at once.

This book takes you from one direction to another and if you don't pay close attention you'll lose your way. But - if you are careful and really "listen" to these women I have no doubt that you'll find yourself somewhere in the middle, just like I did. Beware, the mirror is scary at times.

A really nice surprise! Great 2nd effort!

Gripping, page-turning, insightful, funny. The writer has clearly matured since her impressive debut, both in the style and substance of her writing - more assured and more real. Too bad there's not more of an excerpt online - check it out in the bookstore (then come back and buy it on Amazon[.com], of course).

I found this book disjointed at best. I nearly gave up reading it during the first 60 pages because it felt as if the author was trying too hard to be witty, wry and sarcastic which left me feeling lukewarm. Also the writing is sluggish in parts. I willed myself to finish reading it more than the plot and storyline was so engaging that I couldn't put it down. I most certainly COULD put this book down. Many of the characters went from being fleshed-out, multi-dimension women to caricatures of what women who need therapy are like. And seven supporting characters is a little much; I had a difficult time keep track of who was who. Still and all, I found the actions of just about all the characters to NOT be in line with how they are originally portrayed. Could Bethany really keep the secret of what was going to happen to Tobias from Janey? Could Valentine? These ladies went from neurotic, self-obsessed crackpots to those able to carry off a highly complicated "crime" in no time. I had a hard time believing that.

The only thing that saves this book and why I gave it 3 stars is the journey Janey takes in admitting *finally* how her mother died and later, revisiting her roots. But for a person with depression, she was just a little too quick with a snappy comeback for my taste.

I wouldn't recommend anyone part with hard-earned cash for the hardcover but if you just MUST read it, I saw check it out at the library. I'm tempted to see if I can get my money back.

This book is a multi-layered complex book that is really far more sophisticated than "Chick Lit"
It includes a nuanced portrait of a troubled woman approaching mid-life who has to reconcile her past before she can move forward. It is also darkly hilarious.