Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Book Summary and Reviews of The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner

The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner

The Guy Not Taken

by Jennifer Weiner

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Published:
  • Sep 2006, 192 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Jennifer Weiner's talent shines like never before in this collection of short stories, following the tender, and often hilarious, progress of love and relationships over the course of a lifetime. From a teenager coming to terms with her father's disappearance to a widow accepting two young women into her home, Weiner's eleven stories explore those transformative moments in our every day.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"These stories range from an old lady held hostage to a New Yorker who gives up killer real estate for a guy. Weiner's fans will recognize the kooky-kid-sister sagas, but it's the new territory notably Swim and Dora on the Beach that shouldn't be missed. A-" - Entertainment Weekly.

"The heroines-hooked-on-bad-boys notion wears thin, but fans will savor Weiner's confidential tone and salty wit. [3 out of 4 stars]." - People.

"Puts Weiner on the map as one of her generation's best literary voices." - The Boston Herald.

"Another delightful example of Jennifer Weiner's tender way with words and emotions." - Harper's Bazaar.

"The Guy Not Taken showcases a maturing Weiner...In Her Shoes author Jennifer Weiner is resigned to the fact that in some circles she is referred to as the 'Queen of Chick Lit.' But I challenge anyone who says her short-story collection, The Guy Not Taken, isn't serious women's fiction." - USA Today.

"This collection of 11 stories written over the past 15 years reads like a series of studies for Weiner's larger chick lit portraits .... One roots for Weiner's characters as they come to terms-and in some cases, heal-from disappointment and neglect." - PW.

"In her recent novels, notably In Her Shoes, Weiner explores human relationships in all their complexity, poignancy, and delight. Although Weiner's voice and settings are very contemporary, the messes people make among family members, friends, and lovers are as old as time." - Library Journal.

This information about The Guy Not Taken was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

MM

I love Weiner but she fell flat with this one
I read A LOT. I have a long commute to and from work. I recently read my first Jennifer Weiner nove, Best Friends Forever. It contained one of the best literary chapters I have ever read in my life. It was the flashback chapter to a daytrip the two young girls take to Maine. This chapter could have been a short story. I made my teen daughter read this chapter because it was so good I wanted to hug it. I was so excited to see Weiner had a novel of short stories, but they really fell flat for me. They were good, just not fabulous. I can't recall one that had me talking or thinking about later. The namesake chapter, The Guy Not Taken was so predictable and I thought, "this reads like a short story hoping to be picked up for a movie deal". Sure enough, I read this is being picked up for a movie. Still a Weiner fan and will continue to read her novels. Maybe I'm a little spoiled and being tough on her because I just finished a collection of Alice Munoe's best short stories?

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Jennifer Weiner Author Biography

Jennifer Weiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one books, including The Summer Place, That Summer, Big Summer, Mrs. Everything, In Her Shoes, Good in Bed, and a memoir in essays, Hungry Heart. She has appeared on many national television programs, including Today and Good Morning America, and her work has been published in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, among other newspapers and magazines. Jennifer lives with her family in Philadelphia.

Author Interview
Link to Jennifer Weiner's Website

Other books by Jennifer Weiner at BookBrowse
  • Mrs. Everything jacket

11 more...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more short stories...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Small Rain
    Small Rain
    by Garth Greenwell
    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...
  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket: The Women
    The Women
    by Kristin Hannah
    Kristin Hannah's latest historical epic, The Women, is a story of how a war shaped a generation ...
  • Book Jacket: The Wide Wide Sea
    The Wide Wide Sea
    by Hampton Sides
    By 1775, 48-year-old Captain James Cook had completed two highly successful voyages of discovery and...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

It is among the commonplaces of education that we often first cut off the living root and then try to replace its ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.