Then Came You: A Novel

Jennifer Weiner takes the looking glass and focuses it on the choices we make--as women, as men, as college graduates, as daughters, as friends, as wives--and spins them all together to create her latest novel, Then Came You. This book is primarily about how, sometimes in life, the ends justify the means. The four women who take the stage in Wieners latest novel are a departure from the down trodden, longing for love, size 16 heroin we're used to. Weiner introduces us to these ladies, all at different places in their lives, and how one choice--to be the part of a child--stitches them all together. I loved this book for the simplicity of it. The topics are vast and huge on their own--infertility, death, drug abuse, sexuality, financial woes--but she takes it all to a level for the reader can relate too. You feel for the characters and you want them to find their own happy endings. This story is an excellent summer read, and I swallowed it whole in only two days.

Then Came You is the story of four very different women whose separate longings for family and love place them on a collision path. The story begins with Jules, a beautiful scholarship student at an Ivy League college. Traumatized by a childhood scandal caused by the arrest of her alcoholic father for causing an accident while driving drunk, Jules hates the feeling of people looking at her and finds it difficult to make close friends. A chance encounter in a local mall with a representative of a fertility clinic leads Jules to the decision to sell her eggs and use the money to send her addicted, alcoholic father to a top rate rehabilitation clinic. Annie is a young mother with two small children and a husband who is under-employed. Struggling with bills and frustrated with attempting to stretch their funds too far, Annie considers surrogacy a way to contribute to her family's finances by doing something she is good at--having babies. Her proud husband struggles with his wife carrying someone else's child, and own family is indifferent or not supportive. Annie's efforts to help her family begin to backfire--her husband pulls away as she simultaneously begins to want to make more of herself by starting college. Bettina comes from a wealthy background, and has the best of everything that money can buy. What Bettina wants most, however, is for her divorced parents to reunite and make their family whole again. Her mother has moved to a yoga community and given up material things, while her father continues to work hard and build his fortune. Bettina's dream of her parents reconciling is dashed when her father falls for, and marries, a younger woman. India is a self-made woman, overcoming a childhood where her mother abandoned her twice to become the owner of a successful business. India is a also a strikingly attractive woman, which she's achieved through surgery and constant upkeep. She searches for security, not love, in the form of a wealthy man. A chance meeting with Bettina's father in a Starbucks lands India the wealthy husband she wanted--who unexpectedly turns out to be the love of India's life. India's desire to have a baby and her inability to conceive leads her to a fertility clinic where the lives of these different women suddenly become intertwined by tragedy and the choices they've made. In the end, each finds the family that they longed for, although in completely unexpected ways. The approach of wrapping the story of several different lives around a surrogate pregnancy is unique, and the varying perspectives are what make the story interesting. This is, at its heart, a "feel good" story, and not a deep exploration of some of the challenges and issues of surrogacy, but there is still enough of a thoughtful touch to keep Then Came Your from being superficial.

What do you think about rich ladies paying non-rich ladies to carry their babies? What is your perception concerning donor eggs? Would you donate an egg if a clinic would give you $25,000? Do you think differently about a sperm donation? Fascinating topics. Jennifer Weiner has written a perceptive novel about cash and class. The reader is given in-depth knowledge of four women: Jules, Annie, Bettina and India. One of them has money from birth. Bettina is a spoiled, rather bratty daughter of Marcus Croft, a billionaire. She is filled with enough anger to either make lives better or inflict pain easily. She is also the stepdaughter of India whose life story is one of survival and striking ambition. Jules is beautiful and smart but suffers from the loss of her beloved father to life-changing incidents and drugs. She is a good person who can identify the right and wrong things to do. Annie is a young mother who is married to a good man but they need money and Annie wants a better life. One of these four is the egg donor and another is the surrogate. Weiner does an excellent job of fleshing out these characters; she defines and clarifies their physical and emotional attributes enabling us to easily understand their motivations. None of the characters' intentions is vague; we could easily dissect their relationships with their lovers and families. There are many themes in this story. Weiner touches on so many subjects elevating the storyline and my perceptions of these women. Heartache is a central theme. Jules' father was a hard-working wonderful teacher and father until he was involved in an accident. He lost it all, including his job, his wife, and self-respect. Didn't he have a right to draw on taxpayers' resources to make him whole again? Jules thought so. And Annie, didn't she have a right to financial gain? She was an excellent mother and wanted more for her family. Even though she was not privileged, didn't she deserve more things? Hadn't India earned the right to a better life? Some of the scenes with Bettina were too contrived, but I found that a small weakness. The final chapters also had a somewhat Holllywood ending, but Weiner has enough substance in this book to balance the plot device at the end. Surrogacy arouses strong feelings on both sides of the political spectrum. Weiner treats the subject from all angles with intellect and deep feelings. She is making a statement but she opens our mind to the arguments. None of her characters is perfect but we end up knowing more about controversial subjects from an author, who is a master at describing physical settings and emotional situations.

I love all of Jennifer’s books but this one is one of my favorites. A great story that I finished in a few days.

A good book with twists & turns.Characters got bit confusing at first but soon got to know them.Definitely recommend ed.

Really liked this book. Got me interested straight away and read it very quickly. I engaged with the characters and the story line was great. Recommend

Similar to the author's other books, this is the perfect distraction. Modern life with all it's crazy permutations still has the basic needs - friends, food, love - and we see how the characters resolve life's complications. Perfect read for the beach or a long airplane ride.

This is one of those books that you want to curl up in a chair with and let the noises around you disappear. I enjoyed this book and found that it ended way to quickly. Another hundred pages would have been great. if you are looking for a wonderful writer, a great light read and a smile are the end of a book then this is one of them. I have been a fan of Ms. Weiner's books since the word go and hope that others will also enjoy her literary works.