Good Girls Gone Bad - Softcover

Medoff, Jillian

3.12

265 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060936916 ISBN 13: 9780060936914

Publisher: Perennial, 2003

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Janey Febre is obsessed with her old boyfriend and decides to get some help, but when her new friends from the support group suggest a plot to get back at her ex, she finds herself neck deep in trouble. By the author of Hunger Point. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.

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About the Author:

Jillian Medoff is the author of the richly praised Hunger Point.A former fellow at the MacDowell Colony, the Blue Mountain Center, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, she lives in Brooklyn where she is hard at work on a new novel.

From Publishers Weekly:

Medoff's debut novel, the well-received Hunger Point, leavened the serious topic of eating disorders with a healthy dose of wry humor. In her sophomore effort Medoff takes aim at therapy, female bonding, low self-esteem and revenge with mixed results. Janey Fabre joins group therapy when she admits to herself that obsessing about (and semi-stalking) a man who dated and dumped her might not be entirely healthy. An actuary, the 30-something Janey also spends her time composing highly methodical lists of ways to commit suicide, and despairs of ever being married or having children. The six other women in the group represent a grab-bag of recognizable psychological profiles: bossy Laura sleeps around, overweight Valentine can't stop eating, nervous Natasha fears germs, Ivy is a plastic surgery junkie, Bethany still lives with her mother, and Suzanna is more connected to her dog than to other people. What they all have in common is low self-esteem as well as a seemingly pathological distrust of men, even though they complain incessantly about not meeting Mr. Right. Rather formulaically, Medoff tracks the members of the "pussy posse" as they learn to stand up for themselves. The plot takes an unexpected twist, however, when a plan to get revenge on Janey's ex turns violent, but all is cozily resolved in the end. The metaphorical use of actuarial probability (a la John Lanchester's Mr. Phillips) is clever, but the psychological insights, such as they are ("maybe it's never been them... maybe it's us") are less than revelatory. Still, readers in thrall to the current crop of light gal-power lit may find some kick to the antics on display here.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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