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    The Smart One
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    The Smart One
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    The Smart One
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Smart One

    Written by Jennifer Close

    Narrated by Rebecca Lowman

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    With her best-selling debut, Girls in White Dresses (An "irresistible, pitch-perfect first novel" -Marie Claire), Jennifer Close captured friendship in those what-on-earth-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life years of early adulthood. Now, with her sparkling new novel of parenthood and sibling rivalry, Close turns her gimlet eye to the only thing messier than friendship: family.

    Weezy Coffey's parents had always told her she was the smart one, while her sister was the pretty one. "Maureen will marry well," their mother said, but instead it was Weezy who married well, to a kind man and good father. Weezy often wonders if she did this on purpose-thwarting expectations just to prove her parents wrong.

    But now that Weezy's own children are adults, they haven't exactly been meeting her expectations either. Her oldest child, Martha, is thirty and living in her childhood bedroom after a spectacular career flameout. Martha now works at J.Crew, folding pants with whales embroidered on them and complaining bitterly about it. Weezy's middle child, Claire, has broken up with her fiancé, canceled her wedding, and locked herself in her New York apartment-leaving Weezy to deal with the caterer and florist. And her youngest, Max, is dating a college classmate named Cleo, a girl so beautiful and confident she wears her swimsuit to family dinner, leaving other members of the Coffey household blushing and stammering into their plates.

    As the Coffey children's various missteps drive them back to their childhood home, Weezy suddenly finds her empty nest crowded and her children in full-scale regression. Martha is moping like a teenager, Claire is stumbling home drunk in the wee hours, and Max and Cleo are skulking around the basement, guarding a secret of their own. With radiant style and a generous spirit, The Smart One is a story about the ways in which we never really grow up, and the place where we return when things go drastically awry: home.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateApr 2, 2013
    ISBN9780385362726
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Smart One

    3.5/5

    76 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Close's sophomore effort, as per tradition, is weaker than the debut Girls In White Dresses. The subject is much bleaker, too - the 30 year olds who retreat back to the suburbs and their parents' basements to recover from relationship/job/financial disasters. Almost no one has an easy time of it, including the mother, except the father, who remains oblivious to it all and pats his "little girls" patronizingly on their heads, just as he did when they were five years old. Still good reading, and still a fine writer.
    • 4/5
      This is the perfect book to read at Christmas time especially ifgoing home to visit family!Weezy is the mom in this book about 3 adult kids who wind up livingat home with their parents AGAIN!Weezy a woman of lists and notes always has an ongoing list on her fridge that says "What we need".As the book begins Grape Nuts is on the list. At that time I actually had a list on the fridgethat started with Grape Nuts! How could I resist not going forward with this novel?(my kids are laughing if they read this review!)Then it is Christmas time and Weezy has a collection on Santas on her mantel. Metoo!In this book and her last one, Girls In White Dresses Jennifer Close the author reallycaptures what it is like to be a young adult and not have your life live up to what aretypical expectations. Back in the ancient day when I found myself to be in this situationnot married with kids by the time I was 30 I did experience many of the same misstepsWeezy's 3 kids make.The author has a wonderful,chatty way of writing as she seamlessly switches fromcharacter to character and their lives in suburban Philadelphia and New York City.I totally enjoyed spending time with all the members of the Coffey family and I will miss them!In some way they reminded me of The Blessings one of my top 10 reads of 2014!
    • 2/5
      This author needs a new editor- too lengthy in many parts- geesh!
    • 2/5
      This book was interesting enough but I felt the entire time I was reading that I was waiting for something more. I was surprised when it ended because that's just what it did, it just stopped. This book was a difficult read for me but I did finish it. I won't say anything more because I'm sure it's not easy writing a book but I wish I had taken my friends advice and stopped reading after the first few chapters.
    • 4/5
      Open the door of any family's house and step inside to watch what happens over time and there you have it---a formula for an enormous number of books that work! The audio was great, read by Rebecca Lowman, and once you know the characters it is "fun" to watch the developments. Close could pick up this same story at some time in the future for this family and see where they are and what has happened since the last time she visited them while she stays to watch them more for us.
    • 3/5
      I keep debating on whether to give this two or three stars. Ultimately I decided to give it three. I enjoyed following all the characters except for Martha. Martha is so annoying. Is it bad that I wished she would get hit by a bus? She almost ruined the book for me. Luckily I cared enough about the rest of the family to keep reading the book. Overall it was good but not great.
    • 3/5
      I have not read Jennifer’s earlier book “Girls in White Dresses” -- will try and read it later. I listened to the audio version of The Smart One and it was not my favorite and a little different than most of the books I read; however, I did enjoy the writing style. The author did an exceptional job with her characterization, and details. I think the narrator could have done a little better job as she was kind of blah.

      The novel is centered around family (Weezy and Will Coffey’s grown children have all moved back home just when she thinks she will be empty nest) – all with problems and issues – totally different personalities. Martha the oldest (30) with plenty of issues, Claire (middle child who has money issues and broken off her engagement), and youngest Max who gets his girlfriend pregnant.
      The story is told from different perspectives of each of the characters bridging the gap between old and young. With other drama from elderly mother Bets and sister, Maureen – what a crew! The book would be fitting for young and old alike; however, be prepared for a lot of self-pity, depression, and whining.
    • 5/5
      While vacationing at the beach, I read the perfect beach book- Jennifer Close’s The Smart One. I read her previous novel, Girls in White Dresses, and liked it, but found it hard to relate the 20-something single girls, as I have passed that mark awhile ago.But The Smart One refers to Weezy Coffey, the fifty-something wife and mother of three adult children, so I was all about this book. Weezy is knee-deep in preparations for her daughter Claire’s wedding. Then the wedding gets called off and Claire goes into a tailspin, quitting her job too.So she must move back home to Pennsylvania, where oldest daughter Martha also lives. Martha was a nurse for a short time, but that didn’t work out, so she has been working as a manager at J. Crew. Martha has social issues; she really has no friends and never had a boyfriend. Coping with the world is not her best skill.Son Max is eighteen and away at college. Then he gets his girlfriend Cleo pregnant and they move into the basement.So now Weezy and her husband Will, who had been looking forward to an empty nest, find themselves with all three adult children back home. How did this happen?Weezy so enjoyed all of the wedding planning that she just never told the florist or the caterer that the wedding was off. She continued to meet with them, tasting menus and looking at gorgeous floral arrangements. What was the harm in that?I identified with Weezy, and winced when I saw characteristics in her that I do not like in myself. “Weezy had a high horse. And she could get on it whenever she wanted. Maureen used to always tease her when she’d go off on other people’s behavior. “Uh-oh”, she’d say. “Giddyup! Here comes the horse.” Ugh.Weezy not only had to deal with her children, but her elderly mother Bets and sister Maureen. The descriptions of family Thanksgiving celebrations and all of the maneuvering and trying to keep peace and not blow a gasket, well if you can’t relate to that, you’ve never had a family Thanksgiving.The story is told from alternating view points- Weezy, Martha, Claire and Cleo. Their voices are all distinct and strong , something I found a bit lacking in Girls in White Dresses.The details in this novel are so perfect. I loved the list of THINGS WE NEED that is taped to the refrigerator. When things got purchased, they were crossed off, and a new list was started.Max played hockey, and the descriptions and feelings that Weezy had about being a hockey mom brought me back to my days as a baseball mom. I don’t know how someone as young as Close was able to tap into that, but she sure did.She also nails the new parent feelings that Max and Cleo have when their baby is born. Those feeling you have of love mixed with sleeplessness mixed with exhaustion mixed with joy; it’s all right there.And I loved the idea of naming tables at your wedding after favorite books! Oh I wish I had thought of that 26 years ago.One of the characters, Jaz, a wise woman, tells Martha “It’s funny, you know. Not what I had planned for my life, but that’s how it works sometimes.” That pretty much sums up the theme of The Smart One. Life isn’t always what you dreamed; you play the cards you are dealt.The Smart One bridges the gap between young women starting out and older women, watching their children make mistakes and not knowing what to do. I think that women of all ages should read this, it will help them empathize and understand each other.
    • 4/5
      The Smart OneBy Jennifer CloseMy "in a nutshell" summary...A novel about a family with all of its flaws and all of the love exposed for everyone to see!My thoughts after reading this book...I love love love dysfunctional family books or rather books about dysfunctional families. This one is spot on awesome. It's in the most perfect style. Each chapter highlights different family members including parents, girlfriends, friends and a fiancé. The dysfunctions are juicy and insightful...oh my...does it say something about me that I love reading about everyone else's disasters? But these are so good...Claire...dumped and in dire debt...Martha...whoa baby...filled with insecurities...Max...happy go lucky Max and his girlfriend Cleo. These are the siblings. Then we have Mama Weezy...kind of annoying...kind of a worrier...is she the reason her kids are slightly off center? Every chapter seemed as though it was an interconnected story in this lovely book.What I loved about this book in particular...I loved the flawed characters. The author did an amazing job of explaining their flaws in a totally appealing way. I loved them in spite of their flaws!What I did not love...I was not ready for this ending. It sort of just happened without warning. I was reading and then the book stopped...quite abruptly! Final thoughts...This is a book about a flawed family and its relatives. I cringed...I laughed..I applauded...while reading about the Coffey 's and their family and friends.