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Weiners latest novel, Then Came You, revolves around that most oddly
intimate of modern-day transactions: egg donorship and surrogacy. The
story told from alternating perspectives opens with Jules, a Princeton
senior from a seriously broken family. She lives at a puzzled distance
from her own beauty and the way it attracts men and repels women. Among
those it attracts is a suit-clad representative of the Princeton
Fertility Clinic, whos interested in her body, but not in the usual way.

One of the books assets is its variety of characters. Annie, the eventual
surrogate, is a 24-year-old stay-at-home mom whose husband, a TSA guard
at the Philadelphia airport, is most turned on when she sports her skin-
tight Phillies nightshirt (I thought it made me look like a link of
chorizo, but it was, I knew, his favorite). There are interracial couples
here and same-sex relationships that go beyond chick lits tired my gay
boyfriend subplot.

But the most surprisingly sympathetic character in Then Came You is
a chick-lit staple, albeit one made three-dimensional: the trophy wife.
India Bishop the woman in search of a baby is a gold-digging Manhattan
PR type who has snagged a wealthy older husband despite (or perhaps
because of) the fact that everything about her is fake, from her nose to
her name, from her caramel-colored hair to her cup size. But in Weiners
hands, Indias crass actions elicit more sympathy than judgment.

Is there romance here? Yes and no. Each of these women has, or finds,
love of some sort. But friendship is the main event. Then Came You is
most centrally about women being each others fairy godmothers, each
others mysterious benefactors with money, with inspiration, with love,
with learning, with luxury. If youre a Weiner fan, one of those queuing
up for a coffee date, youll lap it up. And if you dont know her yet,
heres the place to start.

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