Review: Big Girl

Meet Victoria Dawson, heroine of Big Girl by Danielle Steel. The firstborn child, she grows up feeling out of place in her family because of her fair hair and thicker build. While the rest of her family is dark haired and thin, Victoria is blond, blue-eyed and according to her father, has his grandmother’s ‘big’ build. Victoria puts up with her father’s thinly-veiled barbs while her mother constantly drops weight remarks. Meanwhile her parents dote on the younger sister Grace, as she is beautiful and thin. Victoria and Grace form a strong sisterly bond despite the family tension.

Victoria goes to college at Northwestern, then later becomes a private high school teacher in New York City. She is aware that she often overeats – especially when things go wrong – but she doesn’t know what to do about it. She tries therapy, hypnosis and one diet after another with little results other than gaining and losing the same weight over and over. Until finally she meets the man of her dreams and the weight starts coming off…

This was one of those classic “overweight girl tries to lose weight, is unsuccessful until she meets a man who makes her feel whole” kind of novels. It is at least mildly painful to read about Victoria’s constant dealings with ‘fat girl’ stereotypes and watch as her parents put her down constantly. Unfortunately (SPOILER ALERT!!!) she never stands up to them, although the love of her life does eventually. I was disappointed with the ending because it seems like she learned nothing other than that she is a great person only because she has a wonderful man to tell her so. (Seems like there is very little personal development for the character!)

The writing in this story is extremely redundant (the author repeats the same thing over and over) and the characters were seemingly one-dimensional. I would have rated this book 2 stars, however, I am a sucker for ‘dieting lit’ kind of chick lit novels and I did manage to get through the entire book.

Overall, Big Girl by Danielle Steel turned out to be a mostly ‘OK’ read. I would recommend waiting for it to come out in paperback or getting it at your local library, however, as the hardcover edition is pretty pricey.

3 Stars
Reviewed by Rian Montgomery

Review: The Next Big Thing

If you enjoy books that feature bigger than average women, you will absolutely adore this book. Even if you tend to steer clear of such books, you will still love this novel. The main heroine isn’t annoying, cliche or whiny – she is strong, sarcastic and will grow on you throughout the book.

Meet Kat Larson – she is overweight, slugging away in a PR company, and has a British internet boyfriend. Unfortunately he thinks she is a size four because she doctored the picture she sent him in Photoshop. Sound familiar? She isn’t exactly unhappy, but she knows she needs to improve her life in a big way. When her British boyfriend begins making noises like he wants to meet, she knows something has to be done. (more…)

Review: I’m Not The New Me

Blogging and online diaries are a very popular thing these days. Nearly everyone has something to say. I’m Not the New Me by Wendy McClure is a memoir based on the online journal she kept to (sort-of) track her weight loss. This book chronicles how Wendy lost over 25 pounds mostly using the Weight Watchers system. She makes clear that she was adamantly against all the diet type things and advice that everyone always gave her. Through the course of the story, we learn how Wendy came about to deciding to lose weight and putting her website online; how she had a couple of serious relationships that fell apart; how she learned through friends that she wasn’t truly “ready” to lose all of her weight. And much more.

Laid out in short chapters that occasionally go from present to past tense, there are even some funny weight-watcher cards in the middle of the book that make fun of the horrible diet “dishes” that are supposed to be healthy.

For the most part this was a semi-enjoyable read. I didn’t laugh hysterically at anything in the novel as some other readers did; for some reason, a lot of the supposed humor fell flat. But the book had its funny moments. Wendy is an unusual character, and this book is well-written.

The main thing about this novel that I came away with, however, was that the main character seems to almost not have a likeable personality. I mean, she has a very dry sense of humor, but sometimes things she said that were supposed to be funny just weren’t. She comes off at times as though she is very bitter. There was one very disturbing chapter in the novel where Wendy gets upset that someone tells her she looks much nicer since she’d lost some weight. She ends up telling the person angrily that she lost it due to cancer. I think that was supposed to be funny (since she didn’t have cancer), but I just didn’t find it amusing in the least. As a matter of fact, I found it to be in very poor taste.

It is definitely possible that I just didn’t “get” the humor in this book, or the meaning of it either. Although I tried.

Overall, however, this is an interesting and amusing read that I recommend to anyone who has ever had to struggle with their weight.

3 Stars
Reviewed by Rian Montgomery

Review: Conversations With The Fat Girl

What happens when the childhood friend you grew up with moves on to seemingly greener pastures? This is the predicament our main character Maggie finds herself in when her best friend Olivia announces she is getting married and that Maggie is going to be the head bridesmaid.

Maggie and Olivia had both struggled with being overweight all through childhood, but Olivia had a successful gastric bypass surgery and is now nearing a size 2. Meanwhile Maggie is still the same. She is excited about being Olivia’s bridesmaid, but wonders why Olivia is settling for something less than what she deserves. Her new fiancé might be rich and extremely handsome, but he doesn’t seem very emotionally available. (more…)