"To whom the fat rolls…I'm tired of books where a self-loathing heroine is teased to the point where she starves herself skinny in hopes of a fabulous new life. And I hate the message that women can't possibly be happy until we all fit into our skinny jeans. I don't find these stories uplifting; they make me want to hug these women and take them out for fizzy champagne drinks and cheesecake and explain to them that until they figure out their insides, their outsides don't matter. Unfortunately, being overweight isn't simply a societal issue that can be fixed with a dose healthy of positive self-esteem. It’s a health matter, and here on the eve of my fortieth year, I've learned I have to make changes so I don't, you know, die. Because what good if finally being able to afford a pedicure if I lose a foot to adult onset diabetes?"
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Great book besides the personal infomercials
I really enjoyed the sarcasm and reality of this book. It was an easy and fun read. The only thing that annoyed me was the regular personal infomercials in the footnotes of the book telling you to go buy her other books or her friends' books. Also the Weight Watchers section also seemed very infomercially (did she really need to explain the entire program to us?). I'm not sure if I am taken enough by her to want to read her other books either. I dont regret reading it, but it was one I could live without too.
Rating: - Pages of Humor
The book is funny, reminiscent of Wendy McClure's I'm Not the New Me. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if they were written by the same person under a psuedonym (spell check?). But they're not...I've seen pictures. The ONLY thing that kept me from giving this book the full 5 stars is that the footnotes at the bottom of most pages are really distracting. The other thing that bugs me is that while the book was chock full of humor, there really wasn't a whole lot of insight (except when it came to Weight Watchers meetings). And I'm sorry, but I LIKE "where a self-loathing heroine is teased to the point where she starves herself skinny in hopes of a fabulous new life." That heroine is me...except I'm not skinny. And I don't think anyone would read my book. Such is life!
Rating: - Loved this one
Okay, so this book isn't an in your face weight loss tale, but I loved it! The humor was biting and irreverent and very funny. I think if a person didn't read through to the end they would miss the eureka moment. As a large woman who often reads weight loss memoirs for inspiration, this one spoke to me.
Rating: - Thank goodness for Jen Lancaster
This is not another one of those whiny memoirs where the woman goes on and on for pages about how much she hates her thighs and why it's all her mother's fault. Most books about being an overweight woman are told by a narrator who is probably about ten pounds overweight at the most and who proceeds to lose those ten pounds through some form of extreme dieting. As someone who has struggled, and is still struggling, with her weight I especially enjoyed the realism of Jen's story.
Jen Lancaster did not hate herself at her heaviest and the only pressure that she felt to lose weight is from wanting to be healthier, not "prettier." She sells a book deal that revolves around her attempt to get fit and writing about her experience along the way. As we follow Jen's daily life of attempting to cook healthier and going to the gym, we are treated to hilarious anecdotes and insights.
Instead of making me want to hurl Low Fat Fig Newtons at the writer's head like other books I've read, Such a Pretty Fat made me feel like Jen and I would be great friends. Going out with her would never be boring! She is the Everywoman that dieting books so desperately needed.
Rating: - Fat is the new Self Centered
Lancaster is an author who can deftly turn a keen eye on herself. Again and again and again. As her novels progress ( and her website ) the subject matter increasingly turns more to herself with a lack of observation of what is happening around her. She seems to be reverting to the self centered mind set she says she wallowed in prior to the set up for Bitter is the New Black. The journey she takes the reader through never really ends up anywhere other than the end of a before and after episode on the Tyra Banks Show. I was disappointed. Perhaps I'm just hungover from the last ten years of watching people so self absorbed they no longer see what is around them.
- Great book besides the personal infomercials
- Loved this one
- Fat is the new Self Centered
