Skinny by Diana Spechler
May 1st 2011 by Harper Perennial
Paperback, 368 Pages
Review Copy
After her father’s death, twenty-six-year-old Gray Lachmann finds herself compulsively eating. Desperate to stop bingeing, she abandons her life in New York City for a job at a southern weight-loss camp. There, caught among the warring egos of her devious co-counselor, Sheena; the self-aggrandizing camp director, Lewis; his attractive assistant, Bennett; and a throng of combative teenage campers, she is confronted by a captivating mystery: her teenage half-sister, Eden, whom Gray never knew existed. Now, while unraveling her father’s lies, Gray must tackle her own self-deceptions and take control of her body and her life.
Visceral, poignant, and often wickedly funny, Skinny illuminates a young woman’s struggle to make sense of the link between hunger and emotion, and to make peace with her demons, her body, and herself.
Review
I chose to review this novel due to the witty write-up on the back cover and the promise for wicked funny laughs. I wanted to read about this girl who was suffering from grief and eating her sorrow and see how she overcomes the claws of emotional eating. What I got though was a girl who ate like an out of control obese person for an entire year, yet only gained 15 pounds. I watched this girl go to fat camp with untrained professionals and overnight- trade binge eating for starving and casual sex. I wanted to see a woman address her issues and become stronger and better by the end, not a girl who throws all sensibilities out the window and completely fails at giving acne-faced overweight teens any true life skills. Cheating, shallow, skinny girls who complain about being fat, all the while having the best most casual sex ever with no strings attached while her long live-in boyfriend waits at home, giving all fat people the finger, don’t gain any points in the character department. Gray as the main character of this novel, invoked about as much emotion as the dull color itself and as I painfully read through her self-destructive behavior I learned about what she really thinks of fat people.
Do not say "America is flawed because women are expected to look like models." America is absolutely flawed, but only models are expected to look like models. Other women should simply avoid obesity to prevent diabetes, muscular problems, and congested arteries. And yes, women are expected to be attractive to men, but this is not an expectation to scorn. Please. You want to be attractive to men. You are not Camille Pagila. You are not Maya Angelou. You are not the kind of woman who roars......OKAY. There are men who like fat women. Fine. So? There are also men who like women to dress up as teddy bears....pg 84
Ok- now its rant time, because I haven't been this worked up about a novel since Peterfreund's Rampant had 16 year old girls running off to go clubbing with hot guys in a foreign country. I can’t really explain on how many levels this novel ticked me off, not only for Spechler's stereotype of obese people, her preachy you’re a huge disgusting fat slob hate letters to all fat women from a skinny girl, but the overall message of "skinny" being the only true happiness in life, the only true way to get a man to look at your body and say wow you're beautiful is to be a size 2. {WAY TO PROMOTE BULIMIA}When I first read that, I thought no I didn't just read that and I reread the letter like four times, maybe I jumped to conclusions here, but the vibe I got was there's no such thing as happiness, beauty or sex if your overweight...and that if a man loves you overweight then its a fetish? I would tell "Gray" to take that thought and shove it up her skinny ass.
If you were thin, you would make the same mistakes, you would have more room in your life, your personal space, in your clothing, to make mistakes. You probably wouldn't even call them mistakes. You would be having so much fun shrinking, and so much fun making the things you used to call mistakes. Mistakes are rationed. You use yours up on daily food choices, your daily commitment to a sedentary life. If you lived healthy, if your step had a spring to it, if you picked daintily at your fruit salad instead of scarfing five pastries for breakfast, you could do things like sleep with a man who was wrong for you just because you felt like it. You could walk around his room naked while he lounged in bed and watched you. You could pretend you had no idea he was watching until he said, "Your body is a work of art".......................pg 237
Hmmmm, so what are you saying in this letter Spechler Gray? That only thin, skinny women can hop into bed with the wrong man? Find happiness or have the love of a man? Are you saying that being thin is the only way to make the mistakes that fat people don't make because their big sweaty rolls don't get in the way? Are you saying women who need to lose weight can't love, think or be successful as well as a size 2 woman can? Don't get me wrong here readers, Im not condoning obesity, I think people should exercise and live in moderation of the foods they are eating, I think we should be sizes that reflect health, and focus on strength and enjoying life without self induced heart disease but the message in this book that being thin is the only beauty in a woman was a huge turn off for me and just ignorant. The average size of the American woman is 12-14, not 2-4. Unless you're under 18, haven't had children or work out 24/7 the possibility of maintaining a size 2 or 4 is pretty unrealistic.
My only conclusion after reading this novel is that the author truly detests or is extremely angry at fat people, she made things so personal in Gray's letters, that I felt as the reader it was coming from her and not the character. The letters (Gray's journal letter-entry's) explain that fat people are worthless, lazy, smelly, sweaty unlovable beasts who blame their genes and thyroid for all of their eating problems, even for fiction I was offended by such blatant stereotypes. Im sure the paid critics out there will "eat" this garbage up, saying things like, "Its so powerful and a true testament for the obese epidemic in America"....or...."I couldn't stop reading because it was so wicked funny".......or.... "Spechler has written a hilarious hands on approach to weight loss, casual sex and starvation, its what America needs".
Ive had three children and my own battles with weight loss and its a very emotional roller-coaster and its a ton of hard work to get that extra 20 or 30 pounds gone. Im not proud of the weight battle, Im just a girl who's gone through it and I know how heartbreaking it can be to gain weight and to become discouraged as you eat 1300 calories a day and work your bleep off for that 5 pounds. I think perhaps had Gray been an actual overweight person (not an unrealistic made-up fat person who doesn't exist...because no one could eat the way she did and only gain 15 pounds) I could have understood her anger against fat people, I think I could have sympathized with her drama, I could have seen trading one addiction for the other, but Im at a loss for what to think of this book, I cant come to a conclusion whether this was meant to encourage or make fun of, I guess only the reader can interpret what it means to them.
And please? Don't be proud of your fat. When you claim to be proud of something unseemly, the whole world knows that your lying. Your acting proud instead of ashamed because some fat woman with a national platform gave a fat-pride pep talk into a microphone. Do not say "Im so much happier since I stopped trying to be skinny". Do not say "Im enjoying life!" When you're really enjoying high calorie foods in appalling quantities............pg 83
I would never recommend this novel to anyone and I would suggest anyone who is dealing with weight issues to be weary of this novel. Its hurtful and presented with no tact. Prime example: here is one of Grays charming little letters.
Dear Fat People,
F*** You.
Dear Gray,
F*** You.
F*** You.
Rating
Skinny is recommended to adult readers (even with all the teen characters) and contains: Graphic and crass language, sexuality, eating disorders, cheating girlfriends, alcohol use, mild accident violence, death and family drama.
2/5- Contemporary Fiction
Thanks to Harper and TLC for review copy
WTH? Now I want to go on a rantpage.
ReplyDeleteSo a man's idea of art is a skinny girl's body. Okay.
Sounds like the author really dropped the ball on this one when it would have really explored some serious issues and emotional healing.
I won't be picking this one up. And as upsetting as it was to realize what this book is about, you still made me laugh with "Gray as the main character of this novel, invoked about as much emotion as the dull color itself."
Thanks, T!
Great honest review. Won't be reading it because I have a feeling it will just set me off.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Well, I have to say this review was very well done and I could definitely feel your passion in it. I have to agree with the points you made! I actually have read reviews that said this book was "eh" and some that loved it. I wonder if in those sections the author truly feels that way or is trying so hard to make the characters sound dislikable that they do that and it sounds like it's coming from them. I don't know but I could see where people would be offended by this.
ReplyDeleteOh by "this" I meant the book. (Just wanted to make sure I made that point, LOL)
ReplyDelete@missie- LOL I love your rants maybe you can do a flap-off about mean skinny people who tell fat people how gross they are and why said skinny person is such a douche-bag.....
ReplyDelete@jenny- yeah I was pretty worked up when I penned this review- I thought maybe I had a knee-jerk reaction but then went through and reread all the letters...yeah..still ticked about it.
@melissa- yes its a trigger book..sure to make people mad or shout right on!!
Great honest review, Tina. I can't read this book because I'd find it triggering due to my ED issues that have plagued my whole life, but it sounds like something that would make me a bit angry anyway.
ReplyDeleteLove the honest review. Definitely keeping this book off my list. It sounds like this book has no heart :(
ReplyDeleteO that would tick me off too! Thanks for your honest take.
ReplyDeleteWow, I can see that you and this book definitely did not get along. :)
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your honest opinion and am thankful that you agreed to be on the tour. I hope you can connect better with your next read than you did with this one (I can't imagine it being worse!).
@heather- LOL- yeah it hit on some sore spots, I have to give it to the author she can write very well and provoke thought...:)
ReplyDeleteps...loving the tour book Im doing now (promise not to tell)