Customer Reviews

Waking Beauty: A Novel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Allison Penny has spent most of her twenty two years on this earth a monster. She is overweight, obese, has greasy skin, limp hair and does not like trying on clothes in changing rooms. She is virtually ignored by her alcoholic mother, treated like a freak by almost everyone in her life and has never met her father. In short, Allison Penny is very tired of her less than average life.

However, one magical Saturday morning, Allison wakes up in the body of a Goddess. After fainting and getting over the initial shock, Allison is able to examine her wonderfully perfect body. And perfect it is: she has blond locks, large blue eyes, puffy, pouty lips and gorgeous white teeth. Her buttocks look wonderful, her breasts are perfect and she is a model of perfection. Out with the old Allison, in with the new.

Allison, shocked at her transformation, wonders if she uttered an incantation, took a potion, did something different. After racking her brain, she comes up with nothing but decides to enjoy life to the fullest now that she can get everything she has been denied.

She goes out into the world and is offered a modeling contract almost right away. She meets a man and has sex with him; she goes shopping and even tries on clothes in the store. She begins to realize that beauty is power and now she can get everything she wants. Things are not what they seem. Beautiful people have a set of problems all their own.

Trying to come to grips with her new looks, Allison is able to fool everyone into thinking that the old Allison had to leave suddenly. Now she is like a fly on the wall, listening to what everyone thought of fat, ugly Allison. Armed with her beauty, she is able to get access to a world from which she was previously shut out. She is one of the beautiful people now and things are going to change. Though, not necessarily for the better. Beautiful people have a whole other set of worries. It is not what is on the inside that counts, it's on the outside.

Allison is launched into a voyage of self discovery that shakes her to the very core. What she learns about herself will change her life forever...

Simply put, I loved this book. I loved every blessed moment. Friedman has created one of the most hilarious heroines since Bridget Jones. Allison Penny is darkly funny and her take on the world is real, candid and wonderfully truthful. "Waking Beauty" is also laugh out loud funny.

I loved the fairy tale aspect of this novel and the fact that it was made more real. There were no hours of midnight here, or princes. This is a tale of "What if..." What if you went to bed ugly and woke up beautiful? Everyone will identify with Allison and her feelings. We have all been ugly at one time in our lives.

I loved all the characters in this book. From Allison to her love interest Nathan, everyone was so well drawn. It was as if I knew Allison, or someone like her. The other characters were the same. There is someone for everyone in this book. What I love about Friedman's characters is that they are so real and so true to life.

Again, I can't stress it enough, I loved this book. If you have ever at one point felt ugly in your life, or beautiful, this is the book for you. Read it! You'll laugh your butt off and want to read it again.

Catchy title and premise. Colourful writing with funny moments. After the transformation is made, the book becomes somewhat of a fairy tale which made it hard to believe, at times. A fast read that is entertaining. Keen insights on human behaviour and interesting perspective on the relevance of "looks" in our society.

This is the story about an overweight, exceptionally homely woman who wakes up one morning with the body and face of a supermodel.

The story doesn't try to explain how this happened, and for me this wasn't a problem. Once you accept the premise, I felt the author did have some interesting things to say about Beauty, and how powerful a force it is in our culture.

I give this book 4 stars because I thought it was a quick, fun, entertaining read. It's not simply a Revenge book, although it's that. It's also a mirror on how our society works.

This book leaves too many questions to be answered. Why did she wake up "perfect"? Why didn't video boy want to be with her until she was beautiful? Why couldn't he see her for what she was? Why do we care? Allison is never likeable; the cast of characters is sad and one-dimensional; there is no real social commentary or insight in any of the poorly written chapters. I enjoy a fluffy fairy tail as much as the next chick but this one is a sad tail and not worthy of the 50-cent bin at Borders.

Even though I read this really quickly and I enjoyed reading it. Allison Penny doesn't seem like a real character to me. Yes, she made me laugh, and I could empathize with her feelings. However, her character did things that didn't seem believable for someone who has felt ugly her whole life. She wakes up beautiful and suddenly has confidence to spare? I think there would still be vestiges of her former hermit-like self there.

Granted this was a modern sort of fairytale but the characters were too caricature like. They didn't have much depth and their behaviors, except for Allison, were too predictable.

It is a quick, easy read but there is something missing.

Instead of a rags-to-riches Cinderella story in which a poor girl becomes a princess, Elyse Friedman gives us a beast-to-beauty story in which the altogether uncomely 22-year-old Allison Penny wakes up one morning to find she is suddenly beautiful - and instantly a whole new world of fortune, fame, and love is available to her. The story is complete with a wicked "stepmother" in her adoptive mother and "stepsister" in her roommate. As in some other stories with a similar premise, Allison's first reaction to her astonishing transformation is to take revenge against those who denied her love and friendship because of her previously unlovely appearance. But beyond that, does Allison eventually decide that it's what's inside that counts? What I like about this book is that it doesn't "grow" the character in that obvious direction. Elyse Friedman isn't trying to kid us that what's outside doesn't count...a lot. Allison learns something else. You may be more likely to enjoy this book if you consider yourself one of the beauty-challenged.

This book was awful. The plot, the characters, the writing ... the author was exceptionally lazy. I wasn't expecting Shakespeare, but this was one of the worst books I've read in a long time. The premise is intriguing, but the author completely avoids any and all opportunity to take the plot and the characters anywhere. I bought this book in an airport and had a hard time forcing myself to read it on the plane--SkyMall was more appealing!!!

this is a fiercely funny book. It's not silly or frivolous, but it is incredibly funny, sharp and has lots of great twists and turns. Nothing is as you expect in WAKING BEAUTY, but you'll enjoy every minute of reading it. I was actually disappointed when i finished it because I wanted it to be longer.

This book is infinitely better than your average chick lit. Elyse Friedman is one of the sharpest, funniest, most observant writers I've read in a long time. The story of her heroine, Allison, could just be turned into a fairytale or wish-fullfillment fantasy, but it winds up being an extremely funny and edgy romp, laced with a lot of black humor and razor-sharp observations about men, women and society. Some of the scenes with Allison's evil roommate, Virginie, or the smoothly handsome suitor George (a Prince Charming who turns out to have some weird sexual proclivities) are worth the price of the book alone.

This will definitely appeal to the Bridget Jones crowd, but it's Bridget Jones with a bite that Bridget never had, and it's far sexier and funnier. This is one of those rare novels that's really worth your money. Read it and enjoy.

I enjoyed this book (except for a few of the sex words--but I think that's because I'm in my 40's). As an overweight woman, I could really relate to some of the painful experiences Allison had. I would have liked to know the secret behind the change in her appearance but there's probably nothing that would have made any sense, so you just suspend disbelief. No matter how often we hear that it's inside beauty that counts, we all know that's never enough. But if Allison had not been a bright, funny, and good person, she would not have found happiness either.