Customer Reviews

The Fat Girl's Guide To Life

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a reader from Santiago, Chile. (Southamerica, for the ones who have a question mark on your faces :)
I've been reading the other reviews and my question is: Who on God's green earth would read this book because it's funny??? If you want a funny book, read a book with jokes, but this is most definitely NOT a book to laugh AT...there are some funny situations, but don't treat it like a "funny book". It shows disrespect to the author and to all people who see ourselves pictured in this book.
After making my point clear, I have to say it is a great book! I myself am going through a "discovering myself" jorney, and this book has helped me getting to the core of my behavior; I haven't even finished it, and I already find it inspiring, not to "stop taking care of myself" or to think that being overweight is healthy, but to learn to feel good with myself, just the way I am. For all you people who think this books aims to make people want to be fat & unhealthy, I tell you, it is actually ALL THE WAY AROUND. I am "overweight" or in Wendy's words, a "fat chick" and this book has nothing but help me love myself a little bit; I still want to lose some weight, but with my feet more "on the ground"...see the difference? And like someone said, discriminating people for being fat, is just another type of racism...which speaks REALLY badly about us, 21st century people...don't you think?
Wendy, whatever you write, I'll be happy to read it! thanks for being so courageous and brave, to show the world who you really are and how proud you are of it! Hope I can be like you someday!
And I whish everybody were like that...it would be a much nicer world. :)

Nicely Written.
Good humor.
A great joy to read for thin or fat.
Her mind is like going into my head. Back and forth.
One day it's ok, the next day, no.
Wendy is very real.

A joy!

Wendy Shanker defends and celebrates being fat - and fit - with such style and insight. Never flip or glib or emptily rah-rah, she backs up all of her assertions with thorough research and thoughtfully described personal experience. Also, she is funny. REALLY funny. While this book says everything that needs to be said about this country's evil diet industry and thin fetish, heck, I'd read anything Wendy Shanker writes.

I Sergio, the obsessed metal head am not only in love with heavy metal music, but also REAL beautiful women, and by that I mean Large beautiful women. I myself am not an overweight person, and if you think I'm biased, it's probably just due to the fact that I find large women to be gorgeous.
Wendy Shanker's first book is basically her opinions on fat women and how they're wrongfully percieved in America (and parts of the world) and the story of her full figured body's coming to be. It goes to point out and destroy the stupid stereoptypes usually depicted about big women in media and society; such as laziness, depression, poor health, and only good for a laugh. It also goes to point out lots of FALSE conclusions, such that thinness equates to health, and that 61% of all Americans are overwieght; where the term "overwieght" is so loose in fact that super big celebrities such as George Clooney, yes, George Clooney are considered "overweight." Also that the survey was taken by only an amount of 1,446 people in 1999 and that's where we get the 61% from, forgetting that the U.S. contains a population of over 200 million.
Wendy goes on to talk about other issues, such as clothing availability and accommadations for big people. Most importantly, that to be fat means poor health, gimme a break! If anything, being fat means being healthy, as long as the person doesnt wieght 300-400 lbs! She also tells of her time in a Duke wieght center where she spent literally thousands of dollars, underwent rigerous excersize conditions and starvation, only to come out with a net wieght loss of only 2 lbs. Also how big companies like Wieght Watchers and Atkins are in it for the business, as a whole w/ the rest of corporate America, are profiting off the self esteem of the American public. Wendy shows women how to be strong, and gives great ideas on how to stay healthy even while being fat; not to mention giving men a whole new perspective on big beautiful women. Basically, your target goal in excersize should be to KEEP healthy, yes KEEP; and your target should NOT be to get thin as so many women sadly believe, and as so many stupid ignorant (white) men sadly exploit.
The book is also very funny. Wendy is a feminist, but a fair feminist, not the "we should spell women w/ a Y instead of E" type. She pokes fun at herself and at times though she may seem to poke fun or speak badly of fat people, it's at face value she's doing it, but if you know how to read between lines (as she also gives a brief lesson on) you'll notice it's all tongue-in-cheek. She constantly refers to fat women as "fat chicks," further emphasizing the down to earth qualities w/in her. Any man who reads this will undoubtably fall in love with Wendy, as you truly feel like you get to know her and her stuggles, and I myself am surprised to learn that she is still single (and no, it's not b/c she's fat you moron).
To all those boneheaded ignorants out there (men in particular) who believe that beauty only comes in one size (you know who you are you wussie), obviously this book is your wake up call (if you'll actually be intelligent enough to read it, which you probably won't; so continue to drink your beer and be macho in front of your douche friends). Everywhere you look you see it (not to get off on a rant), but from reality TV where only pretty thin white people and the 1 token musclehead black guy are depicted, to shows like the Man Show (skeletons on trampolines!), to even tv commercials, never is a big REAL woman in sight. What are people so afraid of? Reality I guess. Do yourself a favor, making fun of fat women and men or simply being ignorant to their stories and stuggles is just the equivelant of being a racist in my opinion; by that I mean they are people different than you and you're percieving them unjustifyingly. This is sort of explained through something that Wendy calls "Thin Logic."
Aside from this being an incredible read (I literally could not put it down) as well as an important read, there were a couple of Wendy's opinions I didn't agree w/, such that a doctor should not directly blame a patient for their illness. Example: A person w/ cancer should be be blamed even though they're smoked all their lives. I can understand a doctor not being judgemental, but i sure am gonna be! Though being fat isn't in the same boat, as it isn't just eating habits that equate to it, other things such as genetics also play a part, as well as the fact that God created ALL shapes and sizes!
Anyways, the point is, buy this and read it. If you're fat, this book will undoubtably raise your self esteem, if you're thin, it'll raise your awareness. And Wendy if you're reading this, I just want to say Thank You, I wish the world had more people like you.

This book is outrageously funny and has great insights on the perils of being fat. Wendy's adventures at Duke, at Weight Watchers (although I've never been held up by robbers at a WW meeting), on meds are carbon copies of other dieters. I'm glad she threw off the shackles of dieting obsession. However, Wendy seems to flip-flop a bit on the issue of size acceptance. She sometimes seems to convey the message "I'm okay with being fat but I hope the magic pill comes along." Real size acceptance and being size positive means fighting for your right to exist no matter what size you are.

I thought this book was smart, funny and human. Its message is really one for every woman: Stop obsessing about what you think is wrong with your body and yourself and get smart and real about who you really are. Take care of yourself, but don't worry about fitting into everyone's idea of who you should be. Bravo Wendy Shanker! All women need and deserve to be proud of themselves and the media, politics and jerks who put people down should be torn down. Stick it to "The Man" and read this book!

I loved this book for all its wonderful stories and humor. However, I detected a message of "If you're fat, accept yourself and accept that you won't get exactly what you want." While that's true for everyone (fat, thin, old, young), I don't think that being fat and getting what you want are mutually exclusive. It might have been my mood as I was reading it and maybe I got it all wrong. It's a great read, though.

The reader from Miami, FL, did not read this book, or they would have known that Wendy is actually healthier than most people, she explains why. The author is not encouraging being unhealthy by any stretch, she is just saying that trying to be skinny is super overrated and there are other things to worry about and she's correct.
I can say all of this, while I have never been overweight I read this because I liked the title. It's not the funniest book in the world but Wendy has done her research and states some facts that were very insightful about W.W. and retailers, etc.
Great for any girl.

Of course Wendy Shanker is conflicted. Who wouldn't be with the constant barrage of anorexic models and actresses and the dearth of women in the public eye who are average-to-large? I found the book to be entertaining and realistic, but I wish Wendy would stop beating herself up. She's quite attractive.

I thought this book was quite good, but I also found, as did another reviewer, that there were conflicting messages at times. It was funny in parts, but if you're looking for "large" humor that will have you rolling on the floor, try The Big Girls' Guide to Life by Bunkie Lynn. Very funny!!!!!