Customer Reviews

Fat Girl

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

 

 

This is not the first autobiographical memoir written by Moore. -Never Eat Your Heart Out- was a mixture of personal history with food factoids. Except for a few pages on being a fat adult most of -Fat Girl- is about Moore's childhood. Low self esteem ruled her life because of her abusive mother and grandmother. Days that were suppose to be filled with laughter, friends and special moments, were filled with routine torments of pinching, hair pulling and name calling. All supposedly because she was her father's daughter. The only sense of well being young Julia experienced was when she ate.

It's important to note this book is titled 'Fat Girl' not 'Fat Girls'. This is the story of one fat girl and her struggle to find love and is not meant to be a representation of all fat girls. Although any abused child (fat or not) may find glimpses of their life within these pages. Moore insists, "All I will do here is tell my story."

Moore divulges the history of fat amongst the people in her family but mostly her and her father. Many pages are dedicated to her father's love of food and their struggle with "This will be the last. I'll eat no more," syndrome. It's obvious throughout that young Judith is searching for and aches for love. Which she never seems to find.

The first person account is depressing on so many levels. After the first chapter I debated about not reading any further. In fact, numerous times I thought about quitting. There is a lot of self loathing which becomes quickly unnerving. It's interesting, in a voyeuristic kind of way I guess.

Little Judith comes across as neurotic numerous times. When she lived with her grandmother she would sic the dog on the hens and watch them die with "disorienting pleasure". She also committed two break-and-enters by the time she was 12 for the sole purpose of walking around the homes to look through their personal items and most importantly to eat their food. One moment you're thinking she needs therapy and then the next you're reading about her mother screaming and beating her.

I'm sure some will be concerned with further stereotyping of all fat people: they stink, they sweat heavily, and they can't control their eating. More of a concern for me was the negativity around menstruation appearing at various points throughout.

There's been so much negativity about our periods for decades I'd hate for some girl to read this and think anything other than positive thoughts about her menstruation. It's important for readers to know some of the things Moore says may relate to all fat people and some of the things she says are just for her. We are not all the same regardless of how similar. The content is definitely for an adult mind.

-Fat Girl- almost seems incomplete. While Moore briefly mentions marriage and children there is a whole area of her life that seems ignored in this rather short 196 page, memoir. For what there is, it is effectively blunt in describing the suffering of a young fat girl and while the purpose was not meant to be an inspiration, she did survive and go on to have a productive life. But for such a depressing read whose sole purpose seems to be to shock, I'm not moved to recommend someone put out $25 for it. Try the library first or wait for paper back.

Review Originally posted at http://largeandlovely.bellaonline.com

I realy did try to enjoy this but in all honesty it was paragraph after paragraph of food she or others have eaten, would like to eat, think about eating, have seen others eat... There are very small bits of her history thrown in but not enough to hold my intrest.

I literally read this book in one sitting! It's sad and funny at the same time. I could relate to the author in some ways, not that I grew up fat but I grew up in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic father. There was alot of emotional and verbal abuse. I laughed my head off at the "Nazi in the barnyard" part! (I had a mother like that!) It's difficult not to feel sorry for the author, I hope that it was cathartic for her to write this book, and that now she is in a good place in her life. I wish her the best! She is very brave and blunt.
Her story is inspiring to those who grew up with similar circumstances and to those who didn't. At least she has taught me to accept who I am and be brave and true to myself.

This is one of those rare books to help you to understand what abuse can do to the inner workings of the mind. Judith moore shows strength and courage in writing about her life, her self inflicted pain, (just wanting someone to love her through thick and thin)and her fight to rise above it. Excellent book!

For those looking for similar reads, I want to point out-Nightmares Echo, Smashed and The Glass Castle

This book was popular a while back, and I read it then. Now, evidently more have discovered it. Why more is not made of family dysfuction/abuse and overweight children is beyond me. FAT GIRL is not the happy ending you might expect, but it will open your eyes to why you do the things you do regarding food and relationships. If you're interested in fiction dealing with dysfunctional famlies, I'd suggest the books "I Know This Much is True" and "Bark of the Dogwood," but if you want a great self-help one, try "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay.

Most importantly, how is this book about being overweight??? The first chapter or two speak about the issue and really only in a self-loathing way. There are no insights into how one becomes overweight, how one copes with it, or really even the experiences one has being a "fat person." Oh, and there are full half-pages written with superfluous adjectives describing varying foodstuffs.

The grammar in this is horrendous! There is no flow to carry the story through. Each page was like a new piece of text to chop through. This made it a frustrating read to follow and an unmotivated read since it couldn't keep up any suspense. The book was disjointed and was not supported with enough detail nor did it provoke curiosity.

The author tries to "shock" us with the opening line of chapter one. This may intrigue an adolescent (or *very* immature adult), but please, this is not enough to have us commit ourselves to the entire book. As per previous reviewer, no tied up ending. Not much of a surprise though given the disjointed text throughout.

Again, I will end by reiterating that this book, save maybe 5 pages (being generous), if NOT EVEN about being overweight!!

Didn't like this book. I didn't feel like the author was being realistic about the true biological reason for her obesity (i.e. EATING TOO MUCH)... although she did make a connection between self esteem and turning to food. I was yelling in my head at the author of this book the whole time and found it extremely frustrating to read.

Okay, so I received 'Fat Girl' as a Christmas gift- it was on my Amazon wish list even though I really didn't know all that much about it. I was surprised at the length of this book!

This, is a good book. Hence, I rated it four stars. It was well written, to-the-point. I found it impressive that the author was able to condense her whole childhood into roughly 190 pages and still give you detailed explanation of what she went through, why she is how she is, etc. I've read many memoirs that just seemed to drone on and on about pointless things. I'm glad this one didn't as it had the potential to. Really impressive. I couldn't say I ever laughed out loud because it was just too heart-breaking. The epilogue was one of the best ones I've read, and the ending left you with a feeling of solidarity. I would definitely recommend this to anyone. It may be a light book, but it's not a light read.

However, from the beginning where she was describing herself, I pictured a big, ugly monster. I couldn't go through the book with that as a visual, so I looked her up on the internet. When I saw her face, I was surprised. She wasn't even fat, nor was she ugly. Obviously that was a gross exaggeration, so I had to wonder what else in that book was exaggerated. But I highly doubt anything is.
Also, I DID NOT like the picture she painted of women. I was appalled by it and that made it lose a star in my book. I'm sorry, but everyone stinks. It's just a fact of life. Whenever a man was described that man would smell like pleasant things, but with a woman she smelled like 'private odor' or whatever she used to sugar-coat it. And the way she made menstruation look was appalling. 'A rock that bled on itself one a month'. Ugh.
Blatant misogyny.

This book starts off very funny, the love affair with food. Than it turns quite sad and cruel. How the world and family treats those of us who are fat, overweight or whatever you want to call us. I can relate to this book as I wrote it myself. Anyone who struggles with weight must read this book.

What is most impressive about "FAT GIRL" is that it takes strong stands. The author takes risks with confidence. As with other books in the same league of impact and merit ala "YOU REMIND ME OF ME," "THE GLASS CASTLE", "NIGHTMARES ECHO," "MY FRACTURED LIFE," or "NEVER LET ME GO," "FAT GIRL" is a book that will either amaze you or offend you. The author presents a finely crafted story it is. Judged on impact and merit, this is a story that is in the same league as "MY FRACTURED LIFE", "NIGHTMARES ECHO", "THE LOVELY BONES", "MIDDLESEX", and "RUNNING WITH SCISSORS."