Converstations with the Fat Girl

Title: Conversations with the Fat Girl: A Novel
Author: Liza Palmer
Publisher: 5Spot, 2005
ISBN: 0-446-69395-2
Pages: 319

Why I choose this particular book: I was cruising around online looking for a book (or five) to read and stumbled across this title. I thought it sounded interesting and requested it through my library's catalog and received it from inter-library loan.   

Started reading: June 22, 2012 at 3:52 PM

Finished reading: June 23, 2012 at 5:58 PM

I was taken in by the summary the publisher provided on the back of the book. It seemed like it would be a story about two old friends, one still overweight and one who'd had gastric-bypass surgery, and how their friendship has changed because of the surgery. Wow, I thought, this is right up my alley. I've gone through this exact thing. I'd had a best friend who'd gone through that surgery, left for college in another state, and somehow managed to change her entire personality. Even better, in the story the newly thin friend was getting married and the heavy friend was dealing with being a fat maid of honor. Well that also happened to me with the same friend. She'd gotten engaged in the one semester she managed to put in before coming back. Needless to say with her changed personality, the wedding caused a lot of friction. So, perfect, this story will be great because I've been there.


The summary was very misleading. This story was about a whiny, weak, shallow, insufferable girl who, in her late 20s, still hasn't grown up at all. Maggie has a Masters degree, has an amazing background in art restoration, glowing recommendation letters, but, because she's held back by her weight, she can't find it within herself to get a professional career. She chooses to work for minimum wage at a coffee house. Somehow this job manages to pay for all of her bills (including rent on a lovely cottage for herself and her pet dog) and still allows her to plan shopping trips to the mall and weekends away to Las Vegas (the book is set in Pasadena, CA). She watches all the thin people around her live their lives (there's only one other heavy person in the whole book, the other people in Maggie's life are all 'perfect') but Maggie can't live her life because she's heavy. She doesn't stick up for herself because she's heavy. She wears black sweaters during the summer in California because she's heavy. She can't find a guy because she's heavy. She can't do anything good in her life because... you guessed it, she's heavy. The first three-fourths of the book is an endless pity-fest for Maggie. She's not even that heavy! So far as I could ascertain she's maybe a size 16/18 or 14/16. That's not big. Christina Hendricks is a size 14.

I'm heavy myself and it has made me hesitant to put myself out there. I've been quiet and shy. I've worn dark baggy clothes in an attempt to blend in with the background. But I've never leaned so much on one single excuse not to do a thing with my life. I have a Masters degree, I have friends, I'm married, I have a decent job... I did all of this while being heavy. I have friends who are heavy - they lead normal lives as well. Shocking, I know. Yes, we have self-esteem issues and little insults our brains like to fire at us, but none of us is as spineless and socially-stunted as Maggie.

Moving on... Olivia, the friend who had the gastric-bypass surgery, is a total witch. She's manipulative and, at some points, outright cruel. Apparently she's been this way for some time but Maggie, sweet fat Maggie, just can't see it. Olivia has molded herself into a beautiful non-person. Her groom-to-be (a handsome, successful doctor with disturbingly smooth, small hands - the author loves to remark about his hands) is a shallow prick and knows nothing about Olivia's heavier past (regardless of the fact that a gastric-bypass and follow-up 'body-lift' surgeries would leave some substantial scars), nor do any of the new friends Olivia has made. He treats Olivia like an accessory and she's fine with it because she has her handsome dream guy. I wonder if this is how the author thinks thin people are? There are some great examples of shallow, skinny love in the book.

The rest of the supporting cast is... there. They don't really do anything but create drama for Maggie to react to or cause Maggie to think about how they perceive her 'Area' (kind of a gross euphemism Maggie uses for her apparently huge belly... and by huge I mean not really large at all but because everyone else in the book is 'perfect' any extra poundage is to be frowned upon and judged). The love interest, a busboy at the coffee shop where Maggie works, Domenic, is handsome and does some doll sculpting on the side in his family's doll shop. He sculpts the hands and feet. He's a wishy-washy sort of person who comes on to Maggie but then goes to a mutual friend's party with another girl but then goes out with Maggie but doesn't touch her at all. Besides a stiff-armed hug, a bit of hand holding, and some awkward standing within Maggie's personal bubble he doesn't touch her. Domenic finally manages to kiss her at the very end of the book (after she's lost weight and come into her own, of course).

At some point Maggie has an epiphany and decides to change her life. She goes on a real grown-up job interview (that her sister basically set up for her), she signs up for the gym (I understand about getting healthy but Maggie's in it for the cosmetics because, God knows, she can't start her new life while fat), and she grows a backbone of sorts (stands up for herself a little bit). Somehow Maggie manages to lose one whole size with a few workouts and almost no change in diet. If you weren't already clear that this was a work of fiction I hope that cements it for you.

The best part of the book is the ending. Maggie gets a bit of revenge on her ex-best friend then goes to the coffee shop get her man. Then the book ends. I believe that sums up the last three chapters or so.

I'm all for having a heavy heroine but I'd like one who loves herself, takes care of herself, and who has some confidence. I know it's fiction but I'd like some more realism.

Oh and a quick note to the author - a bridal shower is a party which is thrown for a bride wherein the guests 'shower' her with gifts so the soon-to-be Mr and Mrs can start their married lives with kitchen things and matching linens (or whatever the couple registers for). What Maggie plans is called a bachelorette party. A weekend away with the ladies in Vegas is a bachelorette party. Sorry, but that detail just bothered me.

Similar Reads:

I'm not going to list books that are similar because I didn't enjoy this book. I'm not unwilling to read another of the author's novels (she has a couple more) but not right away and definitely not if it has a similar premise.
  
Links to More Information:

Conversations with the Fat Girl
Liza Palmer

Discussion:

If you've read this book, what do you think of the story? What do you think about the overweight heroine chick-lit sub-genre? Do you have any books in that genre you'd like to recommend? Let me know in the comments!