Fat Gone

Comment from Gretchen Laskas
Time May 8, 2008 at 12:28 pm

Rating

Both of Jen Lancaster’s previous memoirs have been enjoyable and compulsive reading, but this one has a charm all its own. Perhaps its the ever appealing (if sometimes appalling) subject of growing up (and not out) that made this book endearing, or perhaps its the wit and winsome way the tale is told. Perhaps it is simply all the references to cheese! Lancaster’s tale offers readers a glimpse of womanhood and its possiblities at 40, and unapologetically tells them to embrace it.

Comment from K. Huff
Time May 12, 2008 at 12:39 am

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Such a Pretty Fat is Jen Lancaster’s third memoir. In it, Lancaster takes on weight loss–through eating right and exercising. At first, it seems like your typical weight loss memoir, except for the fact that its Jen Lancaster writing it, with her trademark good humor and see-the-forest-through-the-trees approach to her subject matter. Jen’s not an expert, but she definitely knows how to entertain, which is why I keep coming back to her work time and time again.

What I love about Lancaster’s work is that she knows when to laugh at herself, and at others’ foolishness, without going over the top. For example, there’s brilliant scene in Such a Pretty Fat where she goes to Jenny Craig and then Weight Watchers, where the meeting participants discuss of the evils of food in the work place. Birthday cake is always, always mentioned, and Jen harps on that theme mercilessly.

In all, I thought the authors’ message was a positive one for people struggling with their weight (though I’m not one of them). The message that some weight loss programs endorse is that food is evil; but Lancaster challenges that theory outright, saying that food is not, in fact, the enemy; food is in fact good for you if you eat right. Jen’s weight loss resulted as a result of wanting to feel and look good, not because of outside pressures, which I also thought was an important message.

Comment from Allison Thomas
Time May 18, 2008 at 1:51 am

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Loved her first two memoirs and this one does not disappoint. It’s brutally honest, hilarious AND inspirational, whether Jen planned for it to be or not. I already want to read it again and can’t wait for her next project. Until then, I’ll be loitering around at jennsylvania.com.

Comment from Melissa Niksic
Time May 20, 2008 at 5:41 am

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Jen Lancaster just may be the funniest writer ever! I’ve read all three of her books, and each of them made me laugh so hard that I nearly wet myself. (I guess you really didn’t need to know that, did you? Too late.)

In Jen’s most recent memoir, “Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist’s Quest To Discover if Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, Or Why Pie is Not The Answer” (love those ridiculously long titles!), Jen tackles her biggest challenge yet: her weight. Screw unemployment and psychotic Chicago neighbors: Nothing is scarier for a woman then stepping on the bathroom scale. In Jen’s case, she wasn’t happy with the numbers she saw on that scale, so she decided to do something about it. Well, actually, she sold a book proposal about trying to lose weight, so she kind of HAD to do something about it. But that’s not the point. Jen never used to be the type of woman who would go to the gym every day (or at all). However, she decided to face her fears and give her physical well-being the same kind of attention she devoted to other important aspects of her life: her husband, her pets, her drinking, her shoe fetish, etc.

“Such a Pretty Fat” is a very honest look at what it took for Jen to get herself in shape. Nobody said it was going to be easy. She stumbled plenty of times along the way and gave nearly every diet plan a try, from Atkins to crash dieting to Jenny Craig to Weight Watchers. In the end, Jen finally realized that most diets are B.S. The key to losing weight and being healthy is to make responsible choices and (duh!) exercise. And that’s exactly what Jen did.

I think “Such a Pretty Fat” is Jen’s best book to date. (My only complaint is that certain chapters gave me monstrous cravings for things like ribs, Twinkies, and Olive Garden bread sticks…damn you, Jen!) Not only is the book chock full of Jen’s snarky humor (and the footnotes…I LOVE the footnotes!), but it’s also an inspiring true story about a plus-size woman’s determination to lose weight. I really admire Jen for her honesty, her dedication, and her results. In addition to losing a lot of weight, she became a fitter person and felt much better about herself, which is really what being healthy is all about.

Comment from J. Graves-Toliver
Time May 21, 2008 at 5:44 am

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This book is nearly as terrific as all her others. I adore Jen Lancaster and her sense of style, this helped us know how human her experience is too. Weight loss is such an American issue and as females we can become so hung up on the unimportant. She makes the unimportant laughable.

Comment from MKG
Time May 22, 2008 at 12:29 am

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Wonderful tale of the truth….completely spot on for any women who has ever been on a diet!

Comment from M. Morgan
Time August 25, 2008 at 1:01 am

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Okay, people, if you didn’t like Jen’s previous books, why did you read this one and complain about it? Come on, you’re wasting our time here. There aren’t that many really funny women writers out there–and only another woman understands our problems–so don’t be putting Jen down. I have to buy her books because every once in awhile I need reinforcement and running to the library to find one of hers doesn’t work well since they’re always in circulation. If you don’t agree 100% with Jen’s views, then tell me, how many of your friends and/or relatives DO you always agree with, including your husband and/or significant other? She’s still the best thing this side of Vegas, and furthermore, laughing beats grousing any day, and is better for your heart.

Comment from Anastasia Beaverhousen
Time September 1, 2008 at 4:56 am

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For those who haven’t ever read Jen Lancaster: #1–Stop waiting and buy one (actually you should probably buy all three) now. #2–Prepare to laugh your head off as Jen artfully and wittily recounts the events of her life. You will laugh, guffaw, nearly cry, and completely identify with her triumphs and tribulations portrayed in her charming, authentic voice.

This is Lancaster’s third memoir, and it is by far her best work to date. She is clearly a writer who crafts her work in the same manner she lives her life: on her own terms, and in her own style. Don’t make the mistake of lumping Lancaster into some nondescript category such as “chick lit”–while this writer has a gift for detailing moments with sidesplitting humor, she is also able to touch readers’ hearts with her self-effacing candor and genuine voice. Entertainment with actual substance–Jen Lancaster crafts some of the best reading material out there.

Comment from Michele Cozzens
Time September 4, 2008 at 10:16 pm

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Think about it. You are the writer. The subject is you. The story is of your experiences based on the ideas generated by you. You have to spend a lot of time with yourself and like yourself enough to put it out there for the world to judge. And they DO judge!

This first person account starts out with the in-your-face notion that she’s a fat beyotch, a hearty eater (bring on the butter) and a mean girl to boot. Look out soccer moms and Stepford wives, this is the polar opposite of . . . you.

Between “magically porktastic!” bites of food, Jen decides to try to lose 50 pounds, believing she’ll be rewarded with facials and trips to Vegas or Italy to mark her progress. Regardless of her quest, her personality or yes, her narcissism, Jen Lancaster can WRITE. I went through so many pages before I realized I was almost completely finished with the book. It’s a writing style I enjoy and admire, as it’s conversational, FUNNY, and she doesn’t hold back. She makes you feel like you’re right in the room with her. Even though I can’t say we have a whole lot in common, (I DO, however, like the shows on Bravo), more than anything else, I love a self-actualized, brave woman who writes well and entertains me with a good book.

Time to order the rest of her books and continue laughing in this woman’s world.

Michele Cozzens is the author of It’s Not Your Mother’s Bridge Club

Comment from Graceann Macleod
Time July 16, 2009 at 5:09 pm

Rating

Jen Lancaster is not for everyone. She has a take-no-prisoners attitude and she loves her life and herself. She makes no apologies and is never a shrinking violet. Some people are uncomfortable with this, which actually amuses me almost as much as her hilarious prose. She’s also not popular with those who dislike footnotes. She says what many of us (if we’re honest) are thinking, and she says it in a way so amusing that I was not able to read this book on the bus for fear of annoying the other passengers.

In this memoir (for those who are complaining that she’s writing all about herself, a “memoir” is when you do that), she finds that, although she is happy with her life and her body, she needs to lose weight or else she’ll face a number of health problems. Simple equation and common sense, right? If the sense were that common, people would be a lot tinier. I loved that this book wasn’t another tome filled with self-loathing, and even more than that, I loved that Jen shows us how the diet industry is just that. These companies are not in business for us to succeed – if we lose the weight and keep it off, we won’t spend money with them any more, will we? Thus there are hard-sell techniques aplenty and a deliberate withholding of useful information.

She points out what we all know, but rarely put into practice; the key to getting fit is eating less and moving more. She is well aware that living in the real world means being surrounded by delicious temptation, and her journey requires her to learn how to make sensible choices and, in her own words, “grow the Hell up.”

I don’t know that Jen Lancaster and I would be friends in real life. I’m just as snarky, but a lot more quiet about it, and some minor episodes in her memoir indicate to me that she and I would disagree on some key issues. She is, however, a writer that I find refreshingly funny and honest, and I can’t wait to read the rest of her books. She lives in the real world. It’s a more interesting place to me because of her.