Fat Chance

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't finish this book!
Review: This book was not what I expected. The story sounded great, but the author's style of writing was so horrible I could not stand to read past the 5th chapter. It was often hard to figure out which characters were speaking. The main character was believable for the first few chapters, but it made no sense for her to suddenly change so much as to start a diet over a movie star. And the use of CAPS got really annoying after about 3 pages. Don't waste your time.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Debut Novel!!!!
Review: This book wouldn't have ordinarily appealed to me, but a friend recommended it and so I took a chance. I'm very glad I did. The main character, Maggie O'Leary is an over weight columnist who gets her chance at "winning the man" and getting thin in the process. The writing was great, if the story lacked a bit in depth. But I think what kept me hooked was the age old "dieter's plight" that so many women (and men) can relate to. This is definitely a chick lit book, but one well worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Chic Lit Crapola-- Why Do I Keep Reading This Stuff?
Review: This is about the 3rd novel in the chic lit genre that I've read in recent years and each has been worse than the one before. I keep having this sense that there'll be one I'll really like. I sense that I'll enjoy relating to a woman like myself in a parallel version of reality, even if it doesn't match well with this one because even though the heroine works in publishing or some similar industry she can afford Manalo Blaniks (sp?) and such. But every time I'm disappointed at how not only unrealistic but also shallow these are. And they're not funny on top of that!

This one was the worst so far, as I mentioned. The hook from the book's jacket seemed to be that it was about an overweight heroine who is happy with herself nonetheless. But like so much of what's out there in women's culture, she only finds real happiness when she loses the weight.

I know chic lit is about fantasy and escapism, so I'm willing to give the absurd love affair with a movie star aspect of the plot a pass, but I really wished that I'd be impressed with our heroine's supposed wit and other lovable qualities. I never found her jokes or wise cracks funny. And I didn't find her smart or her columns (which appear as vignettes throughout the novel) insightful. In fact, if you haven't had your head buried in the sand for the last few decades, you already know everything about dieting that this so-called science writer reports.

I'm going to agree with another reviewer who said "don't bother." I'm sure there's good chic lit out there but this certainly isn't it.