Customer Reviews

Conversations with the Fat Girl

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I want to have coffee with this, Liza Palmer, because she wrote my life story. I want to know how she knew me before I had ever even heard of her.

This book was incredible, not just because of the subject, but how she writes. It was a conversation (thus the title), you followed every train of thought that "Maggie" had, and Palmer did not skip one detail. I was floored reading this and how accurate it was FOR ME as a person. Shopping in the notorious "women's section" is hard enough, especially when you think you are going through all of these emotions by yourself. How she handles herself was so truthful. I believe that this book has and will continue to break down barriers that overweight individuals set up for themselves.

It all starts with a note from Maggie's landlord, announcing that Maggie's little home is about to be bulldozed-and she has 48 hours to move out. The timing couldn't be worse for Maggie, who's preparing to be the maid of honor when her best friend, Olivia, marries a handsome surgeon in a matter of weeks. But the note somehow sparks a chain reaction in Maggie's life.

With her move to her cute new cottage, Maggie begins to face the changes and take charge of her life. That means calling about that internship at the museum and finally doing something about her crush on Domenic, the dishwasher at the café. It also means facing the fact that, Olivia, her Best Friend Forever might not be the best of friends anymore.

Conversations with the Fat Girl is one of those books that you won't want to put down. Palmer's style is relaxed and easy-going-just like a chat with a good friend. Her voice is witty and honest-and, at times, cynical and just plain sad. Maggie is such a loveable and realistic character that you'll instantly get caught up in her story-and you'll be able to relate, no matter what your size. You'll laugh with her, you'll commiserate with her, and you'll cheer her on from the first page to the last. The story may not be entirely original or unpredictable, but it's so truthful and well-written that none of that matters. It's a powerful novel that will make you laugh while challenging you to take a look at your own life, too. It'll inspire you and entertain you.

Maggie is wonderful - and I have to believe that every chubby girl out there has the same sort of internal dialogue with herself, and I think most overweight girls, have had a skinny friend ( whether or not said friend was fat is a different matter - mine was.) who builds herself by making her chubby friend feel bad.

I disagree with the reviews that say that Maggie's last act with Olivia was vindictive -- and that she should have taken the high road... My first question is WHY should she do that... Olivia was pretty abusive from page one, and why should her behavior go unchecked. People treat you the way you teach them to treat you. It is often said that there are no victims - only volunteers in these situations, and I do not see Maggie's act as vindictive ... I see it first as empowering to herself - and I think she did it not out of a spirit of revenge - but to remind Olivia not only of who she was - not in a physical sense, but in a physical sense. Maggie was reminding her that there was a time when they were really friends - and they really loved each other.

I think that while there is a love interest in this book, it really is a love story between friends - and what it is like to lose that. I also think it is a book about empowerment, and how Maggie took back her life - and discovered it was worth living

Overall I did enjoy the book and if you like chick-lit I would recommend it as a pretty good read.

However, I had some issues with the book that combined with the lack of a real ending made it somewhat disappointing.

First of all, the book strayed far from the premise of Maggie being by her formerly-large-and-now-size-2 friend Olivia's side, and rather went on in an almost droning way about a crush she had on a guy that was turning in to something. One minute she was upset that it wasn't moving quickly enough, the next minute she wasn't sure if she could see him as a real man anyway.

Also regarding her life in general, you just don't rent even a studio apartment let alone a house (even a small one) in southern California making minimum wage. I know it's just a book, and fiction, but that is a really big part of her life -- being single and on her own and working at the coffee house instead of using her master's and the issues she had with that as she went thru a period of self discovery -- and it is not even humanly possible to live like that out there. Her parents were not helping her, either, as I told myself may be the case, and we find out toward the end.

Also, a maid of honor sits at the head table, not at a far-away table while someone else sits at the head table in her place. Period. I can't believe she would not confront her friend about the whole Table 9 thing. I understand that the slide show was supposed to be the "revenge", and that was clever, but by that point she should have not even showed up, because she wasn't the maid of honor, even though her friend might not have come out and said it. We never find out why her friend begged her up until the end to stay by her, yet chose to not have her sit at the head table. I thought by that point in the book she'd be smart enough, after having gone thru her self-discovery, to realize that no, she was not the maid of honor, and it was pretty obvious that Olivia had not been her "best friend" in a very long time. (They don't even live in the same city anymore, so what's the big loss, she had other friends and a great family.)

There is no proper ending! When I realized I had read the last actual page, I felt like I had hit a brick wall. There needed to be another chapter re: Table 9 and the aftermath, and a bit more wrapping up of the now-defunct (I guess??) friendship between Maggie and Olivia, as that was supposed to be the premise of the book in the first place.

I picked up this advance copy at the Book Expo in NYC. The cover caught my eye right away. I picked up it thinking it would be some Bridget Jones knock off - but was blown away with it's humor, the depth of it's characters and how universal the story was. Everyone has that 'fat' quality that we wish we could change - hair too curly, too short, funny looking nose - and if we changed this *one* thing our life would be perfect. This book tells a story of loving yourself exactly as you are and letting other people in... Can't wait for the next book!

As a slightly plump(maybe more than slight) I loved the book! It was so great to have a heroine though unhappy with her weight was not a size 2 who just thought about belts all the time!

Liza Palmer has definitely proven herself to be an Author to watch. In this, her first book, she has an amazing ability to invite the reader into her life. She shares her perspective in such a way that you feel as though you are her friend, confidante and partner in crime. You are with her as she experiences love, loss and personal growth, all the while dealing with the stigma of being the "Fat Girl". When you read this book, you will not only see yourself, but your friends...and you will definitely wish that Liza Palmer is one of them.

This could have been a GREAT book. Intelligent and incisive chick-lit is pretty hard to come by so I was looking forward to reading this. The premise is enticing - two girls, best friends at school, one morbidly obese (Olivia,) the other merely overweight (Maggie), both outcast. Fast forward several years and Maggie's working in a coffee shop, stuck with the weight and wasting her Master's degree. Olivia, meanwhile, has had gastric bypass surgery and has consequently transformed from Bessie Bunter to Barbie. As the weight falls away her life takes a dramatic swing to the right - she gets a great job, acquires a clique of fashionable new friends and manages to pull The Perfect Man to boot. These improvements, of course, are entirely surface. And the surface, as her old comrade Maggie slowly comes to realise, is the only thing Olivia really cares about.

I commend the book's admission that yes, fat girls CAN be shallow. Olivia is shallow - has ALWAYS been shallow in fact, even when she was surrounded by mountains of flesh. She spent her childhood playing with Barbie and cherishing a cookie-cutter life consisting entirely of surfaces. There is nothing funky or individualistic or introspective about her. She has never developed her soul.

Of course, there an underlying message here - of individuals feeling compelled to 'fit in' because they are more likely to get what they want - or what they THINK they want - that way. And sadly, it is true; society by and large DOES reward surfaces rather than depths.

Elements of the plot are, however, shoddily thought-out. Surely Adam, being a doctor, would be able to tell that Olivia has had gastric bypass surgery? The patient must undergo extensive skin-tucking/reconstructive surgery in the aftermath, leaving considerable telltale scars. Maybe Adam would have been better written as Professor Henry Higgins to Olivia's Eliza Dolittle - as a surgeon who claimed her as his very own guinea pig/ego trip, re-modelling her to his specifications and in the process attempting to control every aspect of her life. This certainly goes on within the cosmetic surgery industry and would have papered over the plot holes more effectively.

I'm also not crazy about Maggie's constant mooning over Domenic. Sure, a little romance spices things up but it shouldn't necessarily feel like the whole POINT of a book - especially not a potentially IMPORTANT book like this one. I've read dozens of books that purpot to be about the heroine "finding" herself but are really all about GETTING THE MAN, and frankly, it's boring. Implication - you can lose some weight, you can get a great internship, you can find the house of your dreams, you can let go of the dead wood in your life and find new friends who ARE friends, but it all pales into insignificance unless that cute guy you've had a crush on for ages reciprocates your feelings. Bleh.

That said, Liza Palmer's writing is nothing short of enchanting. Maggie jumps off the page and lodges in your mind and won't let go. You KNOW her. Her turns of phrase, her observations about herself are your own. Olivia and her witchy "new best friend" Gwen are as appalling as Palmer intended them to be.

The plot holes and the overriding emphasis on the romance between Maggie and Domenic have caused me to subtract one star, but apart from that, an impressive debut from Liza Palmer.

Let me start by saying that I was really looking forward to this book. The reviews were pretty terrific in general. I thought it was time for someone to write a story with a plus-sized woman as the central character shown in a positive light. However, up until chapter 24 I was still wondering how I was going to finish this torture without setting it ablaze in sheer frustration. Once again we have a story where the author continues the stereotype of fat people having NO self esteem, neurotic self-talk and desolate love lives. Happiness, strength and self esteem only seem to kick in after a gym membership success story and weight loss. Give me a break...by the time Maggie's life starts to turn around, I already hate her. Her chronic insecurities, emotional weakness and incessant whining didn't end for over 200 pages!!! At this point, I was hoping for a nasty accident and was relieved when it was over. Why can't someone write a story that involves a strong plus-sized character with a healthy self esteem and a positive love life. Ms. Palmer has missed on this one. I'm just sorry the library didn't have this book and that I actually had to pay for it. Ms. Palmer has a decent sense of humor and there were a few lines where I smiled, but most of all I was just plain disappointed.

This is the first book written by Liza Palmer and I hope it isn't her last. I loved this story about Maggie, an overweight 27 year old who works in a coffee shop not living her dream life. I found myself rooting for her the whole way through the book. She seems so unhappy because of her weight and I was hoping she'd realize that an overweight woman can be beautiful. I loved the ending too. It was perfect.