Fat Chance (Red Dress Ink) [Hardcover]

Deborah Blumenthal (Author)

Book Description

Series: Red Dress Ink | Publication Date: March 1, 2004

As Americans throw themselves body, soul and pocketbook into the latest weight-loss craze, Maggie O'Leary's informed column about the pitfalls of dieting is the one sane voice crying out against the dietocracy. Plus-size Maggie, also known as America's Anti-Diet Sweetheart, is perfectly happy with who she is and the life she leads. Until she gets a call from Hollywood's most enticing bachelor, Mike Taylor.

At first, Maggie thinks the call is one big joke put on by a particularly obnoxious colleague. But when Maggie learns that Taylor is the real enchilada and that he truly does need her to come out to Hollywood to help him on an upcoming film about a diet doctor, she's in a pickle. Maggie can't possibly turn down this opportunity of a lifetime, but she can't exactly go to Hollywood looking like . . .well, herself.

Swearing her trusted assistant to silence, Maggie embarks on a "secret" makeover. From showdowns with her boss, who suspects his star columnist is losing her edge -- er, girth -- and send her Italian pastries to sabotage her efforts, to run-ins with her closest male friend, from walking through the famed red door of beauty to winding up on the wrong side of a positively lethal elliptical trainer, the newly svelte Maggie finds herself navigating a new course. Full of doubts about abandoning the comfortable life she's known --- not to mention deceiving legions of loyal readers who still think of her as their champion -- L.A.-bound Maggie is hell-bent on living out her most tantalizing fantasies!

Bursting with wit, insight and heart, Deborah Blumenthal's delicious debut novel reaches beyond the story of Maggie O'Leary to every woman who has tried to find fulfillment. Fat Chance is a lusciously guilt-free pleasure that is good to the last page!

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Maggie O'Leary is the champion of the overweight. A columnist at a New York newspaper, she writes "Fat Chance," in which she discusses the real obstacles facing overweight people, debunks myths about the obese, and tries to bolster her readers' confidence. Maggie is secure with her own shapely figure until she receives a call from Hollywood actor Mike Taylor. Mike is going to play a diet doctor in an upcoming film, and he wants Maggie to be his consultant. Maggie is reluctant--how can she go to Hollywood, where everyone is skinny and perfect and she's not? So she decides to secretly go on a diet. But she isn't going to be able to hide from her colleagues forever, and when word gets out to her readers, she has to find a way to balance her new look with her old philosophies. Light as a cupcake and as fun to devour, Blumenthal's debut novel (and Red Dress Ink's second hardcover) will likely find many fans. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Fat Chance is a modern Cinderella story . . .and great fun!" -- New York Times bestselling author Susan Isaacs, author of Long Time No See

"Fat Chance is as much sparkling, laid-back fun as good champagne sipped from a bottle!" -- Wendy Markham, author of Slightly Settled

Named a top chick-lit pick by PEOPLE, FAT CHANCE proves "you can get a man and eat your cake too." -- PEOPLE Magazine 3/29/04

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Red Dress Ink; 1 edition (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373250509
• ISBN-13: 978-0373250509
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,269,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Deborah Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and nutritionist who now divides her time between writing children's books and adult novels. She has been a regular contributor to The New York Times (including four years as the Sunday New York Times Magazine beauty columnist), and a home design columnist for Long Island Newsday. Her health, fitness, beauty, travel, and feature stories have appeared widely in many other newspapers and national magazines including New York's Daily News, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Woman's Day, Family Circle, Self, and Vogue.

Her latest YA novel, THE LIFEGUARD, will be published by Albert Whitman & Co, in March of 2012.

Blumenthal lives in New York City.

visit her on the web at:
www.deborahblumenthal.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Jemima J's American cousin?, February 23, 2004

By 

curvynovelsdotinfo "[e-mail]" (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fat Chance (Red Dress Ink) (Hardcover)

Heroine: plump/average

A size activist is unshakeable in her convictions, right? That's what "Fat Chance" columnist Maggie O'Leary thought as she championed well-padded people everywhere, answering their heartbreaking letters with all the compassion she could muster.  But that was before Hollywood snatched her up and turned her inside out and upside down.

When Maggie receives a phone call from heart throb Mike Taylor she's ready to dismiss it as a prank played by one of her coworkers. But she learns that it's the real deal and her once lonely, now star struck heart leads her to accept a job as Mike's technical advisor, who is in charge of giving him the lowdown on food issues and eating disorders for his role as a diet doc.

Maggie has just two months before she gets to play tutor to the hunk and is frantic at the thought of meeting him as her frumpy self. A little exercising here, eating carefully there, highlights, chin suctioning. It's no big deal, she's just improving on who she is, right?

Once in California, Maggie's head is caught up in the whirlwind of the Tinsel town high life and her heart is becoming more and more lost to the amiable Taylor by the minute. But her readers can feel a difference in her columns, which increasingly focus on how to eat and exercise sensibly, and Maggie finally has to face reality when paparazzi pictures of her posing with the silver screen stud completely blow her cover. The queen of queen-sized now barely rates as the princess of plump.

So Maggie is in a quandary. What does she want? Life in a thinner body with Michael Taylor in Hollywood? To be large and living in New York near her aging mother? And while she's agonizing over her decision, will she manage to hang on to her column--and her sanity?

What worked for me:

"Fat Chance" has some very clever lines in it. Great humor writing always gets a point from me.

There were some terrific factoids in this book, some reassuring some not so reassuring.

Maggie's emotional journey throughout the book really struck a chord with me, as I expect it will with dieters the world over.

Size-wise Maggie starts out fairly abundant but whittles herself down to a plush average. Her assistant Tamara is a confirmed yo-yo dieter. And the Metro editor, Tex, is a delicious BHM (big handsome man).

What didn't work for me:

I just can't make up my mind if I like the writing style and the structure of this book or not. The present tense first person point of view broken up by newspaper articles and interviews was very interesting to say the least. A new spin on Bridget's diary entries in a way. But let's face it, combining a how-to-be-healthy-while-large manual with fiction so that they balance correctly is a monumental task, and not all readers will find the proportions the author chose was right for them. Some may want more story and less number crunching and healthy eating and weight loss tips, and others vice versa.

Overall:
             "Fat Chance" certainly deserves a chance if you enjoy chick lit, but if you can't stomach the idea of watching the heroine go on a diet you may want to give it a pass.

Warning: there are some coarse words, weight loss, and brief discussions of eating disorders.

If you liked "Fat Chance" you might also enjoy "The Way It Is", "The Fat Friend", "All of Me", "The High Price of a Good Man", "Good in Bed", "Jemima J.", "Sisterhood Situation", "Etta Mae's Little Theory", or the "Odelia Grey" series.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Why can't they ever end up fat and happy?, July 29, 2005

By 

Sunny Dae (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fat Chance (Red Dress Ink Novels) (Paperback)

I really wanted to like this book. I read the first few pages at the bookstore and thought, finally! A heroine who is overweight and, if not deliriously happy about it, accepts this about herself. While the back cover blurb did promise that Maggie would lose sight of what was truly important when given the opportunity to meet her celebrity crush, I could certainly understand that... EVERYONE has fallen into the trap of wanting to look like society's idea of the perfect woman at one time or another, haven't we? Besides, it wouldn't be much of a story if Maggie simply went about her life perfectly content to be wearing plus sizes.

What disappointed me was not only the unrealistic weight loss (30 pounds in 5 weeks?) or the unbelievable transformation Maggie underwent (30 pounds and she's suddenly edging out a supermodel for a movie star's attention), but Maggie's complete reversal from fat acceptance advocate, assuring women everywhere that it's okay to eat what your body craves and the heck with anyone who tries to force a diet on you, to diet guru, piously spouting the same tired "hints" that the "experts" have been plugging for decades. Some of Maggie's tips: cut the hot dog in half and fill the rest of the bun with sauerkraut! (Mmm, yummy!) Eat a whole orange instead of a glass of orange juice! Starve yourself for two days anytime the needle on the scale inches a little to the right! The self proclaimed food lover even sits in a gourmet restaurant, reads the dessert menu, and puts it down again. But no, these aren't diet tips, just lifestyle changes. WHATEVER.

Then there was Tex - the best male buddy who supposedly loved Maggie just as she was all along. Oh, really? Then why didn't he profess his love BEFORE she became svelte and gorgeous? Oh, that's right, he was dating Sharon then - the girl that a co-worker refers to as "Legs". Not hard to guess what kind of figure Sharon had, eh? I did giggle at the scene where Maggie and Tex had breakfast after their first night together - Maggie melting butter and scrambling eggs, then going out to buy a loaf of crusty Italian bread ("for him"). At that rate, it's not going to take long for those 30 pounds to go back on, sweetheart. Will you still love yourself then? Will Tex?

I didn't think another book could ever infuriate me as much as "Jemima J" did. Sadly, I was mistaken.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Looking for a likable character? Save your money., May 25, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fat Chance (Red Dress Ink) (Hardcover)

I don't like to write customer reviews that trash an author's hard work. Hopefully, the author of this book won't see this review.

I love to read a variety of genres, especially chick lit for an escape. This book, however, was nearly unreadable for me.

I was disappointed from the start. I found the main character, Maggie O'Leary, to be unlikable. She just seemed abrasive, bitter, and full of herself. There just wasn't anything to like about her. When Maggie talks about herself, she describes herself as insecure because of her weight, but nothing in her personality seems to confirm that. Once I start a book, I like to finish it so I kept going assuming that this might just be a book that takes awhile to get into.

About 60 pages in, when Maggie starts her weight loss plan, I nearly started to enjoy the book. This was shortlived, however. After about five more pages the book got worse. I know you're supposed to suspend disbelief when reading fiction, especially chick lit, but this was ridiculous. I'm supposed to believe that Maggie went on a crash diet and lost enough weight in five weeks to go from the obese champion of fat people everywhere to model thin?

She heads out to Hollywood to help a Ben Affleck-esque movie star understand the mind of an overweight person for an upcoming film role. Everyone she comes across in Hollywood is stunned to find that the "fat columnist" is actually THIN. Yes, thin. Not average, but Hollywood thin. Come on. In five weeks?

To make matters worse, when she meets the movie star she's immediately so comfortable with him that she's patting his knee and talking in double entendres. Not even close to a believable character.

Of course, after two days the movie star falls in love with her. *Insert eye rolling here*

Ugh, I can't go on. This book was just so bad. The character development is unbelievably weak, the dialogue comes straight out of a Lifetime Original Movie, and the story line is just plain ridiculous.

You want a character you can identify with look for Jane Green's books.