Customer Reviews

Hey, Remember Fat Glenda?

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was so happy to run across this book. The first time I read it, I was 12 years old. Now 20 years later, the book brings back many memories.

I read this book for the first time in the early 80s when I was in middle school and even though I didn't have a weight problem, I could completely relate to Glenda's problems with feeling insecure and unattractive.

This book follows the trials and tribulations of Glenda Waite as she works hard to lose weight and fit in with her classmates. Glenda must deal with her overbearing mother, unsupportive "friends" and "Fat Robert Fry" who is in love with her. Glenda has also developed a huge crush on her English teacher!

This is the second of four "Fat Glenda" books and it is my very favorite. I loved reading about Glenda's struggles and victories. She feels like a lifelong friend to me.

Poor Glenda, she's had a personality amputation since 'Me and Fat Glenda.' Originally, a strong, outspoken, cunning, and opininated character whose flaws made her interesting and different, both something of a villianess and heroine rolled into one. But in Hey, Remember Fat Glenda?, she is a white bread character without any quirks and lacks the courage of her former incarnation. The story itself is alright. Despite being written in 1981, the story doesn't date itself and is equally relevent now as it was then. Glenda's frustration with her weight is realistically portrayed, although I don't think it'll inspire anyone to go work on losing weight. Her friend, Sara, mails her little poems to help keep Glenda motivated, but I find the poems cheesy and I would have been insulted if I were in Glenda's place, but I guess since Glenda considers Sara her best friend, she has a different view of it. What makes the book worth reading though is secondary plot, Glenda's infatuation with her English teacher contains a valuable lesson that so many girls need to learn and few enough do.

Although I have never read this book, I have loathed it since the 3rd grade when a boy in my class came upon this gem of a book in the library. At the time i was at least double the size of most boys as I grew considerably faster. Oh--mine name is Glenda, too. I don't know what this book is about and frankly, I don't care. It's meant for childrend and children can be mean and nasty creatures as I learned all too well from this book. The little boy who discovered this book made sure to make fun of me every chance he got and to rub the book in my face. The content of this book could be solid gold. The point is that it's title is too blunt for it's young, impressionalbe audience and is sending out the wrong message. I really hope that any parent considering purchasing this book for their child takes the title into the consideration. Take it from a girl who suffered teasting and taunting all from these four little words, ITS NOT WORTH IT!