Jemima J: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans [Paperback]

Jane Green (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 5, 2001

Jemima Jones is overweight. About one hundred pounds overweight. Treated like a maid by her thin and social-climbing roommates, and lorded over by the beautiful Geraldine (less talented but better paid) at the Kilburn Herald, Jemima finds that her only consolation is food. Add to this her passion for her charming, sexy, and unobtainable colleague Ben, and Jemima knows her life is in need of a serious change. When she meets Brad, an eligible California hunk, over the Internet, she has the perfect opportunity to reinvent herself–as JJ, the slim, beautiful, gym-obsessed glamour girl. But when her long-distance Romeo demands that they meet, she must conquer her food addiction to become the bone-thin model of her e-mails–no small feat.
With a fast-paced plot that never quits and a surprise ending no reader will see coming, Jemima J is the chronicle of one woman's quest to become the woman she's always wanted to be, learning along the way a host of lessons about attraction, addiction, the meaning of true love, and, ultimately, who she really is.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Yet another take on the singles scene, and from yet another British writer, this jaunty novel has one slightly new focus--the Internet as a dating device. "Bored, fat and unhappy" Jemima Jones is a hack writer on a small London paper, whose weight precludes both promotion (which she richly deserves, because she's smart) and getting together with the man of her dreams: kind, modest and gorgeous reporter Ben Williams. The Web opens a new world to Jemima, and when she begins an online correspondence with L.A. gym owner Brad, identifying herself as JJ, her friend Geraldine encourages her to send Brad a doctored photo of what she would look like if she were thin. Jemima joins a gym, goes on a diet and even becomes a blonde, preparing to accept Brad's invitation to come to L.A. Lucky JJ: Brad turns out to be a hunk, and the sex is great... but JJ senses that something is wrong. Meanwhile, Ben has become a celebrity "presenter" on British TV, but while the whole country goes gaga over his looks, he too feels that something is missing. By the time several coincidences produce a dreams-come-true ending, readers are fond of plucky Jemima, but somewhat tired out by her adventures. Green's determination to provide texture results in too many scenes that brim with London and L.A. local color, but fail to add verve to the narrative. Outside of Geraldine, who, surprisingly, is both beautiful and a true friend, the other characters tend to be stereotypes: Jemima's roommates, airheads on the make; the predatory female TV producer; the editor who offers Jemima a promotion once she is blonde and svelte. Though the concept is clever and nicely handled, the broad humor lacks true comic brio. (As the online initiated would say: it's not LOL.) Green does, however, capture the nuances and neuroses of the singles scene with a gimlet eye and an uninhibited voice. A bestseller in England, the book should also hook female readers here as they relate to Green's frank comments about body size and social acceptability. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Green's superficial novel tells readers that although beauty isn't everything (the right man will love you for who you are, not your looks), a sensible diet and regular exercise can turn any fat and ugly duckling into a slim, tanned, well-dressed, and exceedingly attractive swan. Jemima Jones, 100 pounds overweight and possessing a definite inferiority complex about her appearance, has a desperate crush on Ben, the devastatingly handsome deputy news editor of the small London paper where they both work. After taking an Internet class, Jemima strikes up an e-mail relationship with Brad, a health club owner in Southern California, giving her the impetus to go on a successful diet and exercise regimen. Many pounds lighter, she visits Brad in Santa Monica, where she discovers that he is too gorgeous for words, that sex with him is better than her fantasies, but that he is really in love with Jenny, his immensely overweight secretary. Meanwhile, Ben, now a famous television star, comes to Santa Monica on work and, once he sets eyes on Jemima, realizes that he loves her, always did, and always will. Is this ridiculous, or what? In Green's hands, the "overweight Bridget Jones" subgenre of British fiction does not look promising. Not recommended.
---Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; First Edition edition (June 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767905180
• ISBN-13: 978-0767905183
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (804 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #240,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jane Green is a bestselling author of popular novels. She has been featured in People, Newsweek, USA Today, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan. She lives in Connecticut with her family.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Not so good May 12, 2003

By Jennifer Davis

Format:Paperback

If you are more than 10 lbs. overweight, I suggest staying away from this book. When the author first described Jemima, I expected her to be around a size 24 and over 300 lbs, only to find out Jemima is 5'7 and a little over 200lbs--not thin, but definitely not a beached whale!

Jane Green shows she has absolutely no idea what it is like to be overweight. The way Jemima J is written, you'd think Jemima just likes food. In reality, people who overeat to such a large extent usually have an emotional reason for eating--don't expect to see any sort of realism in this book.

Also, the way the book is written is terrible. It constantly jumps from 1st person to 3rd person, and it does not compliment the book stylistically. The characters are uninteresting (even Jemima J has no personality) and there really is no point in reading the book. If you want a fun book about young English women, try Bridget Jones or Confessions of a Shopaholic.

60 of 70 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Even fantasy needs believability. June 20, 2003

By Jen McAllister

Format:Paperback

Well, it has certainly been established here that this is a "love-it-or-hate-it" kind of book. :)

My own feelings about Jemima J are not warm ones, but as other people here have enumerated, with much eloquence, the same problems that I had with the book (i.e. the condescending and snotty attitude toward the overweight, Jemima's unrealistic weight loss, Green's tendency to tell us that Jemima and Ben are smart and lovable, rather than show why they are smart and lovable), I will not dwell on them overmuch. What I do find distressing, though, are the number of positive reviews that dress down the negative reviewers for demanding too much of Jemima J. These reviews are peppered with phrases such as "It's just a fantasy," "It's just fiction," "This is a beach read, it's not Shakespeare/Milton/Anna Karenina," etc.

I doubt that a single person who picked up Jemima J picked it up because s/he mistook it for Anna Karenina. This is a beach read, it is a sweet, lighthearted, confectionery read, or at least it is meant to be. Jane Green makes no bones about that, nor should she. We all know exactly what kind of story she meant to tell; the question is, did she succeed? If you loved the book, then yes, she did. If you hated it, then no, she didn't. I would hazard a guess that everyone who didn't like Jemima J, myself included, picked it up wanting to like it, wanting to read a fantasy about a goodhearted, underappreciated girl who gets all the good things she deserves in life. I know that I certainly wasn't looking for Milton, or Shakespeare. I was looking for a character I could root for, one who has an adventure and runs into trouble only to come through it a stronger, better person who lives happily ever after. Jemima Jones was not that character for me.

Even though this is a fantasy, there needs to be at least some kernel of believability in the story to make the fantasy work. Again, if you loved this book, if you were caught up in the fantasy, then that's great - it worked. But if the fantasy doesn't work for you, then no amount of admonishments to "lighten up, it's only a book" will make it work. For me, that point came when Jemima loses 100 pounds in less than six months by a combination of starvation dieting and overexercise. Now, everyone's diet-and-exercise experience is different, and what works for one may not work for another. That said, when Green tells us that Jemima is able to switch overnight from overeating to a regime of no breakfast/plain lettuce & tomatoes for lunch/grilled chicken & veg for dinner; that Jemima goes from no physical activity to doubling her new workout regime within a single month; that she suffers no cravings, or lightheadedness, or hunger-induced headaches, or stretch marks from rapid weight loss; that she loses five to six pounds a week for four months; and that, despite this marvelous change in her appearance, she is not thin enough at Ben's farewell party for him to notice that she has lost 40 pounds in two months...well, that stretches the fantasy too far for me.

Imagine that you are reading a story about a young girl who lives in a small town in Idaho. She has always dreamed of living in New York City. You know that she can live the dream if she believes in herself and tries to succeed. You know that one day she decides to go. So far, so good. But if the author then tells you that she drives from Idaho to New York in six hours, with no stops for gasoline, purely because she has the force of will to drive across country in six hours, would you still believe in her?

86 of 104 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth a read, but confused in its message August 7, 2000

By A. Maxham VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm assuming that this book is supposed to be something of a fairy tale- Sort of Cinderella Meets Slim Fast. The point of view even changes throughout the book, from Jemima's "I's", to a third person who comments, narrarates, passes judgement, and hints at the future.

I found this book to be contradictory or even hypocritical, and I don't know if there is supposed to be meaning in this. Jemima is hugely overweight and desperately wants to be thin. Ironically, all the attractive and thin people she knows are horrid, but the story doesn't seem to recognize this situation. Her best bud Geraldine is put forth as shallow and "selfish" and is only somewhat redeemed by her friendship with the fat girl. Her roommates are what are commonly known as "hootchie mamas," and the highly attractive woman in a bar who hits on Ben (Jemima's crush) is basically a loose woman herself. If the purpose of this book is that we shouldn't judge a book by its cover (a theme blatantly discussed), then it's a bit contradictory to make the fat woman the sympathetic character and all the attractive people snotty losers. It's just reverse discrimination. The other problem is that Jemima may be fat, but she has a beautiful face. Soo, does this mean that if you are fat with an *ugly* face, you are a lost cause...?

The other problem with this book is (as discussed in other reviews) the obsession with exercise and restriction of food intake. The extreme efforts she goes to to get thin aren't resolved in a satisfactory way to demonstrate that one doesn't have to be extreme in being skinny in order to love oneself- there's just a little epilogue that cleans it all up in one page and it was a little dissatisfactory. I was irritated that the great conquest in Jemima's life was getting Mr. Wonderful and NOT accepting herself as evidenced by the fact that the book peaks with Mr. Wonderful falling in love with her (now that she's THIN), and not with any sort of internal growth and acceptance of herself and her issues. She doesn't even realize that the grass isn't as green on the other side. It's just frustrating. I wanted the dramatic external change to be reflected by an internal. I read carefully, looking for this message, and if it is in there, I missed it.

I wouldn't be so harsh on the plot and message, but the pseudo-narrarator keeps making a big deal about how Jemima is a role model and we should strive to be like her, particularly towards the end- Yeah, I don't think so, particularly with the foolish things she does with regard to men (oh my). I do appreciate the fact that she is healthier and at least not eating 2 bacon sandwiches as a snack and she is working out instead of getting winded from climbing stairs.

It's worth a read, it's got a couple of giggles in it and it's a fast read. Maybe wait till paperback, though, because this book doesn't have the Grand Message it seems to want to have.