Wake Up, I'm Fat! [Hardcover]

Camryn Manheim (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0767903625 | ISBN-13: 978-0767903622 | Publication Date: May 11, 1999 | Edition: 1

Thankfully, Camryn Manheim has never played by the rules. Her fierce determination to defy the beauty myth, the naysayers, and casting stereotypes has resulted in one of today's most remarkable and unique Hollywood success stories. Her groundbreaking role as Ellenor Frutt on television's hottest drama, The Practice, has won her an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award--victories that are the culmination of decades of hard work, perseverance, and battles fought with her parents, lovers, the establishment, and herself.

In this inspirational memoir, Camryn chronicles her journey from a self-hating, "overweight" teenager who desperately wanted to fit in, to a self-loving, fat activist who is proud to be a misfit. Wake Up, I'm Fat! shares her intelligent, candid, poignant, and often hilarious stories of being fat in a society obsessed with being thin. Camryn takes us from her days as a motorcycle-riding hippie in Santa Cruz to her enrollment at New York University's prestigious school of drama--where Pulitzer Prize-winning Tony Kushner broke the unspoken theater rules of size and cast her in the role of the ingenue--and finally to Hollywood, where she dispelled the fallacy that large women can't be portrayed as sensual, sophisticated, and confident.

Camryn's endearing honesty, sass, and razor-sharp wit will appeal to all those who have ever felt like outcasts or yearned to make peace with their bodies.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You already know Camryn Manheim can act. She won the Emmy Award as the don't-mess-with-me attorney Ellenor Frutt on The Practice. Manheim made the ceremony itself entertaining by hoisting her trophy and hollering, "This is for all the fat girls!"

But can she write? Yes. This memoir is by turns funny ("If Barbie were a real woman, she'd have to walk on all fours due to her proportions") and excruciating. It helps that the material was honed in a one-woman show that sold out at New York's big-deal Public Theater, but the subject matter was strange and interesting in the first place. Manheim could not possibly be a less likely candidate for artistic and commercial success on TV. Born Debi Manheim in Peoria, the very metaphor for mainstream culture, Manheim re-created herself as a dozen-earringed California biker chick, a Renaissance Faire wench, a protester who helped drive the Miss California Pageant out of Santa Cruz, and one of 28 actors in America accepted at NYU's exclusive graduate school. In her book, Manheim gets even with her cruel, fat-bashing teachers; credits the director who gave her her first ingenue lead role (Tony Kushner, who cast her in Fen); and tells how the same temper that got her booted from school and arrested also won her the TV role that made her name.

There's good gossip for drama buffs. Manheim ribs her famous boss David Kelley within an inch of her livelihood; rips into Celeste Holm for cattiness backstage in Clare Boothe Luce's The Women; and opines that Bridget Fonda, whom she got naked next to in a movie, "could use a sandwich." But it's the private-life stuff that sticks with you. Read her touching, hilarious account of a personal-ad date from hell, and how she got even by picking up the hunky model who plays the Marlboro Man. She is not making this up!

From Publishers Weekly

"This is for all the fat girls!" Manheim proclaimed, as she hoisted up her 1998 Emmy statuette for all the world to see. The award for her work as Ellenor Frutt on the television drama The Practice was also sweet recompense for a lifetime of fighting prejudice about her weight, of coming to terms with her insecurities and of feeling that she had finally made her parents proud. Manheim's passion and honesty are evident throughout her accessible narrative. No subject is off-limits, from family conflicts to professional discrimination, from her sexuality to what goes on behind the scenes at the Emmys. Always irreverent, witty and compassionate, Manheim talks openly of her experiences as a fat teenager dealing with her family's disapproval of her weight and of using drugs, including crystal meth, to keep her weight down and gain acceptance with her peers. She details her struggle to become an actor, of standing up to prejudice among drama teachers and directors and of demanding more realistic portrayals of fat women through her characters. In the end, her size has helped shape her politics and feminism: "My fat... taught me not to be average, not to conform, not to go quietly. It made me a fighter." Not just for all the fat girls, Manheim's story holds appeal for everyone who has ever let insecurity hold them back from realizing their dreams. Agent, Alexander Smithline of Vigliano Associates. $100,000 ad/promo; author tour; 22-city TV satellite tour; 20-city radio satellite tour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (May 11, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767903625
• ISBN-13: 978-0767903622
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,108,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book by a strong, intelligent, beautiful woman, February 26, 2004

By 

COBRA123 (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wake Up, I'm Fat! (Paperback)

After reading the past reviews, I wonder if I'm the only man who read this book. The first thing that caught my eyes, I'll be honest, was the cover picture. Camryn is a gorgeous woman with very nice legs. She is also a person of deep character, who has persevered and triumphed despite the prejudices of our shallow society. She relates her struggles in a moving way, but avoids the whining, "why is the world so unfair?" tone that unfortunately characterizes some similiar works. If you want a glimpse into the mind of a powerful, beautiful and intoxicatingly magnificent woman, then you will enjoy this book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let's hear it for the fat girl!, December 30, 2000

By 

Tracy Rowan "dargelos" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Wake Up, I'm Fat! (Hardcover)

You have to hand it to Camryn; she makes no apology for who or what she is, and I find that refreshing. Her life reads fast and furious. She's direct, outspoken and funny as hell. In a milieu where whiny star bios are the norm, hers is a great read. If you prefer your women skinny and seen, but not heard, forget it; you'll hate this book. I loved it.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book has touched a nerve for a reason, August 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Wake Up, I'm Fat! (Hardcover)

Looking over the reviews previously posted, it's clear that almost everyone who has read this book loved it. I would be willing to wager that the few rude individuals who have posted poor reviews only did so in order to say nasty things about fat people. Very mature.

Anyways, I just have to add my voice to those praising this wonderful book. Reading "Wake Up, I'm Fat!" is like having a heart-to-heart talk with your best girlfriend - the one who knows everything about you and has been there herself. Camryn writes in a very conversational, natural manner that is warm, funny, sarcastic, insightful, and empowering. This book isn't JUST for the fat girls. It's for everyone. If you happen to be a fat girl, you'll feel a lot better about yourself after reading it. If you're not, you will still enjoy yourself immensely.