Wake Up, I'm Fat [Abridged] [Audio Cassette]

Camryn Manheim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1999

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.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Because this recording is based on a book that's based on a stage show that's based on her life, actress Camryn Manheim knows her material well enough to give an effortless and entertaining read. Although--as the title suggests--the subject of weight figures largely in this abridgement, it's really the story of how Manheim discovered her identity and niche (not to mention her name). The Emmy winner tells a good yarn and is funny without reducing her life to a stand-up routine. Whether it's relating her girlhood in Peoria, Illinois and Long Beach, California or her undergraduate radical feminism or her struggles with people's attitudes about weight in show business, she manages to keep the tone wry and the mood fun. (Running time: 3 hours, 2 cassettes) --Kimberly Heinrichs

From Publishers Weekly

It's okay to feel okay about yourself. That's the message from actress Manheim (on TV's The Practice), which comes across more strongly in her first-person tales of being an overweight person than it ever could from a more traditional self-empowerment audio program. "Everyone can find a reason to hate themselves," Manheim opines, and for her, "fat equaled hate." Today, she sounds amazingly self-confident, poised and full of sass: no one better stand in her way. But it wasn't easy getting to this point. She tells of her childhood in Peoria, Ill., her young years as a would-be hippie California motorcycle mama and her struggles as a drama graduate student at NYU. In all these life phases, she met with prejudices against her; it only got worse when she became an actress and found herself constantly stereotyped in the role of the "butt-of-the-joke fat girl." Through doing her own one-woman show at New York's Public Theater, she was able to get beyond that impasse, raise people's consciousness and triumph as advocate and role model. Spoken audio is a similarly perfect soapbox oratory medium for ManheimAand she attacks her reading with a palpable fierceness of purpose. Based on the 1999 Broadway hardcover. (May)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Soundelux Audio Pub; Abridged edition (May 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559353139
• ISBN-13: 978-1559353137
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,846,571 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 

M. J. Walters "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.