In Waisted, Alice and Daphne are in a last ditch attempt to lose their excess weight at a private weight loss retreat.
Alice’s life before fat camp is meticulously recounted. However, I can do it in just one sentence. Alice blames all of her problems, some real and some imaginary, on her weight. I just saved future readers at least a half an hour of time. In the name of Alice, exercise in the extra time, or eat an entire cheesecake or, whatever.
Daphne is a professional makeup artist and owns a makeover store catering to woman with scars or other flaws. Unfortunately, she can’t heal, or hide, her own weight issues.
Both Alice and Daphne have people in their life that are over critical of their weight. Alice’s husband, Clancy, continually reminds her how beautiful she was when they met—only a few years earlier—with an unspoken, though heavily implied, “what happened to you now?” Daphne’s mother, Sunny, is a diet policeman, who has constantly undermined Daphne’s confidence since grade school.
As a larger woman who loves documentaries, I was so excited to read this book. A funny take on Biggest Loser-type shows? Sign me up! However, Waisted spent a lot of time belittling larger size woman even when it didn’t advance the plot. For example, here is the description of the ladies boarding the bus on the way to the weight loss camp, “After the last participant dragged her crazy-wide thighs up the stairs as though this ascension were an Olympic event”. This feeling is not linked to any characters—this appears to be the author talking. This type of emotion is displayed throughout the book. Worse, the book drags in the beginning. As I stated above, using 20% of the book to explain the stereotypical “fat woman” Alice is a waste of time and boring.
While I didn’t like the book at all, it may just be me so I’ll rate it 2.5 stars.
Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.