Official Review: The Fat Girls Club by Lila Johnson
Posted: 10 May 2015, 21:00
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Fat Girls Club" by Lila Johnson.]
3 out of 4 stars
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"The Fat Girls Club" by Lila Johnson steps into a hole in the women's lit genre: a realistic tale depicting women committed to long-term weight loss. In this book, we first meet Sissy, an overweight woman who decides to make a lifestyle change to lose weight. She tries to entice her friends, Nicki and Angela, to join her in what she calls "The Fat Girls Club". Initially, the women are offended that Sissy would call them out on their weight, but they come to admire Sissy's new-found confidence as she exercises and starts to drop pounds. As life hits the woman in ways that most female readers can relate to, they each hit a point where a change is necessary, and they rely on each other to stay strong. With the reward of a trip to Paris motivating them to keep pushing on, the ladies laugh and cry together as their weight loss journey becomes one of personal renewal and growth,
Women of all ages can relate to the trio of main characters because these ladies live everyday lives, experience everyday emotions, and react in ways that most women can sympathize with. Throughout the story, the women hit emotional and physical walls, but though they fight with each other, they also rely on each other for strength and the occasional reality check. This theme of female friendship emerges again and again throughout the book, and it emphasizes the fact that anyone's journey toward life change can be made easier by the support of close friends.
The women's weight loss journeys are depicted realistically, a fact I greatly appreciated. In today's society, so many people are looking for a quick fix, and it would have been easy for the author to write a story in which the characters take a fix-it diet pill and end the story as skinny models with men falling all over them. However, that wouldn't have fit her down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is writing style. Sissy, Nicki, and Angela each fall into the common pitfalls of losing weight. They struggle with consistency in their exercising. They face the challenge of eating healthily when they're craving junk. They hit the dreaded weight loss plateau. The author didn't write a fairy tale in which the three princesses magically lose all of their excess weight; she allowed for healthy, realistic weight loss. And in the end, the story wasn't really about the weight loss. It was about the journey the women took to become healthier and happier.
Aside from this main plotline, there were several secondary storylines. As the author switched perspectives between the three ladies, she gave us snippets of each woman's life: Nikki's secret regarding a past love affair, Sissy's seasonal affective disorder and her reticence to commit to a relationship, and Angela's tendency to hop from boyfriend to boyfriend. The writing gave the impression that these secondary plots had an important bearing on the conclusion of the book, but I found the resolution of each one wanting. At the end of the book, I felt like I was left holding a bunch of loose threads in my hands, and the author hadn't finished weaving them into the story before she finished the book.
As disappointed as I was by the ambiguous ending--and that's all I can say without giving it away!--I'd like to give the author the benefit of the doubt and say that she did it intentionally. She essentially dropped us into the middle of these women's lives and allowed us a glimpse of their comradeship and life struggles. Perhaps she didn't wrap up the ending in a neat little bow because life's not like that. Our struggles don't suddenly end as we fly off into the sunset. The uncomfortable ending, with stories left untold and issues left unresolved, reminded me that my life is a long-term journey, just like the women's weight loss journeys.
I will say that, regardless of what challenges faced these women--and there were many, ranging from the mundane to the type that requires a getaway vehicle--they handled it with their humor intact. The author drew from her African American culture to add sparkle and sass to the main characters' dialogue, but she does it in such a way that readers from any background can relate and chuckle along with the ladies. Even during the more serious sections of her writing, such as her touching and realistic depiction of Sissy's depression, the women love each other in such an open, honest way that I couldn't help but feel for them. Sissy, Nicki, and Angela are characters that I could connect to.
There were several editing errors, specifically misplaced punctuation marks, but while they tended to be slightly distracting at first, they didn't detract greatly from Ms. Johnson's heart-warming writing style. Overall, I give "The Fat Girls Club" 3 out of 4 stars for its relatable characters and its honest look at weight loss, a topic that many writers tend to gloss over or sugarcoat.
******
The Fat Girls Club
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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3 out of 4 stars
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"The Fat Girls Club" by Lila Johnson steps into a hole in the women's lit genre: a realistic tale depicting women committed to long-term weight loss. In this book, we first meet Sissy, an overweight woman who decides to make a lifestyle change to lose weight. She tries to entice her friends, Nicki and Angela, to join her in what she calls "The Fat Girls Club". Initially, the women are offended that Sissy would call them out on their weight, but they come to admire Sissy's new-found confidence as she exercises and starts to drop pounds. As life hits the woman in ways that most female readers can relate to, they each hit a point where a change is necessary, and they rely on each other to stay strong. With the reward of a trip to Paris motivating them to keep pushing on, the ladies laugh and cry together as their weight loss journey becomes one of personal renewal and growth,
Women of all ages can relate to the trio of main characters because these ladies live everyday lives, experience everyday emotions, and react in ways that most women can sympathize with. Throughout the story, the women hit emotional and physical walls, but though they fight with each other, they also rely on each other for strength and the occasional reality check. This theme of female friendship emerges again and again throughout the book, and it emphasizes the fact that anyone's journey toward life change can be made easier by the support of close friends.
The women's weight loss journeys are depicted realistically, a fact I greatly appreciated. In today's society, so many people are looking for a quick fix, and it would have been easy for the author to write a story in which the characters take a fix-it diet pill and end the story as skinny models with men falling all over them. However, that wouldn't have fit her down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is writing style. Sissy, Nicki, and Angela each fall into the common pitfalls of losing weight. They struggle with consistency in their exercising. They face the challenge of eating healthily when they're craving junk. They hit the dreaded weight loss plateau. The author didn't write a fairy tale in which the three princesses magically lose all of their excess weight; she allowed for healthy, realistic weight loss. And in the end, the story wasn't really about the weight loss. It was about the journey the women took to become healthier and happier.
Aside from this main plotline, there were several secondary storylines. As the author switched perspectives between the three ladies, she gave us snippets of each woman's life: Nikki's secret regarding a past love affair, Sissy's seasonal affective disorder and her reticence to commit to a relationship, and Angela's tendency to hop from boyfriend to boyfriend. The writing gave the impression that these secondary plots had an important bearing on the conclusion of the book, but I found the resolution of each one wanting. At the end of the book, I felt like I was left holding a bunch of loose threads in my hands, and the author hadn't finished weaving them into the story before she finished the book.
As disappointed as I was by the ambiguous ending--and that's all I can say without giving it away!--I'd like to give the author the benefit of the doubt and say that she did it intentionally. She essentially dropped us into the middle of these women's lives and allowed us a glimpse of their comradeship and life struggles. Perhaps she didn't wrap up the ending in a neat little bow because life's not like that. Our struggles don't suddenly end as we fly off into the sunset. The uncomfortable ending, with stories left untold and issues left unresolved, reminded me that my life is a long-term journey, just like the women's weight loss journeys.
I will say that, regardless of what challenges faced these women--and there were many, ranging from the mundane to the type that requires a getaway vehicle--they handled it with their humor intact. The author drew from her African American culture to add sparkle and sass to the main characters' dialogue, but she does it in such a way that readers from any background can relate and chuckle along with the ladies. Even during the more serious sections of her writing, such as her touching and realistic depiction of Sissy's depression, the women love each other in such an open, honest way that I couldn't help but feel for them. Sissy, Nicki, and Angela are characters that I could connect to.
There were several editing errors, specifically misplaced punctuation marks, but while they tended to be slightly distracting at first, they didn't detract greatly from Ms. Johnson's heart-warming writing style. Overall, I give "The Fat Girls Club" 3 out of 4 stars for its relatable characters and its honest look at weight loss, a topic that many writers tend to gloss over or sugarcoat.
******
The Fat Girls Club
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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