Rating: 
Summary: Very Funny, could be more size positive
Review: This book is outrageously funny and has great insights on the perils of being fat. Wendy's adventures at Duke, at Weight Watchers (although I've never been held up by robbers at a WW meeting), on meds are carbon copies of other dieters. I'm glad she threw off the shackles of dieting obsession. However, Wendy seems to flip-flop a bit on the issue of size acceptance. She sometimes seems to convey the message "I'm okay with being fat but I hope the magic pill comes along." Real size acceptance and being size positive means fighting for your right to exist no matter what size you are.
Rating: 
Summary: crucial information
Review: This is an extremely valuable book to balance what seems like day-to-day garbage in the headlines about fat and dieting. I got this book from one of my daughter's friends. The reason it resonates so well with them is because it addresses how they are sold a bill a goods by the marketing machine of the diet industry, and reminds them to feel comfortable in their skin - that they are more than what they weigh. It's done with a touch of humor and indignance and is written by someone who has been through it all.
Rating:
Summary: Go Girl
Review: Wendy has managed to tell it like it is with grace, wit and intelligence. She has made me feel better about who I am and less self-concious of my image. Every pre-teen girl should be required to read this book so that they can avoid the years of self-image issues that society foists on us all.
Rating:
Summary: Feisty, Fun and Honest.
Review: Wendy Shanker has a winner with "The Fat Girl's Guide To Life!" Clever, forthcoming and inspiring, it chronicles her struggles with weight, her self-image, and how she has come to terms with both, even if (as she admits) it's a shaky truce sometimes.But this is not just a personal diet memoir. There's a lot of great information about living your best life in the body you've got, that FITness is more important than FATness, that there are fashion options out there to make the most of what you're got, and that attitude is everything, baby! For seasoned fat acceptance activists, this book may seem like "size acceptance lite." But for those women who might be contemplating another round of Weight Watchers or Atkins, this book is a fun and accessible intoduction to the ideas of size acceptance. Read it and smile, read it and join the ranks of Fat Girls everywhere!
Rating:
Summary: Feisty, Fun and Honest.
Review: Wendy Shanker has a winner with "The Fat Girl's Guide To Life!" Clever, forthcoming and inspiring, it chronicles her struggles with weight, her self-image, and how she has come to terms with both, even if (as she admits) it's a shaky truce sometimes. But this is not just a personal diet memoir. There's a lot of great information about living your best life in the body you've got, that FITness is more important than FATness, that there are fashion options out there to make the most of what you're got, and that attitude is everything, baby! For seasoned fat acceptance activists, this book may seem like "size acceptance lite." But for those women who might be contemplating another round of Weight Watchers or Atkins, this book is a fun and accessible intoduction to the ideas of size acceptance. Read it and smile, read it and join the ranks of Fat Girls everywhere!
Rating: 
Summary: doesn't promise any cures for being fat
Review: Wendy Shanker has written for national women's magazines, she's hosted fashion shows, she's traveled far and wide to gather the data she's compiled for the "The Fat Girl's Guide to Life." Ok, maybe not "far and wide" but she has first hand experience. She's 32 years old and she has been fat most of her life. Now she's putting that experience to good use.
Being a fat girl myself, I was curious what Shanker had to say. Shanker's style is blunt and to the point. She says it like it is (or at least as she sees it) with a little bit of sarcastic sometimes comedic twist. She isn't degrading like most fat humourists. She is respectful but truthful. Her raw humour made it easy to read. But this book definitely isn't all about humour. It's about being fat in a media infested world.
Shanker's book is not what I'd call a step by step guide but a "get real" guide. It's time to admit you're "Fat" and then get on with it...Life. Stop dwelling on how you don't have Cameron Diaz's thighs and go have some fun.
In the introduction, Shanker doesn't promise any cures for being fat (there are enough of those claiming that already) or for improving your self-esteem. She maintains that "I'm not one hundred percent self-satisfied but I'm trying; I'm closer." After years of self torture she can say "I know there's nothing wrong with me mentally and physically."
Shanker doesn't think we should be afraid to use the word "Fat" to describe ourselves (for any non-fat person out there: we can call ourselves fat but no one else can). "You're here, you're fat, get use to that!" she says. She also believes in standing up for ourselves when society is rude. Being an advocate for ourselves is also a necessity. She suggests, if a medical professional says something unprofessional then let them know even if you have to write a letter so they don't do it to the next fat person.
She touches on self loathing, binging, the diet industry and the media industry without beating the topics to death. Even Oprah isn't safe from her prying eyes and stinging wit. Everything is fair game for conversation even her lack of bowel movements. She is bold, fearlessly attacking and industry of "body image".
Weight loss programs? Well she can't say enough about them. I like how she compared them to every other product we buy. It is the only product we buy in which we blame ourselves if it doesn't work. She reviews how weight loss companies and fast food chains have invaded our lives, lifestyles and bank accounts. She attacks Weight Watchers head on and how they are designed to keep us coming back. She's the Michael Moore of the fat world.
Instead of wasting money on dieting schemes that don't work for the average person she recommends the common sense approach: Stop dieting, eat healthy and exercise. Eat what you want as long as you eat healthy and exercise MOST of the time. She offers no diet plans or exercise routines. "We are responsible for our own decisions about our bodies," she says.
Obviously, Shanker is just one more opinion in the sea but at least hers floats on an inner tube of common sense. I love this woman! I love the book! I could relate to most of what she said and felt such a relief in reading it. I am no longer alone. I found myself reading sections over again (I won't say which ones because that's personal to my own melodrama and you'll probably have your own favourites). Numerous times I felt she was looking into my head. Yikes! I don't even want to be there half the time.
This book isn't just for fat people. It's for the people who love fat people, date fat people, are friends with fat people and for people who just don't understand fat people (a.k.a. the "thin" people).
Shanker is here to let the world know that fat people "aren't all jolly, we aren't asexual, we aren't lazy, and we aren't all depressos zoning out in front of the TV sets with ice cream melting down our chins." She wants us all to be able to respect ourselves, our bodies and be able to handle the rude people who aren't comfortable enough in their own lives that they have to try to make someone else unhappy.
Through her personal experience and empowering dialogue I think she's setting an example. I'm looking forward to her next book. Perhaps "The Fat Girl's Guide to Life: Part II."
Rating:
Summary: Smart, Wise, Funny, Brave
Review: Wendy Shanker is amazing. After enduring a lifetime of criticism both internal and external, she's emerged with a brilliant and courageous commentary on the slender tyranny along with hard-won self-approval. Not only is this book as funny as all get out, it calls skinny spades what they are. The irony of fat prejudice is that larger people try to be invisible, to downplay what they are, avoiding such negative words as "fat," going along with what society tells them they are -- worthless failures, despite any other accomplishments, including but not limited to generosity and bigness of heart, both of which Shanker possesses to spare. Shanker reappropriates the word "fat" and claims it proudly, eschewing euphemisms such as "plus size" and "women's," embracing what for so long she battled. Through her story, readers will feel both empowered and ashamed -- ashamed at the extent to which, skinny or fat, they have acquiesced to cruel societal norms. If you have struggled with weight, you will see yourself a thousand times over, and if you haven't, you'll gain insight into what it's like to be the contemporary outcast and (fat) butt of all jokes, recited with impunity no matter whom they hurt. Not only does Shanker relate her own stories, so fabulous they could only be true, she undergirds her narrative with damning facts and historical detail that reveal the diet industry to be the profit-driven farce that it is. Wendy Shanker is a heroine in every sense of the word, and you will feel proud to have shared her world. Buy this book. Read it. Laugh, cry, celebrate. Then buy it for someone else.
Rating:
Summary: Bought one for all of my sassy fat girlfriends
Review: What a great book! An eye opener for anyone ont he diet rollercoaster, or who had ridden it before in thier lives. A refreshing and well documented review of diets, publications and articles all surrounding the obesity trend vs the diet industry.
A must read for anyone who needs a little self esteem push.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book!!!
Review: Whether you're fat or not, this book is a great read. Wendy is sharp and funny and has a perspective much-missing from the pop culture she (and I) love so much. I laughed out loud several times reading this book and yet also connected to it emotionally having dealt with (and still dealing with) my own issues with my appearance and self-acceptance. This is NOT one of those annoying self-help books! It's the funny, smart tale of Wendy's odyssey through the diet and fake "health" industry, with a savvy look at mainstream media at the same time. Read it!!!
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