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Rating: 
Summary: Didn't Win Me Over
Review: Allison Penny considers herself misfortunate because she's overweight and her features don't fall into the realm of what society deems attractive. She works as a cleaning lady with an ethnic family. Lucky for her, her only duty is emptying the garbage cans. Not a dream job but it pays the bills. "Destitute, depressed, and almost universally derided," is how she describes herself. The only positive thing Allison can say is she has a beautiful voice. Her only real wishes are to meet her biological parents and to find a way to get rid of her sex starved, vindictive roommate, Virginie.
The one person in her life who is compassionate towards her is Nathan. They work in the same building and meet during breaks to discuss movies, plants and other people who work in the building. They aren't companions or even friends but she has attached her affection to him. He's nothing special, balding and a bit scrawny but he's nice to her. He's her Brad Pitt.
One morning she wakes up and her body has been transformed by we don't know what and we never find out. She's now taller, slimmer, blonder...well more like Gwyneth Paltrow with bigger breasts. She seems only mildly shocked by this transformation and after a brief stint of enjoying the feel of her new body she decides she has to show it off immediately in case it disappears at midnight. Her first manner of business was to seduce a construction worker in broad daylight even after he confessed he'd only been married six months and had a baby on the way. I found this hard to swallow as her first desire in her new body.
While enjoying the new life (because of new body) she decides to get back at or ruin all the people in her life who've been mean to her. The "ugly acts" range from minor to serious. Her character definitely isn't likeable in her new form at least not from a reader's perspective. She's suddenly the center of attention wherever she goes. Something she never experienced as the old Allison. She becomes drunk on the affection and attention. Allison isn't so beautiful on the inside anymore.
Through Friedman's writing it's easy to hate this character yet root for her when she gets back at everyone (at least until she goes way over board) who was nasty to her for being plump and homely. Most of the other characters are easy to hate too. They're nasty people.
This is not my first contact with this author. I also read her poetry book Know Your Monkey which I loved. Regretfully, in the end, Waking Beauty didn't win me over. There is a lack of balance amongst characters. It would have been nice to get to know some nicer people. It may have made this read less dark. In the end, the reader is still left asking why did this happen to this particular girl and how? Its message doesn't bode well for the happiness of women in a society who's media determines the beauty of a woman and comes across as a 'what if' story about an unattractive girl written by an attractive one.
[...]
Rating:
Summary: Easy to read but why bother?
Review: Even though I read this really quickly and I enjoyed reading it. Allison Penny doesn't seem like a real character to me. Yes, she made me laugh, and I could empathize with her feelings. However, her character did things that didn't seem believable for someone who has felt ugly her whole life. She wakes up beautiful and suddenly has confidence to spare? I think there would still be vestiges of her former hermit-like self there. Granted this was a modern sort of fairytale but the characters were too caricature like. They didn't have much depth and their behaviors, except for Allison, were too predictable. It is a quick, easy read but there is something missing.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to read but why bother?
Review: Even though I read this really quickly and I enjoyed reading it. Allison Penny doesn't seem like a real character to me. Yes, she made me laugh, and I could empathize with her feelings. However, her character did things that didn't seem believable for someone who has felt ugly her whole life. She wakes up beautiful and suddenly has confidence to spare? I think there would still be vestiges of her former hermit-like self there. Granted this was a modern sort of fairytale but the characters were too caricature like. They didn't have much depth and their behaviors, except for Allison, were too predictable. It is a quick, easy read but there is something missing.
Rating: 
Summary: Wry and dark
Review: Fat, homely, no--ugly Allison wakes up one morning to find herself suddenly and mysteriously super model perfect. As with most Cinderella stories, Allison keeps her own intelligent, usually pleasant personality during the transformation. However, she discovers that the world is different and easier for attractive people--men are infatuated with her, jobs fall into her lap, she is able to get revenge on her nasty room mate, and she finally gets a date with the average guy fat Allison has had a crush on.
Underlying the transormation plot is Allison's relationship with her adoptive parents. Her adopted mother is an alcoholic, and her adoptive father has refused to see or speak to her since she was five. Allison has never sought out her birth mother, assuming her mother would reject Allison as most other people in the world have.
Waking Beauty is dark, cynical, funny, and intriguing. The characters may not be as well developed as they could be, the plot is well done and vibrant, creating an engrossing and enjoyable novel.
Rating:
Summary: Love it or hate it, it will get you thinking.
Review: Heroine: Stout, then willowy
At the ripe old age of 22, Allison Penny is already sick of life. Her alcoholic mother berates her at every possible chance. The young woman is barely making it as a cleaning lady. And she is rooming with a sex fiend who only serves to remind Allison that her own love life has always and will always be in the toilet because, in a word, Allison Penny is ugly. Well, two words. Not just ugly, but fat.
But all that changes one morning when Allison miraculously awakens to find herself in a new body, one that transcends the supermodel class. Yet after all those years of being certain that a new appearance would be the answer to the pain in her heart, Allison-the-beauty discovers that perfection personified isn't necessarily all that it's cracked up to be.
What worked for me:
This was a very funny book that took a tongue-in-cheek look at the realities of what a person's appearance means in the world--especially a woman's. The choice of characters and settings were excellent, even if they weren't always fully developed. They really helped the reader to delve into the subject of a caste system based upon personal beauty or lack thereof.
I felt that the author made it easy to relate to Allison, both before and after her "miracle". I fully understood the need for Allison-the-ugly to run away into fantasyland and daydream the way she did. And I have to admit there was a certain pleasure to riding along with Allison-the-beauty during her payback times, but the vendettas I enjoyed most weren't a direct result of her new attractiveness.
The ly adverbs that popped up here and there kept catching my eye, but other than that I really enjoyed the writing style in this book. Some of the visuals that the author painted were just wonderful.
Size-wise, prior to turning into a living Barbie doll, Allison was squat, flat, and flabby with unattractive features all the way around. But not only females suffered from beauty discrimination in this novel. Allison's guy pal Nathan was overlooked many times because he was merely average in appearance.
What didn't work for me:
There were times when reading this book left me feeling downright depressed, but I don't want to give anything away so I can't tell you why.
I would have liked to have had some concrete idea of why and how this change occurred in Allison.
Overall:
A great book for the bubble bath or beach, but there is plenty of deeper thinking here about the nuances of the human psyche that would make it a terrific subject for a women's studies discussion group.
Warning: there are some coarse words and some sexual scenarios, as well as weight loss, in this book.
If you liked "Waking Beauty" you might also enjoy "Jemima J.", "Fat Chance", "Separation Anxiety", "The Way It Is", "Inappropriate Men", "Coffee and Kung Fu", "What a Girl Wants", "Getting Over It", "Bridget Jones's Diary", "Good in Bed", "Last Chance Saloon", and "Having It and Eating It".
Rating:
Summary: A story of revenge and self-realization
Review: Imagine that you are an overweight, unattractive woman whose life revolves around your job as a cleaning lady, your patronizing roommate, and your unrequited crush on the average man of your dreams. Allison Penny's life is like this...she turns to food for solace, has an adoptive father who has cut her out of his life, and an alcoholic mother who just can't be nice.
Now imagine that you wake up one morning transformed into a beautiful goddess-like creature. What would you do? You'd probably do what Allison does...buy some sexy new clothes, used your newfound power to seduce men, and exact some revenge on the people who tormented you when you were, well, not so attractive.
The problem is that Allison is still an insecure, plain person on the inside and has to balance that out with her gorgeous appearance which is easier said than done.
After she embarks on a plan to steal her mean roommate's boyfriend, confront her father, and ruin her mother, she discovers some revelations about her prior life that shatter her. Can she figure out who she really is and will she find love with the rich, handsome power-player or her Average Joe, Nathan?
This is a dark and sometimes depressing look at how your life would remain very much the same even if it changed for the better overnight...but a story well-told!
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of time
Review: This book leaves too many questions to be answered. Why did she wake up "perfect"? Why didn't video boy want to be with her until she was beautiful? Why couldn't he see her for what she was? Why do we care? Allison is never likeable; the cast of characters is sad and one-dimensional; there is no real social commentary or insight in any of the poorly written chapters. I enjoy a fluffy fairy tail as much as the next chick but this one is a sad tail and not worthy of the 50-cent bin at Borders.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of time
Review: This book leaves too many questions to be answered. Why did she wake up "perfect"? Why didn't video boy want to be with her until she was beautiful? Why couldn't he see her for what she was? Why do we care? Allison is never likeable; the cast of characters is sad and one-dimensional; there is no real social commentary or insight in any of the poorly written chapters. I enjoy a fluffy fairy tail as much as the next chick but this one is a sad tail and not worthy of the 50-cent bin at Borders.
Rating:
Summary: A modern fairy tale
Review: this is a fiercely funny book. It's not silly or frivolous, but it is incredibly funny, sharp and has lots of great twists and turns. Nothing is as you expect in WAKING BEAUTY, but you'll enjoy every minute of reading it. I was actually disappointed when i finished it because I wanted it to be longer.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: This is the story about an overweight, exceptionally homely woman who wakes up one morning with the body and face of a supermodel. The story doesn't try to explain how this happened, and for me this wasn't a problem. Once you accept the premise, I felt the author did have some interesting things to say about Beauty, and how powerful a force it is in our culture. I give this book 4 stars because I thought it was a quick, fun, entertaining read. It's not simply a Revenge book, although it's that. It's also a mirror on how our society works.
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