Zaftig: Well Rounded Erotica

Rating:
Summary: ...YUMMMY!
Review: At first I didn't know what to expect reading this book. And while some of the short stories are a reach to reality...all I needed some privacy, a lil' chocolate and smoke for afterwards!

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring and Fulfilling, but Unarousing
Review: I commend the book for pioneering a new section of the genre of erotica. I definitely found several real gems in the book that made it worth 10 times it's buying price, like "Breathing Lessons," and "Flesh Love," real works of absolute art. I've read them over and over and over, particularly "Breathing Lessons", which makes me cry every time. But I didn't find these two particularly erotic.
On the negative side, I didn't really feel like it focused on the desires of the average reader. This wouldn't have bothered me so much, except that since this is the only book that I know of that focuses on the zaftig figure, so I would have hoped for something that was perhaps a little less broad in it's ambitions. At times it even sort of felt like a compilation of obscure fetishes, like in the story "How Loretta Got a Schlong" - weird, not exotic, not quirky, not on the edge, just weird. There were several of those, like sex with a very old man, or masturbating with an idol which then becomes a fat gay man who then has sex with his male lover and then turns into a woman. It also felt as if most of them focused on butch lesbians - which had their place to be certain, but it really felt like they were the spot light. All of these would have been fine in a book several times it's length.
Overall, this is absolutely worth purchasing, but I wouldn't really plan on being aroused, it's just a really good read. You'll find maybe one or two that make you breathe heavily or move your soul, and they really are absolutely worth it. I'll be the first to buy a sequel if it comes out! Really, honest to goodness worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: More than Erotica Stories..
Review: I didn't know what to expect when I started reading this book.., but I wish someone had really warned me! I haven't been able to find anyone who shares my same drive for sex and erotica, unitl I read this book. All I needed was this book, some privacy and a little bit of chocolate, and I was a very satisfied woman!

Rating:
Summary: four brillant pieces; good quality otherwise
Review: If you get this book be careful: if you think that erotica is only hot sex, then you may be disappointed. Here, and in much of the erotica I like personally, erotica also means literature where sex and sexuality play an important role in characters' lives. This is a collection of stories about larger people who battle the social idea of "thin is sexy" and the people who empower or challenge them. There is plenty of hot scenes here for het and lesbians (I'd say it was about 50/50), nothing really for gay men however. Most of the characters are larger women with the men usually not described. The quality of the pieces varies but four were my favorite for their uniqueness and power to draw me into the tale. These were pieces by Catherine Lundoff,Eleanor Brown, Veronica Kelly, and Diana Lee (two lesbiand and two het piece by the way).

Rating:
Summary: four brillant pieces; good quality otherwise
Review: If you get this book be careful: if you think that erotica is only hot sex, then you may be disappointed. Here, and in much of the erotica I like personally, erotica also means literature where sex and sexuality play an important role in characters' lives. This is a collection of stories about larger people who battle the social idea of "thin is sexy" and the people who empower or challenge them. There is plenty of hot scenes here for het and lesbians (I'd say it was about 50/50), nothing really for gay men however. Most of the characters are larger women with the men usually not described. The quality of the pieces varies but four were my favorite for their uniqueness and power to draw me into the tale. These were pieces by Catherine Lundoff,Eleanor Brown, Veronica Kelly, and Diana Lee (two lesbiand and two het piece by the way).

Rating:
Summary: YUMMMMM
Review: This collection of stories celebrates the rich lustiness of larger women, and in a couple of cases, larger men. It's one of the few erotica collections that makes it loud and clear that large women are sexy too. As I read some of these stories, I imagined myself as being the lucky person to be with some of the gorgeous creatures described in these stories.

As far as there not being enough so-called "straight" stories, well I'm sorry but a collection of "all het" stories would be boring. Thank goodness Hanne chose all spectrums of sexuality, not just a narrow band. And heck, seems to me there were enough "het stories" here to satisfy most people. And I certainly don't mind the "girl-girl" stories by any means, but that probably has something to do with my being one of those dreaded "straight males."

Hooray to Hanne Blank for an anthology that proves large women are desireable and darn sexy.

Rating:
Summary: Buy this book --- you won't be sorry!
Review: This is the perfect book for fat chicks who are into other fat chicks. My husband got this book for me, since he appreciates my "well roundedness" and thought I might enjoy it.
I most certainly did not. I'm not saying what I read wasn't well written, but not for me. It's pretty much 95% Lesbian, 2 1/2% Fat Guy, and 2% Hetero Woman. A completely unbalanced and, in my opinion, unfair ratio. There's precious little erotica out there for straight women as it is. I mean, even Playgirl is predominately for Gay men (and it shows).
When he ordered the book, the Lesbian aspect wasn't very prominent. There's nothing about it on the cover either. I've got nothing against what other people want to do in the privacy of their own homes, I just resent us having spent the money for something so wholely (no pun intended) inadequate for its purpose.

Rating:
Summary: (3.5 stars) Worthy, and Somewhat Flawed
Review: Zaftig is something that a lot of people have been waiting a long time for. An erotica book featuring REAL people, by that I mean, heavier, fatter people, women and men alike. This is a collection of short stories by various erotica authors who I peronsally don't really know all that well. Now, even though beautiful fleshy figures are the spotlight here, there are still a couple of thin people featured in a few stories.
Now, although this is a good book and worth the purchase price (most places sell it around $10-$12), I wouldn't say I was 100% satisfied with it. Well, let's state the good and the bad.
Good things about this book are the variety of sexual situations presented, from the gay and lesbian, to one story featuring bondage acts, to a couple of others with straight couples. There is definitely something for everyone. The downfall to this is that depending on who you are, I don't think most people will be satisfied with this variety as most people really aren't into exaggerated freaky S&M type sex or even three-somes to dildo fetishes. I myself am a 22 year old straight non-overwieght male and the stories I found to be the most enticing were the ones featuring straight sex - a man with a heavy woman. The writing is also very commendable. Fat bodies are described with such force, reality, uniqueness, grace and beauty which I highly appreciated, and isn't the type of description the ignorant american media or masses would use to describe a heavy person. One story featured a fat and husky gay man and the skinny female student who has a huge crush on him and thinks about sex with him and his gay partner. What is interesting in this particular story is the way the big man is described; thick masculine arms, hefty, firm and empowering - definitely not something I'm used to and even though I'm not gay, it gave me a sort of an appreciation for the artistic figure of a big man's body. A few of the stories featured some comedic relief as well, always good. And really to top it all off, the women in these stories are simply ravishingly sexy in all their full-figured, soft and rounded forms!
Now the downside and why I gave this a 3.5. First off, not every story in this is a winner. There are about 3 or so that simply did nothing for me. With a plethora of different authors, you will notice a difference in creative writing. Some are ingeniously creative in their artistic and poetic descriptions, while others simply feel dry and stiff in stories like "The Model" and "Breathing Lessons" and the worst "Alphabet Soup." I was also getting bored w/ the balance of situations in this book. By that i mean that a good 70 - 80% of the stories featured lesbian erotica, and though I did enjoy the descriptions of these beautifully figured women, a lot of them were still described too many times as "butch" and such. Also, since I am a straight male, I would enjoy more straight sex oriented stories, I don't know i guess it just makes me free to picture myself in those situations. A lesbian female would give this a 5 star rating easily. A gay male would probably give this a 1 star rating. One final complaint - the book is just too short. There aren't enough stories in this and all of them are relatively short. Most avid readers will be able to finish this one in a day, easily. Slower readers shouldn't take any longer than a week.
Though it is great to finally see gorgeous fat women featured in sexual situations in all their splendid plentiful beauty (b/c yes, fat women have sex too, and yes they are as gorgeous and just as sexy as thin women), and though this is a wonderful start, people who are into REAL sex will still be left hungry for more even after this book. But for the cheap price, pick it up, there is great stuff in here!