Rating: 
Summary: this book rocked
Review: The fascinating book that i read is about a girl named Lara Ardeche with a perfect life that drastically changes. She's a junior in high school and has just won Homecoming queen. She weighs 118 and has been in many different beauty pageants. Her life turns upside down to her when she keeps gaining weight. This continues to the point that she weighs 218 lbs. She doesn't know what to do. She tried different diets,barfing, laxatives and even not eating at all. Nothing works. Her parents are having marital problems and she dumps her boyfriend Jett. Her best friend molly used to weigh a lot more than her and now she weighs more than her best friend. One doctor finally tells her that she might have Axell-Crowne syndrome. This is a disease that causes you to gain weight no matter how much you eat. And if you don't eat at all then you gain more faster. Her family soon finds out that her dad is having an affair they all move to Michigan so he doesn't see this Tamara woman again. She starts her senior year at a new school but ends up making friends with the geeks. She has a thing for piano so she starts taking private lessons and ends of meeting a ton i great new friends. This really starts to make her feel better about herself. She starts to like her life more and even starts losing weight. The disease might be wearing off. I would recommend this book ro people who like teen fiction. Read to see if her family stays together.
Rating: 
Summary: This was a great read!!
Review: The teen theme of this book is about being fat and how other people treat you, even your parents, if you are overweight. Lara, the main character, had a "perfect" life......great friends, popularity, a handsome boyfriend and she just won Homecoming queen. THEN suddenly, her perfect life drastically changes. She goes from weighing 118 to weighing 218! She doesnt understand whats happening! She doesn't know what to do. She tries different things...diets, making herself throw-up, laxatives...she evens tries to go without eating. Nothing works. Making thing worse is, she dumps her boyfriend Jett, her best friend Molly used to weigh more than her and now she weighs MORE, and her parents are having marital problems. She is no longer one of the "cool" kids. Finally, her doctor tells her that she probably has the syndrome, Axell-Crowne. This disease causes you to gain weight no matter how much you eat. She moves to Michigan and begins her senior year at a new school. She ends up making friends with the so-called "geeks". But she feels ok. Some of her new friends are different, too. She starts to feel better about herself. She starts to like her life more and even starts losing weight. The disease might be wearing off. She is visited by Molly and her ex-boyfriend, and that makes her feel even better. In the end I think she's feeling alot better about herself, but it took alot of saddness first.
This story is so real. I would recommend this book because it really explains how people and society feel about you if you are fat. Once Lara was popular because of the way she looked then she was unpopular because of the way she looked. It was sad to read about what people do to you if you fat.........even what you'll do to yourself to make yourself "thin".
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Look at How Teens View the Overweight
Review: Sixteen-year-old Lara Lynn Ardeche has everything any normal high school junior would want. She's absolutely gorgeous, has the perfect figure, perfect boyfriend, is a beauty queen, the most popular girl in school, and homecoming queen. All that disappears when suddenly she begins gaining tons of weight at a rapid speed, and all of the exercising and dieting she tries doesn't seem to help at all. Now she's become an overweight (she weighs over 200 pounds), nameless, face in the crowd, and has lost everything that she worked to earn for the last sixteen years, thanks to a mysterious metabolic disorder with no cure. Will everyone who acted like they loved her suddenly leave her in the dust?Cherie Bennett has created a novel that will hit hard with teenage girls of all ages, as weight gain, eating disorders, looks, etc. dominate what we see on TV, in movies, hear in music, and are subjected to at school every single day of our lives. Lara is a down-to-earth character, whom readers will sympathize with, as she goes through many different emotions, and pants sizes. A must-have book for all teenage girls, as it is a much-needed book for us all. Erika Sorocco
Rating:
Summary: Finding out it's not about size when your own gets bigger.
Review: Lara Ardeche has it all-popularity, a cool boyfriend, a great best friend,and a size 1.Things are great-that is until she gains weight-and not just 1 or 2 pounds. Not only that but it won't stop. It's every teen's worst nightmare come true. Join Lara as she learns about how life is-in the Fat Lane.This was a great book.The characters are realistic and believeable.I found that all the characters were like people that you meet in every day life, they could be you, someone like you or someone you know. Lara is who every girl wants to be and at the same time how every girl should learn to be without having to have a tremendous weight gain.It's a perfect example of how our society is unaccepting of people with weight problems.This book really makes you think twice about how you treat people because tommorow it could be you.Sometimes people forget that and this book is a good reminder.When I read this book it remeinded me a lot of how my school is,from Patty Asher-the school'! s overweight girl that everyone makes fun of to Molly the slightly overweight girl who is pressured to lose weight even though she's perfectly healthy to Lara and the in crowd who makes it hard for everyone.I would recommend this book to anyone because it helps you to see that size is only a number.
Rating:
Summary: How "Life in the Fat Lane" helped me.
Review: As I flipped through "Life in the Fat Lane" I realized that being thin isn't everything. I was moved to tears many times while reading this wonderful novel. I found myself seeing how I was hurting my body while trying to lose weight. I've always been over weight and when I heard of this book I told myself that I would read it and take its information into consideration. Being from a small town where you find yourself out of work unless you look "good" is hard especially when you are a teenager. This book by Cherie Bennett made me realize that you don't have to look like a model for someone to care about you. In our society we tend to judge people on how they look, this book tells us that even the fattest person could have been Prom Queen, Model looking, or beautiful at one time. I have now tryed not to get down on myself when I find something doesn't fit, or I feel fat, whatever the case may be. It takes a lot to change many years of socie! ty saying, "NO you can't do this" and "NO you can't wear that", all because of the way you look. Thanks a lot Cherie for writting a book that made me see the light!
Rating:
Summary: endings..
Review: totally for
anybody.
beautifully written
with the most wanted position in high school society to
another aspect Cherie Bennett captured it all.
Rating:
Summary: Fat Girl
Review: A Review by Alexi This book is about how Lara Ardeche's life changes from her school's perfect, California girl, homecoming queen, to being the 220-pound reject at an unfriendly school of people in Montana. After Lara is diagnosed with Axell-Crowne Syndrome her whole life starts to unravel. The disease makes her put on an enormous amount of weight, and to a family whose strive on perfection, this is simply unacceptable. As Lara keeps putting on weight, things happen that reveal all the things that were never so perfect about her life at all. This book is about growing up, dealing with insecurities, and knowing who your true friends are. One of the things I liked a lot about this book was how realistically the author made Lara's feelings. She knew what she was talking about, obviously, because I could relate and understand some of the things Lara was feeling. And although Lara's situation was a bit extreme (gaining 100 pounds in a year) it was also quite believable. I enjoyed the pace at which the book went, too. No huge events ever happen in the book, but there were always little events going on to keep your attention but not put you into shock. The last big thing that really opened up my mind was how the story showed that no matter how perfect you think someone's life may be, there are always imperfections that either are being purposefully hidden or the person is completely oblivious to-but every secret is bound to come out at some time. There wasn't really anything I particularly did not like about this book. I would recommend this book to all girls from 8th to 12th grade. Since most of the addressed issues are relevant to mainly females in that age group, those would be the people most interested in this book. I loved it and I plan on reading all of this of this author's other's other books.
Rating:
Summary: Life in the FAT Lane -- AMAZING NOVEL !!!
Review: As a teenager I love reading books that I can relate to, and Life in the Fat Lane is the best, addicting, funny, amazing, realistic, favorite book I have read in my fourteen years of life. In a weird way I can relate to the book, how the character, Lara, thinks, and the problems that surround her. How life is not perfect, and everybody has issues that you can overcome. I could not stop reading this book, I actually got involved with the book and understood every single thing about it. I liked how it read in the novel how a doctor felt more superior to its patient because he had gotten AIDS from a needle and not transmitted sexually, and how should Lara not feel superior to other fat people because she had a disease and that was her excuse. When I finished the book, I just felt like reading more, reading actually became more interesting for me, I discovered I liked reading books that I could relate to, novels that include real life problems. This is the best novel I have ever read! I really look foward into reading more novels from Cherie Bennett.
Rating:
Summary: Body Changes Causes Teenager to See the World Differently
Review: Life in the Fat Lane is an interesting book that tells of the life of a teenager whose mind and body changes due to a metabolic disease. Lara Ardeche, a former beauty pageant contestent, has been diagnosed with a disease known as Axel-Crowne. She gains an immense amount of weight in a short period of time and goes through social problems with her family and friends. The elements setting and style, theme, and characters make this book interesting and captures you in the story. The setting changes throughout the story making it seem that Lara is a real girl. Living in Nashville, Tennesee opens up many opportunities for Lara. Before Lara gains weight, she is submerged in beauty pageants and surrounded by friends and family concerned about self image. When she gains weight, family problems emerge and the family moves to Michigan to start a new life. She learns to make new friends and contiue with her life. Cherie Bennett's writing style is distinct from other authors. The chapter titles are the weight that Lara is and the last chapter is open ended and left for you to determine. During the book the theme is forced at the reader many times. However it doesn't keep the reader from enjoying the book, the theme does teach a valuable lesson about prejudice and intolerance. The characters within the story are very well delineated due to the great thought provoking words Bennett put together. Main characters in the story are important to the meaning and understanding of the book. This book is hard to put down and would be a joy to read for any age group. Due to the wonderful elements that bring together the book, we give Life in the Fat Lane 4 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Life In the Fat Lane
Review: At 16, Lara Lynn Ardeche is living out an all-American dream. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed member of the Honor Society has just been crowned Homecoming Queen and Miss Teen Pride of the South; she's got a promising future career in piano, and a fabulous boyfriend to share it with. The book opens with a question: "Which would you rather be, fat or dead?" (1). Lara replies without hesitation: "Fat. Pass me the chips" (1). But with 118 pounds on a slim and trim 5'7" frame, Lara doesn't think too hard about the question. That is, until she's diagnosed with a rare metabolic disorder called Axell-Crowne Syndrome. Regardless of what she eats, regardless of whether she eats at all, regardless of how much she exercises, Lara is gaining weight-lots of it, and very fast-and there's nothing she can do about it. The weight gain may prove permanent. At 200 pounds, Lara's world looks completely different. Through the creation of the fictitious Axell-Crowne, Bennett approaches the body from an inspiringly fresh angle. What makes "Life In the Fat Lane" so unique is the thoroughness of Bennett's treatment: through Lara's eyes, we confront some of the deepest social stigmas and the most dangerous ideals within Western culture. Anorexia, bulimia, the body's relationship to sexuality and gender, and prejudice against obesity all become part of Lara's journey to a new level of self-acceptance. An outstanding contribution to both Young Adult fiction and the anti-anorectic genre, this novel contains valuable lessons for readers of all ages. For more information on anorexia in literature, visit: www.livejournal.com/users/lifesize
|
