Customer Reviews
fabulous book 
2009-01-06
this book puts a fabulous spin on every woman's quest to lose weight- at times i was laughing out loud because i know first hand how she feels!
Great book besides the personal infomercials 
2009-01-05
I really enjoyed the sarcasm and reality of this book. It was an easy and fun read. The only thing that annoyed me was the regular personal infomercials in the footnotes of the book telling you to go buy her other books or her friends' books. Also the Weight Watchers section also seemed very infomercially (did she really need to explain the entire program to us?). I'm not sure if I am taken enough by her to want to read her other books either. I dont regret reading it, but it was one I could live without too.
Pages of Humor 
2008-12-31
The book is funny, reminiscent of Wendy McClure's I'm Not the New Me. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if they were written by the same person under a psuedonym (spell check?). But they're not...I've seen pictures. The ONLY thing that kept me from giving this book the full 5 stars is that the footnotes at the bottom of most pages are really distracting. The other thing that bugs me is that while the book was chock full of humor, there really wasn't a whole lot of insight (except when it came to Weight Watchers meetings). And I'm sorry, but I LIKE "where a self-loathing heroine is teased to the point where she starves herself skinny in hopes of a fabulous new life." That heroine is me...except I'm not skinny. And I don't think anyone would read my book. Such is life!
Loved this one 2008-12-29
Okay, so this book isn't an in your face weight loss tale, but I loved it! The humor was biting and irreverent and very funny. I think if a person didn't read through to the end they would miss the eureka moment. As a large woman who often reads weight loss memoirs for inspiration, this one spoke to me.
Thank goodness for Jen Lancaster 2008-12-16
This is not another one of those whiny memoirs where the woman goes on and on for pages about how much she hates her thighs and why it's all her mother's fault. Most books about being an overweight woman are told by a narrator who is probably about ten pounds overweight at the most and who proceeds to lose those ten pounds through some form of extreme dieting. As someone who has struggled, and is still struggling, with her weight I especially enjoyed the realism of Jen's story.
Jen Lancaster did not hate herself at her heaviest and the only pressure that she felt to lose weight is from wanting to be healthier, not "prettier." She sells a book deal that revolves around her attempt to get fit and writing about her experience along the way. As we follow Jen's daily life of attempting to cook healthier and going to the gym, we are treated to hilarious anecdotes and insights.
Instead of making me want to hurl Low Fat Fig Newtons at the writer's head like other books I've read, Such a Pretty Fat made me feel like Jen and I would be great friends. Going out with her would never be boring! She is the Everywoman that dieting books so desperately needed.
Fat is the new Self Centered 
2008-12-09
A NOTE FROM JEN LANCASTER: "To whom the fat rolls…I'm tired of books where a self-loathing heroine is teased to the point where she starves herself skinny in hopes of a fabulous new life. And I hate the message that women can't possibly be happy until we all fit into our skinny jeans. I don't find these stories uplifting; they make me want to hug these women and take them out for fizzy champagne drinks and cheesecake and explain to them that until they figure out their insides, their outsides don't matter. Unfortunately, being overweight isn't simply a societal issue that can be fixed with a dose healthy of positive self-esteem. It’s a health matter, and here on the eve of my fortieth year, I've learned I have to make changes so I don't, you know,
die. Because what good if finally being able to afford a pedicure if I lose a foot to adult onset diabetes?"
Laughed my fat @$$ off 2008-11-28
... well not really. Fat @$$ is still there, but I swear my abs are a little tighter now.
Before choosing a book without a personal recommendation, I always look at the negative reviews. Sometimes, they actually make me want to buy the book, but in this case, they (along with the titles of her other books) were almost enough to make me say no. If I weren't nearly desperate for reading material, I'd never have bought the book. I learned that it disparages Weight Watchers (which more-or-less saved my life), and that the author is too self-centered to even be funny.
Well, all I can say to those who wrote negative reviews is "Get a sense of humor!" This book is one of the funniest things I've ever read. Yes, Jen is self centered -- about as self centered as most of us -- but more honest about it (and a lot funnier.)
Jen loves shoe-shopping, fashion, and (if I get the context right) overpriced purses. I'm a fashion retard, and hate shopping, especially for shoes (and almost as much for purses.) In the first chapter, she disparages the town I live in, which I actually like (for the most part.) She reviles the soccer moms with minivans, and I do own a minivan (although I try very hard never to actually drive the monstrosity), and my son does play soccer.
So why, when I'm reading this book, do I feel like it's me talking? My husband picked it up and read a few paragraphs from the middle. He says, "Tell me the truth. You're secretly writing books now under the pen name Jen Lancaster, aren't you?"
Jen speaks her mind (saying what plenty of women wish they had the guts to say), and she's freakin' funny. I'm not so sure about the title, though. Sometimes, I'm pretty sure pie IS the answer...
Ambivalent... 2008-11-24
I have mixed feelings about this book. I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it, and parts of it were extremely funny and true. That being said, I have to say I found myself disliking the author. As someone who struggles with her weight, I fear her book may stereotype overweight people as extremely gluttinous and lazy-which I, and many overweight individuals, am not. Then again, you have to realize that she's being honest about her own behavior and sometimes truth isn't pretty. I think what horrified me the most is her description of her and her family spending fourth of July in the pool and not bothering to leave to pee because that's what chlorine is for. Please tell me she was joking, because if she's that lazy she needs a psychiatrist, not a weight loss counselor.
Her behavior to strangers also repelled me. During her opening scene in the book, she relates being called "a fat bitch," by a stranger, because she was insisting leaving through the nearer exit on the bus although it was being blocked by a child in a stroller. Instead of going to the next exit like a normal person would, she chooses instead to get into an altercation with the father of the baby. I'm not sure what she was going for by relating this incident, maybe she thought she'd get admiration from others and a you go, girl! But I just found her obnoxious and spoiled. Again, are you that lazy that you'd fight with a stranger rather than walk five feet?
The close of the book sees her getting called a fat bitch again, this time by a heroin addict who accosts her in the park. Again, instead of just nicely brushing the addict off and going on her merry way, Lancaster chooses to be extremely nasty and rude and tell this woman off, who responds predictably. After all, who is Jen Lancaster to tell a stranger how to live their life?
I guess what I am trying to say is, although the book is entertaining and there were times I felt she was right on target in her descriptions (such as Weight Watcher's meetings) I didn't feel much empathy and/or sympathy for Lancaster herself. She was not a likable character...I sort of ended the book thinking she was rude, nasty, mean...someone who doesn't contribute anything meaningful to society and revels in her own indulgence and frivolity.
Terribly funny, even if you think the author is kind of terrible 2008-11-22
I've read all of Jen Lancaster's books (all humorous memoirs), to date, and, while I enjoy them, I gotta' say I don't know if I'd want to be this person's friend--at least not the person she writes about as herself. I've been called the B-word plenty of times myself, but many of the things the author says, or does (her epic battles with neighbors and the world at large), are pretty far out there and things I'd never even dream up, let alone consider acting on. Regardless, Lancaster is a great storyteller. Funny, nimble and never self-aware (at least not in a bad way). She certainly doesn't protect herself in her writing--or anyone else for that matter. (Reading her books gives you the idea her husband should be nominated for sainthood.) Her blog, jennsylvania.com, which kick-started her original book, Bitter is the new Black, is also a hoot and a I think Such a Pretty Fat is by far her funniest effort, though that could be because I have also struggled with my weight. Like her or hate her, or something in between, Lancaster is a reliably laugh-out-loud funny author.
Such a Pretty Fat is Such a Pretty Funny Read 2008-11-18
I enjoyed this book. I happened to just pick it up because it was on a table. Since reading the book I have become an avid reader of her blog and just ordered her other two books. She is like the friend you meet up with every so often to catch up and get the load down of their weird and bizarre life, you laugh so hard at their stories because you just can't believe that actually happens to someone.
This was a fun read and I would suggest it to everyone!
