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| Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest To Discover if Her Life Makes Her Ass LookBig, Or Why Pie is Not The Answer | 
 enlarge | Author: Jen Lancaster
Publisher: NAL Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $7.22
You Save: $6.78 (48%)
New (48) Used (33) from $6.67
Avg. Customer Rating:  80 reviews
Sales Rank: 2266
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 0451223896
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780451223890
ASIN: 0451223896
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Trade size softcover as shown. GIFT QUALITY. UUC I ship daily
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| Customer Reviews:
 Waste of Time August 15, 2008
9 out of 17 found this review helpful
I like to read truth more than fiction, and really enjoy a good laugh, so this seemed like a smart choice for some light summer reading. But as soon as I started this book, I was immediately annoyed by the author and found her to be less than likeable, due to her egotistical style and irritating footnotes, which I did not find amusing or funny. But I decided to give the book a chance because of the favorable reviews I had read, so I continued on. I was interested to read a humorous yet true story about someone's quest to lose weight.
About halfway through, when the author talks about her publisher buying her book pitch and giving her the cash advance to write it, I became disturbed. I realized that her motivation to lose weight wasn't for health purposes but instead for her "career", which anyone can read through the lines and translate into "money". Once it became her job to lose weight, she went to the gym obsessively and worked out with a trainer, attended Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers meetings, and generally made it her life's goal to lose the weight and get in shape. I personally would rather read a story about someone who takes it upon herself to lose weight in order to feel better, while AT THE SAME TIME having a real life like the rest of us, including going to work, raising children, etc, all of which are time consuming responsibilities that don't always allow us to have daily personal training sessions. The author's only responsibilities were walking her dogs and cooking her husband dinner. Not to mention, the dialogue in this book seems so contrived and unbelievable. I really found it hard to believe most of the written dialogue was ever actually spoken word.
All in all, this book hardly qualifies as a memoir in my eyes as it just wasn't believable. Nor was it funny or something that most career women can relate to. To make matters worse, the author did not even attain her goal and was still quite overweight at the story's conclusion, finishing with a net loss of just 18 pounds. If you want to read some absolutely hilarious true stories I highly recommend Chelsea Handler's books.
Such a pretty fat June 6, 2008
8 out of 21 found this review helpful
This is SUCH a bad book, a whining unhelpful rank about overeating. Not helpful at all or even all that funny.........
 HI-FREAKIN-LARIOUS! May 15, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I howled with laughter and nodded knowingly throughout this book. Jen, please, please tell me you will write about house shopping next?
First Diet Book To Ever Make Me Laugh! Great Read May 29, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have read all of Jen Lancaster's books and "Such A Pretty Fat" is a funny diet book! I love Jen's sarcastic, smart-alecky way of looking at people, things and life. She takes us down the road of Atkins, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers and personal trainers and makes us laugh while we are rooting for her to lose the pounds. My favorite part if where Jen's husband Fletch is eating some French Toast and she can't have any because she is on Atkins. You'll laugh till you cry. If you've never read Jen's books before, personally, I would start with "Bitter Is The New Black" and read her books in sequence. You don't have to but I think the story flows better if you read them in the order she wrote them. Jen, I hope you continue writing more books about your life.... can't wait for your book when you hit menopause in your 50's. I'm sure it will be a riot as you deal with hormonal changes!!! Anyway, back to her current books, buy Jen's books and read them in order. They are hilarious.
 very annoying June 29, 2008
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
Jen is a self discribed narcissist who wakes up to realize, after years of stuffing her face...that she is Fat. She bacially whines throughout the book on how hard it is to loose weight and makes everyone around her pay for it. She is sharp witted and funny lots of times, but I wondered more than once that some of her "snarky" dialouge comes out of her imagination rather than factual events. She comes off as a cartoon chartacter, not a real person. She claims "fear" is what has kept her from growing-up, but she never lets the reader into what that is all about. She criticizes Weight Watchers Meetings because they talk about "feelings" too much and felt "those people" needed therapy. She may want to use some of her royalties on a good shrink. She is clearly a legend in her own mind. I was disappointed because what could have been a thoughtful, insightful journey ends up wetting the bed. She is a walking sterotype of the "bitter fat girl" who projects her own fears on to others. In her journey to loose weight she makes fun of the homeless, disabled and the poor and at the end, although more fit is still fat. It is hard to have sympathy for her when others, call her a "fat b" I think it is a sad commentary that weight loss is such a triumph and worthy of publishing..I am all for living healthy and spreading education about obesity but really these "personal accounts" are boring and pathetic. I am not sure why this book got published....I mean I go to Target all the time, do others really want to read about it??? All and All I got suckered in by marketing and what appears to be false, contrived reviews...a poor memoir*
* The footnotes are a distraction and stupid, save your money
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