Review: Waisted by Randy Susan Meyers

Waisted

by Randy Susan Meyers

Publisher: Atria Books

Pages: 288

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Alice and Daphne, both successful and accomplished working mothers, harbor the same secret: obsession with their weight overshadows concerns about their children, husbands, work—and everything else of importance in their lives. Scales terrify them.

Daphne, plump in a family of model-thin women, learned only slimness earns admiration at her mother’s knee. Alice, break-up skinny when she met her husband, risks losing her marriage if she keeps gaining weight.

The two women meet at Waisted. Located in a remote Vermont mansion, the program promises fast, dramatic weight loss, and Alice, Daphne, and five other women are desperate enough to leave behind their families for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The catch? They must agree to always be on camera; afterward, the world will see Waisted: The Documentary.

The women soon discover that the filmmakers have trapped them in a cruel experiment. With each pound lost, they edge deeper into obsession and instability...until they decide to take matters into their own hands.

Kritters Thoughts:  Alice and Daphne both have lives that many would envy - careers, husbands, families, but with each carrying around a bit of extra weight they decide to make a big change and go to a remote Vermont mansion to hopefully send their lives in new directions.  

The experience at Waisted was an interesting behind the scenes.  It reminded me of the tv show The Biggest Loser and although I didn't watch that show religiously I caught it a few times and I wondered how close some of these women experiences were to that show.  To hear how hard they were working and what little change they would see in their bodies was so hard to read.    

This book had me questioning my own health which doesn't happen often when I read fiction.  I have gone through ups and downs with my health and weight, so to read a fiction book with women at the center and the unique experience it is to be a woman and fight to be near the "ideal weight", I enjoyed reading this one.  

I am not sure how often I want to read about this, but I am glad that books like this one exist.  


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2019 Challenge: 24 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Atria Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.