Waisted by Randy Susan Meyers

Title: Waisted
Author: Randy Susan Meyers
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Women's Fiction
Published: May 21, 2019 by Atria Books

I want to thank Atria Books and NetGalley for giving me a copy of Waisted for review.

Alice and Daphne are both working mothers who struggle with their weight. Randy Susan Meyers explores issues of race and of course weight as they are experienced by these wonderful women. They sign up for a weight loss spa along with 5 other women, and agree to be filmed on their weight loss journey. They are promised a supportive and encouraging environment, but that is not what they get. The producers of this documentary are going to extremes to see what these women will do in order to lose weight. The contestants are pushed too far, and they decide to fight back.

I found the main characters really interesting and relatable. This novel discusses issues that go along with being overweight in the minds of the women, their families, and society as a whole. Some things that these women face are eating disorders, yo-yo dieting, binging on food, and bad self image. I also appreciated the authors look into exploitation of people's desire to lose weight in the media (documentaries, television, etc.). I felt myself sick for what the producers of the documentary were putting these women through, and I was glad they decided to take control. I also thought that the ending was well done, because it looked into life after significant weight loss. I really enjoyed these women's path to learning to love themselves. I would highly recommend this novel for those that are interested in issues surrounding weight and self image.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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