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After her father’s death, twenty-six-year-old Gray Lachmann findsherself compulsively eating. Desperate to stop bingeing, she abandonsher life in New York City for a job at a southern weight-losscamp. There, caught among the warring egos of her devious co-counselor,Sheena; the self-aggrandizing camp director, Lewis; his attractive assistant,Bennett; and a throng of combative teenage campers, she is confronted by acaptivating mystery: her teenage half-sister, Eden, whom Gray never knewexisted. Now, while unraveling her father’s lies, Gray must tackle her ownself-deceptions and take control of her body and her life.
Visceral, poignant, and often wickedly funny, Skinny illuminates a youngwoman’s struggle to make sense of the link between hunger and emotion, andto make peace with her demons, her body, and herself.
Diana Spechler received her MFA from the University of Montana and was a Steinbeck Fellow at San José State University from 2004 to 2005. Her fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train Stories, Moment, Lilith, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City.
Every woman young or old has a body image issue of some type. Big nose, big hips, fat thighs, or all of the above. It is a rare woman that does not have a body issue of some type. After Gray eats her grief, "fat camp" is really the place for her. She is not the most perfect heroine by any stretch of the imagination. She is deeply flawed in several ways, but it wasn't until camp that she started to realize that being flawed is okay. I think that is a critical message for all women, particularly teens. Overall I think Skinny was a good book. Another book for the beach bag, bikini or not.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.MJohnmay291958
Posted November 22, 2011
I really thought this book was too negative, the main character Gray, had lost her Dad and went to work at a camp for kids to lose weight, It moved really slow and didnt all come together until the last chapter, It was a book-club selection, and the only reason I finished it,was not enjoyable!
2 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted September 5, 2012
I really enjoyed this book and could not put it down. I think I really related to the main character in the book as I've struggled with body issues my whole life however I think just about any woman could read this and relate. Your emotions will ride through out the course of the book from laughter to suspense to tears and you will enjoy the whole way through!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.dayzd89
Posted May 18, 2013
4.5 stars
Skinny is a beautiful, deeply layered and complex novel about many things. I could say it's about a woman's unhealthy relationship with food, or her voracious appetite to feel satisfied and secure through things such as food and sex. It's also about her relationship with her father who passed away, and the mourning that she still finds herself in. Yet those brief summaries wouldn't give the book justice.
To me, Skinny is about a woman who yes, isn't perfect. But who in this world doesn't have problems? This is a valid question that is brought up by Gray. Even though both men and women are brainwashed by our shallow society to look our best at all times, women are bombarded with images of fellow women with no tummy, no double chins, as little body fat as possible. Most of the time these models don't even look like that; they are photoshopped. So we strive to look like an impossible ideal, an image that we will never attain no matter how much we run, how little we eat, how many desserts we miss out on. Some people are naturally skinny, and there's nothing wrong with that. So what's wrong with being chubby or fat?
I can't say that I love Grey as a character completely because I won't lie, she pissed me off a lot throughout the book, especially when she distanced herself from Mikey, a guy who yes, has his faults, but I really think that he loved her. I just felt like grabbing her and asking her, just break up with him, why do you need to hurt him? But life isn't perfect like that. We're always going to hurt someone, whether intentional or not.
Some other reviews have said that this novel is extremely cruel toward overweight people and even promotes cheating. I am not skinny myself yet the situations in this book are sadly true, and reflect real life. There are so many people who suffer from eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and genuinely hate their body. Our society promotes this type of negative self criticism. We can't pretend that it doesn't exist because the problem won't go away. So I applaud Diana Spechler for writing about such a taboo subject, and I think she did a fantastic job on it.
And the cheating part? Well, no one ever cheats anymore, right? So we don't have to worry about that.
Anonymous
Posted September 15, 2012
Slow getting into the " meat" of the story, but thought provoking. Leaves you thinkig+ always a sign of a good novel.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Sheens1
Posted September 14, 2012
Inspired me to lose some weight so I would definitely recommend it!
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 9, 2012
If ur on go to next result
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.It's the equivalent of a chick-flick/Lifetime Network movie. DEFINITELY written/focused from a feminine slant. Enjoyed the story and LOVED the plot twist regarding the main character's "relative" Well done! If I saw this title on Lifetime, I'd watch to make sure they did the book justice.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 28, 2012
Good summer read
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
After her father’s death, twenty-six-year-old Gray Lachmann findsherself compulsively eating. Desperate to stop bingeing, she abandonsher life in New York City for a job at a southern weight-losscamp. There, caught among the warring egos of her devious co-counselor,Sheena; the self-aggrandizing camp director, Lewis; his attractive assistant,Bennett; and a throng of combative teenage campers, she is confronted by acaptivating mystery: her teenage half-sister, Eden, whom Gray never knewexisted. Now, while ...