Fat Girl on a Plane
4.3
8
5
1
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780373212538 |
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| Publisher: | Harlequin |
| Publication date: | 06/05/2018 |
| Edition description: | Original |
| Pages: | 384 |
| Sales rank: | 471,153 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.30(d) |
| Age Range: | 13 - 18 Years |
About the Author
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Fat Girl on a Plane
4.3 out of 5
based on
0 ratings.
8 reviews.
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Well written and fun but with a message for everyone.
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Truly+a+work+of+art
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Great book!! Well written smart and sassy with a little bit of everything. Love it!
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This book seemed to have a lot of mixed reviews. I personally loved it much more than I thought I would. This book is about Cookie Vonn, a fashion blogger and designer who has lost over 100 lbs. It is written with 2 timelines of skinny Cookie vs. fat Cookie. Being a plus size woman, this made me put my hackles up a little at first but it turns out much better than I expected. In today's diet culture, we are told our lives will be much, much better if we lose weight. We can get whatever guy we want, whatever job we want, and be happy all the time. This book did a great job of addressing the truth of that issue. Cookie almost had too many tense relationships that all didn't get resolved. She has a complicated relationship with most people in this novel. I would have liked to have seen more of a resolution, but like real life there isn't a start and finish to a relationship with a neat resolution. Her relationship with her boss did seem a little fifty shades of grey and didn't seem to really add much to the novel. The plot felt a little scattered at some points, but I loved the overall theme of the novel and the ending. I'm not quite sure with her slightly creepy sexual relationship with her boss it should be ready by anyone too young, but I would recommend it to people in their 20s or 30s.
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Cookie Vonn is the overweight daughter of a supermodel and a doctor, raised by her grandmother, since neither of her parents have time for her. Her dreams are to be thin, marry her best friend Tommy, and make designer clothes for women of all sizes. She starts out with an amazing opportunity writing for a blog, but then a rival challenges her at every turn. On her journey toward her weight loss and fashion goals, Cookie realizes it isn’t being fat that made her unhappy, nor even all the encounters with her archenemy. Fat Girl on a Plane is a hilarious revealing of the fashion industry and the struggles of overweight women, and is a testament that women need to learn to love ourselves more, and compare less, while achieving our goals.
For discussion questions, similar books, quotes, and a matching recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes with safe, edible Cookie Dough Frosting, visit http://hub.me/am54X.
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2.5/5
I loved this book for the first 30% or so. But, then it just got messy and I had quite a few issues with it.
SLIGHT SPOILERS BELOW:
I hated the relationship between Cookie and Gareth. I know it was not supposed to be healthy but the power imbalance and the fact that he was such a jerk to her in the beginning grossed me out. Also, the age difference? If this was NA or an adult book it wouldn't have bothered me as much, but she is 19 and I am pretty sure he is 31? Gross.
I loved the fashion aspect of the novel, Cookie has great taste and I would have loved to see her designs. I loved her advisor and the fact that her grandmother sewed as well. The dual timelines were a bit confusing at first and I don't know if it helped the story in any way, but it was unique and I would be interested to see more of this type of storytelling in the future.
The plot was messy. So much happens in the beginning, then suddenly nothing happens in the middle, and then a much more plot is thrown in at the end. There is also too much going on. Cookie has issues with both her parents, her stepfather, one of her best friends, and a mean girl from her hometown. Not to mention the small fight with her BFF and the relationship with Gareth. It was just a lot. Also, her issues with her parents are not resolved at all.
Overall, I appreciated the message of inner vs outer beauty and discussion of the lack of plus sized women in the fashion industry, but the story had too many other plot lines (plus the dual timeline) which detracted from the main takeaway of the novel.
*Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review*
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I absolutely loved this debut gem of a novel!!!! As a person who's been plus sized my entire life, this is a book I needed and craved when I was younger. And it begins with the main character being singled out for needing more room on her airplane seat and then subsequently embarrassed by a callous, bitchy fellow passenger. The whole thing is mortifying and right then and there, I was on board, pun intended, with Cookie Vonn's emotional roller coaster.
Cookie (yes, that's her name) Vonn has always lived in the shadow of her beautiful model mother. One who cared more about her own career and life than that of her daughter. Because of the rocky relationship, Cookie is brought up by her grandmother, which was a relationship I probably loved the most in this book. We get the benefit of dual timelines, as this story switches from past to present, so we see the impact her grandmother had on Cookie's life and we're also introduced to Cookie's friendship with her childhood friend, Tommy - a friend she met at a fat camp one summer.
Cookie makes a decision to go on a program similar to Weight Watchers and we get to experience Cookie's perspective and people's interactions with her both at her starting weight of 330 lbs (or the "fat" chapters) and after she loses close to 100 lbs (the "skinny" chapters). And the best part? Cookie loves fashion! And nothing is spared as she champions for clothing lines to make clothes for women of bigger sizes and makes the argument that there isn't much difference - at least for someone who has the talent to construct clothes, which she does. And she especially gets the chance to prove it when she's able to work alongside Gareth Miller, her fashion icon and someone who might just improve her chances to getting into Parsons School of Design. (I won't say much more than that because Gareth becomes the foil to Cookie's metamorphosis.)
Cookie loves fashion and clothes and blogs about it but her life changes when she does lose the weight. Not because she does anything different, but because the world now perceives her differently (which is a great societal take on the way fat women are perceived, including in the fashion world). I'm happy to see that a lot of this is changing and that bigger women have more choices, in both choices for clothes and for themselves, as people. It's such an uplifting book and I loved everything about it, especially the humor! Kelly deVos is absolutely hilarious and I can't wait to read what she has in store for us next.
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Recommended for: anyone in need of some body positivity
This book is the perfect mix of body positivity, feminism, bold characters, and an honest look at the fashion industry. I didn't even know I needed all of that, but it delivered in a mere three hundred pages. Kelly deVos' debut novel sparkles and liberates all at once.
I came for the body positivity and I left with even more empowerment. I think women of all sizes will find so much truth in Cookie's story, but plus size women in particular will identify. I myself am a small size but I recognize the horrors of the fashion industry with women of a larger size. I have many friends and some family who would not fit into most of the clothes on the mannequins, and I wish Cookie's clothing was real so I can buy them plus size pieces that would feel amazing in. I want to read Cookie's blog and get her advice on my own book blog. We could blend our passions and become a force! Just make Cookie real is all I'm asking.
While I completely fell head over heels for Cookie's voice and sass, I really disliked just about every other character. Their purposes in the story were important, albeit painful to read. deVos does craft highly complex characters well though. The grandmother and Father Tim were probably my favorites, but they felt more two dimensional than three dimensional. And the relationships make me want to puke toxicity. I had horrible flashbacks to Christian Grey from Fifty Shades, and that's just from internet knowledge and glimpses of the trailer. Cookie and Gareth's relationship was completely driven by sex appeal and instalove, and I hated every second of his facial hair controlling Cookie's ambition. And speaking of Cookie's ambition, she is a total Slytherin, and I am here for it.
A definite must read. It didn't feel as much like a YA, especially since only one of the timelines is she in high school and we see more of the present day timeline. I personally found them a bit confusing, but transitioning wasn't difficult. It was the characters, and how their relationships stood with each other. The ending soared for me, and the college lifestyle brought me joy. I love books set in college that aren't new adult.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for sending me an eARC to read, free of bias.
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