Amazon.com
Judith Moore's breathtakingly frank memoir, Fat Girl, is not for the faint of heart. It packs more emotional punch in its slight 196 pages than any doorstopper confessional. But the author warns us in her introduction of what's to come, and she consistently delivers. "Narrators of first-person claptrap like this often greet the reader at the door with moist hugs and complaisant kisses," Moore advises us bluntly. "I won't. I will not endear myself. I won't put on airs. I am not that pleasant. The older I get the less pleasant I am. I mistrust real-life stories that conclude on a triumphant note.... This is a story about an unhappy fat girl who became a fat woman who was happy and unhappy." With that, Moore unflinchingly leads us backward into a heartbreaking childhood marked by obesity, parental abuse, sexual assault, and the expected schoolyard bullying. What makes Fat Girl especially harrowing, though, is Moore's obvious self-loathing and her eagerness to share it with us. "I have been taking a hard look at myself in the dressing room's three-way mirror. Who am I kidding? My curly hair forms a corona around my round scarlet face, from the chin of which fat has begun to droop. My swollen feet in their black Mary Janes show from beneath the bottom hem of the ridiculous swaying skirt. The dressing room smells of my beefy stench. I should cry but I don't. I am used to this. I am inured." Moore's audaciousness in describing her apparently awful self ensures that her reader is never hardened to the horrors of food obsession and obesity. And while it is at times excruciatingly difficult bearing witness to Moore's merciless self-portraits, the reader cannot help but be floored by her candor. With Fat Girl, Moore has raised the stakes for autobiography while reminding us that our often thoughtless appraisals of others based on appearances can inflict genuine harm. It's a painful lesson well worth remembering. --Kim Hughes

From Publishers Weekly
In her memoir of growing up fat, Moore, who previously wrote about food in Never Eat Your Heart Out, employs her edgy, refreshingly candid voice to tell the story of a little girl who weighed 112 pounds in second grade; whose father abandoned her to a raging, wicked mother straight out of the Brothers Grimm; whose lifelong dieting endeavors failed as miserably as her childhood attempts to find love at home. As relentless as this catalogue of beatings, humiliation and self-loathing can be, it's tolerable—even inspiring in places—because Moore pulls it off without a glimmer of self-pity. The book does have some high points, especially while Moore is stashed at the home of a kind uncle who harbors his own secrets, but the happiest moments are tinged with dread. Who can help wondering what will become of this tortured and miserable child? Alas, Moore cuts her story short after briefly touching on an unsatisfying reunion with her father and her two failed marriages. The ending feels hurried, but perhaps the publication of this book will give Moore's story the happy ending she deserves.
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19 of 40 people found the following review helpful: Like attending a psychoanalysis session on obesity, April 6, 2005 Reviewer: A. Corn "jcorn59483" (Indianapolis,, IN United States) - See all my reviews       Rarely have I read such a detailed and honest portrayal of one person's struggle with obesity. Pulling no punches, Moore lets it all hang out...her abusive parents, her pain and despair and sense of hopelessness and her obsession with food. At the heart of the book is her loathing of her body, the container she would NOT have chosen to house her spirit. Was this review helpful to you?  (Report this)

29 of 51 people found the following review helpful: Could not put this book down, March 15, 2005 Reviewer: Dart "bookworm" (Northern New Jersey) - See all my reviews This is one of the most intense books that I have read in the past few years. Having been slim and heavy during by life, I have experienced the perks and attention given to attractive people, and the invisibility given to someone when they are fat. I could feel her pain and longing, that I too felt as a child. A void that could never be filled. Her honesty is amazing and courageous, and on top of that the book is just beautifully written. Amazing. Was this review helpful to you?  (Report this)

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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful: Talented writer needs intensive therapy....., June 13, 2005 Reviewer: Laurel962 (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews I got this book because it was so extravagantly praised in reviews. Ms. Moore is a very gifted writer, but this highly personal memoir is more like an expose of her deep seated psychological problems than anything illuminating about the lives of overweight women in modern society. Clearly, Judith Moore had a very difficult childhood, marred by her parents divorce and her lack of contact with her father...her mother and grandmother were harsh (if not outright abusive), and she was molested as a youngster in a movie theatre. HOWEVER...as I read her intense descriptions of her revolting obesity and monstrously ugly body, I was expecting that she was a HUGELY overweight person -- 350-400 lbs or more and unable to climb stairs, put on pantyhose and so forth. In reality, Ms. Moore is a 60 year old woman of average height, who weighs well under 200 lbs and has never been more than about 40 lbs overweight!!! This info doesn't come out until you are nearly done with this extremely short book, and it's startling. Obviously, some psychological problems and image disorder have rendered her incapable of seeing what she really is -- a moderately overweight, plump middle aged lady and not a huge monster. Her body dismorphia extends to others around her, as she claims her father is grossly obese but then goes on to tell us he is 6 ft tall and weighs about 200 lbs (in other words, perfectly average). Other reviewers have mentioned the secondary issue in this book beyond obesity, which is Ms. Moore's obsession with SMELLS...she belives that she exudes a "meaty" chicken soup body odor despite regular bathing and normal hygiene. Other people smell too -- especially women and their genitalia. Frankly, this isn't true...it is an abnormal and fairly sick thing to believe (like a racist who thinks all black people "smell funny"). Obviously poor Judith Moore is so emotionally frail and mentally traumitized that she can no longer picture reality...caught in a lifelong spiral of self hatred that extends far beyond society's well documented cruelity to the REALLY overweight. It's especially sad when you realize that she is well into her sixties, and still has failed to make peace with the fact that she is just a full figured (and probably NOT obese) woman. My biggest issue with the book is that many truly large size readers will buy this (and it's expensive for a very short book) thinking they will learn something "deep" about obesity or the problems of the overweight in society etc., only to find that Ms. Moore is far more predjudiced and hateful towards the overweight than the worst "fattie hater" out there. If you ARE large size or overweight, this book will surely make you feel hopeless and depressed...if you HATE the large and overweight, it will make you feel smug and justified (see how awful they are? They even smell bad!). Unfortunately, Judith Moore's severe emotional issues drown out whatever she has to say about the condition of the overweight, and this diminishes her fine writing abilities here. For that reason, I can't really recommend this book...but I can recommend that Judith Moore use her profits from the book to find a really good therapist and talk out her childhood issues.... Was this review helpful to you?  (Report this)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: Great book, June 11, 2005 Reviewer: Vanna (kentucky) - See all my reviews I think book is a keeper. It is as if someone is finaly telling the truth about being fat. I thought it was well written and wonderful. Very good read, it is worth your time. I also loved The glass castle and Whispers of the wicked saints. All Very good. Was this review helpful to you?  (Report this)

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful: Have read better autobiographies., June 9, 2005 Reviewer: E. Sego - See all my reviews    This book was okay, but I enjoyed Augusten Burroughs books more. I understand that the author was fat and enjoyed food, but I almost felt like I was reading a food critique in a magazine. Her constant descriptions of fat and food made this book boring. I was more interested in her life story and how it drove her to eat more than the constant vivid descriptions of the food she liked and how her body appeared. I think that I am an emotional eater and have battled weight problems all my life and was expecting to be able to relate and to get more out of the book. I was sad that there was no real ending and it appeared that she just wrote the book to let out her frustrations. There was not a real meaning in the story I did not feel. Was this review helpful to you?  (Report this)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: Poignant and Sad..., June 9, 2005 Reviewer: Julie Frost "Reader & Writer" (Exeter, CA) - See all my reviews    I actually picked up this book hoping to find some humor in it. Although there was none -- in fact it was black, heart-wrenching, sad, and at times even made me cringe -- I was not disappointed. All of the writing was simple, eloquent and beautiful -- even as the author described the horrendous acts that were happening around her and to her. I wish, somehow, the author could have found a way to insert some humor into this book. Or at the very least some HOPE. Towards the end of the book she admits that what she needed was love (don't we all), but she states "...by the time I thought of 'love' as an answer, it was too late for love." What I hope that she realizes, and would have acknowledged, is that; as a child, it was not HER responsibility to have found that answer. Luckily, she did have *some* love in her life, though it was obviously not enough with everything else she went through. It's heartbreakingly sad; as a mother I wished I could hug and love her childhood self, just as she was. She was obviously very bright, and very worthy of love (even her idea of being "bad" is distorted -- she was a good girl). I may not be able to do that, but she has given me a new (or, more accurately, expanded) empathy of "fat" and otherwise self-loathing children. Abused children. Neglected children. No one may have been able to help her, but we can always help another child who is crying out for love. An excellent book, a quick read, and highly recommended (whether you're fat, thin, or in between). 4.5 stars. Was this review helpful to you?  (Report this)

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