I'm Not the New Me by Wendy McClure Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of I'm Not the New Me
Book Review: Bitter and boring.
Summary: 1 Stars
I have to agree with the other reviewers who blasted this as the tale of a sad, bitter, barely humorous fat girl who happens to have a blog--and is obsessed with it. Admittedly, I have actually met McClure in person once or twice and am an online acquaintance of one of the "characters" in her book. That "character" had warned me that not only did McClure feel the need to call her out for being so much bigger than McClure, but also that the book meandered and was ultimately quite depressing and repetetive. Still I tried to keep an open mind because I have enjoyed reading Pound and found McClure pleasant enough in real life. But it really is terrible. There is no real structure, her jokes aren't funny and her attitude is just plain perplexing. Add to this the fact that she's written a weight loss memoir and, as far as my eyes can tell, she never really lost that much to begin with, and I'm confounded as to why any publisher would agree to print it. It's quite probably one of the worst books I've ever read.Book Review: Hilarious! Just a Regular Girl, Not a New One.
Summary: 5 Stars
Just consider the vintage Weight Watchers recipes. (HOW did they ever put these over on people? I would rather eat my childhood confections of insects, grass and mud.) This book is a lesson in never taking anything too seriously. The author's sense of humor holds up through her own troubles, watching her mother's struggle with weight, relationship ups and downs and the perception of fat as the last acceptable form of prejudice. Face it, we all have those very same problems! And they are not enough to hold a good woman down. There really is more to life than being weight-obsessed. Just try being a blogger. Love ya, Poundy.Book Review: Ah, but you *are* the new you...
Summary: 2 Stars
My introduction to Ms. McClure's writings was when my sister sent me the weblink for "Fluffy Mackerel Pudding", one of the wacky Weight Watchers cards on the "candyboots" website. It was in part hilarious because it reminded me of some of my mother's wrong-headed culinary creations of my youth (trout pancakes, surprise soup, raisin jello), and in part because the captions were amusing. That led to an occasional browsing of "Pound", Ms. McClure's weblog, which then led to the purchase of this book.
Admittedly, I expected a lot, having read and enjoyed immensely Ms. McClure's insightful cultural musings. Other than the shameless promotion of the book, the "Pound" blog continues to be funny and entertaining--hence my expectations. The book, however, is yet another bland gen-X chronicle of life with the weight issue as the spin.
Somehow in book form, the narrative loses its punchiness and fun and really becomes kind of a sad (examples: drunk dialing, being bitterly jealous of a "friend's" greater success with weight loss) look at a struggling (immature? unhappy?) person. The book flounders to its unfinished end, OR, maybe that's just the way most people's lives are--not eventful enough to keep most readers engaged. There are so many other good books out there, why bother with this one? Read the website instead.
Book Review: Loved It! Loved It! Loved It! Now What???
Summary: 5 Stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I couldn't put it down. A refreshing truthful, hysterical and enlightening view on life and all the crap women endure with their weight issues. What am I going to read now?Book Review: Time & Money I'll Never Get Back
Summary: 1 Stars
First of all, what qualifications makes one a "writer"? Apparently for some people, just being able to throw a bunch of words together (every other one starting with F) and thinking you're really funny and oh,so Big City cool makes any stream of thought that comes out of your head worthy of print. This book was, without exception, one of the WORSE I have ever read. Many times I thought I must have skipped a page, or paragraph, or chapter because I would have absolutely no idea as to what McClure's point may have been. McClure comes across as not a very nice person in my opinion. One minute she's someone's best friend and the next she's badmouthing that person to someone else, namely total strangers who have the misfortune and poor judgement of picking up this book.Her self-absorbsion in her weblog entries seem to take priority over making any real dent in her efforts to lose weight and be a happier person. By the way, Wendy, knock that chip off your shoulder and I'm sure your weight problems wouldn't be such an issue for you, not to mention everyone around you.