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: You'll Laugh So Hard You'll Pee Your Pants!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow, I was reading a couple not-so-good reviews on this book, and I can defeinetly say, they are ALL Wrong!
Its funny how people can be so critical, when they can't even relate to the subject they're reading about...
but Whatever! - I came across this book while looking for a Weight Loss Book, well obviously because I'm Fat!
When I saw it I had to Buy it! This is the Most Hilarious Book I've ever read in my life! I am constantly laughing out loud in public places, on the verge of tears.(Emberassing but well worth it!)
I can totally relate to Wendy's stories of life as a "Fat Girl" and What it's like after you lose weight as if I wrote the damn book myself. I seriously cannot rave enough about this book!! I'm sure anyone who has struggled with their weight would relate. I Don't want to finish reading this book, cause I don't want the good times to end. This Book is Shocking, Addicting and Laugh Outloud Funny! A Must-Have On Your Reading List!! I'm Buying This Book for every friend and family member I know that has struggled with their weight. This Book is a Pure Delight! I'm telling ya, this book is just The Best!!- So give it a try and Buy it Already!! You Wont Regret it!
Thanks Wendy for a Wonderful Read!
Book Review: A different weight-loss memoir
Summary: 4 Stars
First things first: yes, in this book, Wendy McClure loses weight. And yes, she does engage in a fair bit of navel-gazing that seeks to elevate what is essentially ordinary into something grand and heroic. That being said, I would not call this a weight-loss memoir. The weight loss thing gives structure to the book, certainly, but it is not the ultimate point. It is most certainly not meant to inspire other people to lose weight, or even to justify McClure's own weight problems. Rather, it is a book about McClure's life at the cusp of 30 in Midwest America, living as an educated young fat woman trying to find an identity. This is not a book for someone looking for inspiration, or even a way to lose weight. McClure tells us that she herself is incredulous about, and perhaps even a little apprehensive toward, those who tell her her website has inspired them to go off and lose weight on their own. This is a book for fellow people who are or have been where McClure is. It is, ironically enough, a book about an identity beyond weight and weight loss.
McClure doesn't lose sight of the fact that she feels that she's buying into something by joining a group to lose weight. That cynicism is certainly refreshing. It keeps the book from plunging too far into cloying feel-good tripe, or from ascending too high into the sphere of the truly self-obsessed navel-gazing memoir. It's not that McClure advocates not improving oneself; rather, it's that she sees that there is more to the modern push to lose weight than is immediately apparent, and that finding out how to improve yourself without buying into the weight-loss culture is one of the trickier things to try to accomplish.
The plot meanders at times, and there is no great apotheosis of Wendy McClure awaiting readers at the end, but this is perhaps one of the most honest, unabashed books I've come across in quite some time. If you want a self-help book, this is not for you. If you want to step inside the life of Wendy McClure, and perhaps even feel some resonance with your own, then go and read this right away.
Book Review: VERY Funny & Really Rings True!
Summary: 5 Stars
What attracted me to this book was the title. During the course of 2004, I lost 155 pounds (through diet and exercise only; no drugs, no surgery, no fad diets). And although I feel much healthier and more energetic than I ever did before, I find I am still quite the same person with the same life that I had before. "I'm Not the New Me" is a VERY funny book with firsthand insights on what it is like to be overweight, to be comfortable with your weight (even when other people aren't) and to NOT be comfortable with your weight (even when other people ARE). And that, fat or thin, you will still have relationship issues, job issues, etc.; weight loss is not a panacea for everything wrong in one's life. I found this book to be hysterically funny and highly relatable. The people who have given this book bad reviews obviously have never "been there." Keep up the good work, Wendy. PS: Loved your Chi Sun-Times editorial!!!Book Review: Not So Much, Sorry Wendy
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm a big fan of Ms. McClure's hilarious website (candyboots.com), so I was really looking forward to her book. I was disappointed, however. She makes no secret of the fact that she wrote this book as a result of being approached because of her website -- and it feels a bit like she threw something together just to get it out there. I think "snarky" is definitely the word for the book. She makes you feel a bit ashamed if you're actually someone who buys into your life and wishes to improve yourself -- like it's something "they're" selling and she isn't buying. I couldn't help but think, "Yeah, but if you were a little more positive, maybe things would work out better for you?" I was also aware that she was saying "not all journeys have an easy, happy ending," however, at the end I couldn't help but ask myself, "was this trip really necessary?" I don't know if our protagonist learned anything, and call me predictable or old-fashioned, but I still think those arcs make the best stories -- real or unreal.
I'll continue to laugh until I cry over Wendy's Weight Watcher's cards. That site (as well as some of her work for Bust magazine) is some of the best writing I've read this decade. However, I'll also continue to maintain my health and be an optimist, and so what if that makes me look a little silly? In the end, maybe it wasn't the writing so much as the philosophy behind it I didn't agree with. We're not in high school any more. Sometimes when you get in and take a risk, you look like a silly "joiner" -- but when you finally commit to something, it can afford you some real happiness, too. I don't know if we're actually talking about the author here, because I don't know her, and for all I know this is actually fiction. But I hope the book's protagonist jumps in with both feet one day and finds her bliss, whatever that is. I still believe in happy endings.
I know, I know -- Defensive much?!
Book Review: If I could give this book no stars, I would.
Summary: 1 Stars
Another in the long line of (a) gen x navel gazing authors (see Eggers, Klosterman, et al.) and (b) waahhhh I have issues with my body writers (amazing that two genres are wrapped into one book) that is so painfully unfunny and unenlightening, I am truly shocked someone green lighted this project.
Allow me to save you the time and money and provide all the information you need to know: (1) Wendy McClure is an overweight female of undetermined age, though I'm guessing late 20s to early 30s; (2) Wendy McClure has what alcoholics call a moment of clarity (credit to Jules Winfield) while looking at photos of herself singing karaoke in Las Vegas that it's time to lose weight; (3) Wendy McClure fills us in on the POINTS system of weight watchers even as mini chapters (no one chapter is more than about 5 pages) peel back the layers of years and years of weight issues that apparently started with a subscription mommy bought her of "Young Miss" when she was 12; (4) Wendy McClure sees initially good signs and snarkily comments about life in general; (5) Wendy McClure finds love, loses it, finds it again (an ad nauseum exegesis and walk through "on line love" ensues!) and then yes, loses it again.
Oh, did I mention Wendy McClure starts a website (how 2001) that other women draw inspiration from because, gee willikers, they are fat too. Oh, and Wendy McClure writes for TELEVISION WITHOUT PITY (she only reminds us of this 18 times). The end.
Interestingly, as the book crawls to its blessed conclusion, we hear less and less about the great results Wendy McClure experiences, she actually leaves weight watchers, quits her gym, and goes for a walk. Hmmmm. What Wendy McClure and her legion of "poundheads" (ok I made that up) need to learn is that exercise and eating right are the simple ways to lose weight. There is no magic bullet, there is no formula other than that. Change your lifestyle people, and the rest will follow. What Wendy McClure and her other gen x authors need to learn is that it's dreadfully self-indulgent and yes, narcissitic to crack open your skull and assume your problems are somehow interesting/more important than anyone/(everyone?) else's. We all struggle with weight issues, self-esteem, the love and validation of our parents -- you are not splitting the atom by droning on for 304 pages about your own difficulty therein.
Why anyone would find inspiration in the dull, poorly structured rantings of this woman is beyond me. A truly awful book.