Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp by Stephanie Klein Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp
Book Review: I love camp!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was great. I loved every page of it. I went to overnight camp when i was growing up from the time i was very young, until i was too old, and then i was a counselor. Stephanie Klein goes through her life journey and her time at fat camp, and even though i did not go to fat camp, camp is camp. It was a very funny, relatable book. Some people have commented here that it was a bit vulgar, but i found it to be honest and true, and not vulgar. I read this book prior to reading "Straight up and dirty" and glad i read them in that order, cause from Moose, i got to know the girl who was a woman in Straight Up. :) Book Review: Not Enough Substance
Summary: 3 Stars
Stephanie is a woman who has always struggled with her weight. As an adult she is able to go back through her childhood experiences, drawing information from the diaries and letters she kept throughout the years to reconstruct her adolescent years.
This book details a summer Stephanie went away to Camp Yanisin, a "Fat Camp" where she was certain she would lose weight and become the beautiful and popular girl she was sure she was destined to be.
Although there are some interesting stories in this book, it just didn't come together for me. I was expecting Stephanie to have more perspective about her childhood, to be able to look back with wisdom and describe the things she'd learned. Instead, this book details sexual escapades, humiliation at the hands of her peers, nasty ways the author interacted with her parents, and various risky weight-loss strategies. I did like the stories, and found Stephanie's camp experience to be amusing and touching, but I was hoping for more.
Perhaps I expected this to be the story of a person who had gone through a great deal in adolescence but was able to overcome her experiences and live a healthy life. Instead, I felt that the author at the end was still struggling with the same problems she'd had at thirteen.
Book Review: Thought It Would Be Better
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is the true story about Stephanie and how she battles losing weight at "Fat Camp." I think teenage girls would enjoy this most. I found it somewhat interesting, but it did not really hold my attention in the second half of the book. Not all that bad but nothing great either.Book Review: Why did she write the book at all?
Summary: 1 Stars
I wanted to love this book. I heard the author on NPR and she sounded interesting. It was also recommended in Women's Health magazine. After reading it, however, I was extremely disapointed.
The story of the fat camp experience was mostly good, but I have to say I was HORRIFIED when the author detailed exactly how she made herself throw up after eating too much. She seemed to recognize bulemia was a bad thing, but then gave detailed instructions on how to do it. Does she not realize that young people will read her book? So MAYBE I could look past that (probably not, but maybe) and then I got to the end of the book and it really didn't seem like the author had actually learned anything from her experiences as an overweight child. I was waiting for the epiphany, the bit about how she got over it and managed to live a healthy life, but it wasn't there. She talked about extermely unhealthy eating habits she still had as an adult, is still blaming her father for insensitive comments he made to her when she was a child, blaming her mother for not showing enough affection and had to be forced to eat more food when pregnant with twins.
Mostly, when I finished the book, I was just thinking that this person was someone I never wanted to know and that I hoped no one else would read the book and be influenced by her dysfunction. I hope her kids turn out okay if she can ever get over giving them butter on their bread, I hope she has a good pediatrician that explains to her that children need fat in their diets to develop properly, but mostly, I hope she doesn't write any more books. I know that I will NOT be letting my teenaged nieces or my daughter ever read this book.
Book Review: Why did she write the book at all?
Summary: 1 Stars
I wanted to love this book. I heard the author on NPR and she sounded interesting. It was also recommended in Women's Health magazine. After reading it, however, I was extremely disapointed.
The story of the fat camp experience was mostly good, but I have to say I was HORRIFIED when the author detailed exactly how she made herself throw up after eating too much. She seemed to recognize bulemia was a bad thing, but then gave detailed instructions on how to do it. Does she not realize that young people will read her book? So MAYBE I could look past that (probably not, but maybe) and then I got to the end of the book and it really didn't seem like the author had actually learned anything from her experiences as an overweight child. I was waiting for the epiphany, the bit about how she got over it and managed to live a healthy life, but it wasn't there. She talked about extermely unhealthy eating habits she still had as an adult, is still blaming her father for insensitive comments he made to her when she was a child, blaming her mother for not showing enough affection and had to be forced to eat more food when pregnant with twins.
Mostly, when I finished the book, I was just thinking that this person was someone I never wanted to know and that I hoped no one else would read the book and be influenced by her dysfunction. I hope her kids turn out okay if she can ever get over giving them butter on their bread, I hope she has a good pediatrician that explains to her that children need fat in their diets to develop properly, but mostly, I hope she doesn't write any more books. I know that I will NOT be letting my teenaged nieces or my daughter ever read this book.