Simply put, this book is utterly phenomenal and hits just about every nerve. I truly don't know where to begin with this review. This is one of those books that make you stop and think and think some more. Randy Susan Meyer is a new author to me and what an introduction to her writing this has been!
Most of us struggle with some aspect of our appearance that we'd love to tweak, alter or improve. Media, culture and society push certain physical attributes that, sadly, have become the norm. The characters in this book are struggling with their weight. An opportunity arises where they are given the chance to go to a secluded building to learn better ways to not only lose weight but make permanent changes to dietary and exercise habits.
Promising, huh? This goes south in dramatic ways EXTREMELY fast. Let's just say that program is not for the faint of heart. To say more would ruin a rapid moving plot with characters that are highly relatable. Speaking of characters, the author has different age groups and ethnicities represented. This prevents the novel from being a one-note book.
I can assure you that when my list of favorite book is assembled at the end of the year, this one will hold a place on it. It's one that I very highly recommend.
I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This is a book that will resonate for many people especially because of our societies emphasis on body image. I imagine some people may stop midway in reading this book because of the insecurity of the women portrayed as well as the cruel and abusive treatment they endured. I recommend continuing because they do develop a sisterhood, learn to love themselves and the book can aid in understanding yourself and others.

Reading it made me angry, infuriated, amused, reflective and inspired. Angry because of the emphasis these women place on their bodies, yet don't so many of us do this? Infuriated because of the treatment the women receive and tolerate by the staff at this weight-loss retreat. Amused because of some of their escapades. Reflective because the discover how their own insecurities and self-destructive behaviors affect their relationships with family, friends and co-workers and inspired because they finally show how they can come together to fight injustices, find self-acceptance and self-worth.


I received an Advanced Reading Copy from NetGalley for my review.

Waisted is a realistic current fictional look at female weight issues, including the struggles to lose weight and how women are defined by their size and shape. Dalphne, Alice and Hania agree to attend a month long program which is being filmed by a documentary filmmaker, to try and lose the weight and deal with these issues. What they end up facing is a nightmare that requires them to hatch an escape plan in the middle of the night to leave.

What I liked best about this book was that these issues, including others that resonated with me such as forming females friendships in middle age, dealing with loving your body no matter the size, and generational mother/daughter relationships are timely and were dealt with in such a caring and truthful manner. This is not a weight loss or lifestyle book, it is a novel and one of the most eye-opening and inspirational I've read in a long time.

I received an Advanced Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book truly depicted the feelings the many overweight people feel on an hourly basis. The three women the book focuses on are just like me or my next door neighbor. We learn about their struggles with weight and how there can be solidarity and motivation in numbers.

What measures would you take to lose weight? Alice and Daphne along with a group, willingly leave their families, their cell phones and their dignity behind for a month of living in a remote location to diet, exercise and lose those stubborn pounds, all the while they are being filmed for an upcoming documentary. What was promoted as a helpful “camp” was purely fictional, cloaked with utter humiliation. The women plot revenge as they attempt to grasp the reasoning behind their desire to lose weight and the measures they take to make it happen. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and it would be an excellent book club selection.

I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Waisted by Randy Susan Meyers Book Review
I’ve struggled with my weight as long as I can remember. I know all too well the effects of dieting, beauty magazines & intrusive advice can have on your soul. In that regard, I found it easy to relate to the character’s struggles.

Dueling Timelines
The story switches between Daphne & Alice & I love alternating narrators. For me, it often helps build depth in a story. Although, I struggled with the timelines in Waisted. The story shifts from past to present & I struggled to keep them straight. It distracts from the otherwise heartfelt tale about body image, self-love & acceptance.

THE VERDICT
I am Kind of Into This book. Meyers writes a graphic & realistic portrayal of someone with an eating disorder. While there are important issues & many opportunities for discussion, the overall narrative didn't resonate with me.

I was really excited about this book & it started off really interesting to me. & I really got into it when the ladies ended up at the sort of demented Biggest Loser camp. But when things started getting a little crazy & an escape needed to happen, I sort of got a little lost & then a little bored the last part of the book where the women were taking revenge & settling into their new bodies. I did appreciate the struggles they were going through, but by the end, I was just not caring as much. It wasn't an awful book, I just wish it would have held my attention a little bit more or taken a weird turn.

Waisted is a thought provoking novel about how women view themselves regarding beauty but focusing on weight. How far will each woman go to hit her ideal weight? How will it effect her psyche? Her relationships?

I very much believe that every woman will get something out of this novel. You will identify with Alice, Daphne or the other women.

While this covers a lot of issues that women face, for me the message was strong female bonds do us so much good.

I can’t recommend this novel enough.

....Awful.... really awful!
....Boring ...with cheesy dialogue!!!
.....Too many characters ... with secondary characters not developed well.
.....Shallow writing.
.....Suffers from bad editing syndrome.
.....The descriptions bring the ‘heart-of-the-storytelling’ to a standstill!
.....Defensive writing was a turn off.
.....not funny, not inspiring...
lacks authenticity.

Thank you to Atria Books, Netgalley, and the author.
I appreciate the advance copy -
I wish I could have truthfully been more positive.

“Waisted” by Randy Susan Meyers primarily follows Daphne and Alice, two overweight women desperate to lose weight. They go to a home called Privation, and sign away their rights, in order to participate in a “Biggest Loser”-style boot camp with a group of other overweight women. They eat flavorless food, work out for hours, and are subjected to humiliating weigh-ins, all of which are recorded. When their trainers start feeding them pills, the women grow suspicious of the filmmakers’ motives and a nighttime investigation leads to a revelation more compelling than anything the boot camp claimed to offer when they arrived.

“Waisted” explores Daphne and Alice’s relationships with their parents, spouses, children and each other. It also touches upon themes of racial identity and women’s roles through the lens of a woman’s weight, though it doesn’t explore them as fully as I would have liked. The book is extremely relatable in the intimate way it depicts the thoughts in Daphne and Alice’s heads, specifically when they think about food. You’ll never think about butter or M&Ms the same way again, but I will warn you that some of the thoughts about food and depictions of purging could be triggering to those who have suffered from eating disorders.

One aspect of the book that was particularly interesting was the way the author depicted men. Daphne’s husband seemed to love her no matter her size. Alice’s husband was obsessed with aesthetics and couldn’t seem to understand why Alice didn’t just see things his way. While both men seemed to love their wives, they were both obtuse in different ways.

The novel’s feminist themes aren’t new stomping ground. Society increasingly pressures women to shrink themselves so as to take up the least amount of room possible and make the least amount of noise. The book isn’t preachy all the time, but it definitely goes there. Part of me feels like this book is a little late to the party of “love yourself” rah-rah sisterhood. But it contained too much nuance not to be notable. I’m itching to tell you some of the details that make this book memorable, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

3.5 rounded up...

What woman (and I’m sure men too) can say they have never struggled with body image and the desire to lose weight? I’m betting the answer is not many! Alice and Daphne are two very different women from different backgrounds and meet at a facility for weight loss while filming a documentary called Waisted - where they find out just how badly they want to lose this weight, but what are they willing to put at stake to have the slim figures they dream of? In Alice and Daphne, Meyers is able to create characters that express what runs through the minds of people when size 00 is what’s only shown as beautiful.

There were parts of the story that were hard to follow at times (time jumps & such) and understanding the connection and flow in places which unfortunately took away from the story a bit for me. Overall, the meaning and message behind the story makes this a worthwhile read.

**Trigger warning around food issues & eating disorders**

I received an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this book but I found it confusing and annoying. While I don’t normally mind a book that goes back and forth in time, I really just wanted to be at the weight loss center we were brought to in the first scene. Something about adults with eating disorders annoys me. I know it shouldn’t but it does.

So glad to read an early release of this timely and important book. This book focuses on such common issues woman of any size deal with....judgement. There were many characters in the book, which was most necessary to get the different POVs concerning weight issues.
Loved the title and play on words.

I absolutely loved the premise of this and it was executed far better than I expected. 5 stars for sure! As someone with an eating disorder, it was super powerful.

Having struggled with extreme weight problems for my entire life, I was excited to read this book. This is a very real, honest look about society and weight problems. Parts of it are very hard to read, but at the same time, are very relatable. This is a good book with a great message that everyone should read.

I had a range of emotions throughout this book and am anxious for my sister and friends to read it so we can discuss it! I feel that its a book that any woman of any size can relate to as we all at some point in time have struggled with our bodies and the way they look.
I empathized with these characters, Daphne and Alice, as they go through their own mental struggles to try to find peace with who they are by taking matters into their own hands - which results they never could have expected. I would recommend this book to any woman no matter their size because at the heart of it, it is accepting who you are and the power of women-hood.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Waisted by Randy Susan Meyers has given me so much to think about and I can hardly wait for my girlfriends to read this so we can discuss! The many layers peeled back and examined about a woman’s weight and it’s impact on every facet of her life - her job, her diet, her fashion, her relationships, her self-worth... provides a stepping stone for personal reflection. As seven women are enrolled in an extreme weight loss camp it forces the question of exactly how far they are willing to go to be thin. What will they endure for the promise of fat loss? As the women confront the extreme situations at camp they must also confront themselves and what led them to this point of desperation. I highly recommend this book! I received an advance copy, but all opinions are my own.

Wow. What a range of feeling went through me as I read this novel! I imagine that this is probably typical for any woman reading the book--how could one not feel at times uncomfortable, enraged, motivated, and inspired by the characters in Waisted?. To me, that's a sign of a fantastic read, when the author can make you feel up and down that on the spectrum of human emotions and you ruminate (pun not intended but oddly appropriate!) about the novel long after you read that last word.

Daphne and Alice are deeply unsatisfied with their bodies, and in an effort to find peace with themselves, end up enrolling in a weight loss documentary program that turns out to be a hardcore reality fat camp in disguise. The trainers and administrators of the program are the ultimate fat shamers, tearing the women down to their most vulnerable selves, taking the reader right there with them because it's not hard to imagine what those characters might be feeling. But when the women band together and decide to take matters into their own hands, that's the real feel-good heart of the novel, and that reward is sweeter than any sugary treat.

Thanks, Randy Susan Meyers, for the riveting, rollicking, rollercoaster you give us in Waisted.

And thanks Atria and Netgalley for the early read!

An utterly absorbing and compelling novel. I highly recommend this for any one who has ever loathed her/his body and for those who love people with body image issues. The characters are finely drawn and the transformations that occur are believable and gradual. This isn’t really a book about losing weight, it’s more about changing ones attitude towards food and body. Pay particular attention to Daphne from beginning to end!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Every single woman, every single one, has body image issues. Most feel they are too heavy but there are some that are shamed for being too skinny. This amazing book deals with body image issues and how it effects every single part of their lives. Alice and Daphne both have body image issues and they meet at Privation. The program promises quick weight loss results but things are not always what they seem. The characters in this book are so real and this is a must read for everyone who is dealing with weight and body issues. I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Atria Books. All opinions are my own.