I had such high hopes for this story and to me, it fell flat. There were way too many characters to keep track of, especially the secondary characters, most were just mere sketches of a character.
We meet Alice and Daphne, the two main characters, who forge a friendship after their time together at Privation, a weight loss facility created for an upcoming documentary called Waisted. All participants must fill out papers giving permission to allow themselves to be filmed. I was surprised there was no NDA signed, clearly we all know what that is nowadays, but for some reason it wasn’t part of their papers. This comes into play later. These women are bullied and tortured while there, all of them, systematically worn down by the staff and made to feel less than human. When one asked to leave (they’re told by the staff in the beginning that they can) they’re harassed. By the time this is over with, all seven women had more issues than they went in with. They decide to take back their lives and create their own expose documentary about what went on.
When we’re first introduced to Alice, we’re told repeatedly how big she is. I want to know more, things like height and weight, or what size she wears… I was a huge woman. 5’5 and 337 lbs before bariatric surgery. These women are me, or so I thought. Nope, Alice is 5’10 and wears a size 18. Yes, Alice is overweight, however, she’s not as huge as she’s portrayed in the story. There are other characters who are definitely overweight and need the help they’re reaching out for. I get it, society sucks when it comes to the overweight population. The average size for an American woman is about a size 16. We’re bombarded with diet plans, weight loss supplements, and photoshopped models & actresses. We don’t get the cute clothes, we get “Omar the Tent Maker”. We seek to be thin and there are a lot of people that do insane things to be thin.
But I digress, this book just didn’t fulfill its promise. I almost didn’t finish it because I was tired of all the euphemisms for fat. For the way the women treated themselves and others, like I said, this book could’ve been so much more. The story arc fell flat, the characters seem like caricatures of people, the editing needs work. I just couldn’t like this story.

I started out not sure how I felt about this book. As an overweight woman, I've read many books that did not speak to my experience, that portrayed overweight woman as lazy and out of control, so I came into this one a little jaded, especially as each woman was introduced. Thankfully, I continued with the story and am so glad I did. Waisted explores not just the women in the book, but the angst of judgment, and voyeuristic world of reality TV. In the beginning, I struggled a bit when the women were introduced. As I read, my attention was grabbed, as I had not fully paid attention to the description to remember that the filmmakers purpose had been revealed as much as it had. For those of us who have struggled with weight, I think it is a question of how far would you go... to what lengths will it take before you realize that you're more than your weight, that sometimes it's other people's issues, and how to face your truth. I thought it was interesting that the negative reviews that I read were from people who either stated that they were thin or had not been overweight. I think the experience of being judged for being overweight is the linchpin that brings this story home. You may not like some of the main characters or their families, but if you've been overweight or been with those who will do anything to win, you'll recognize the personalities here. It wasn't a light or fun read, but it did make me think... sort of like weight in general!

To be posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble as soon as book is released.

This one really hit home for me. Being a larger woman, I could related to all the feelings of not being “perfect” in the eyes of society and frankly, of ourselves. Alice and Daphne struggle with their weight amidst a husband who wants the thin wife he married and a mother who has always pushed being thin. When they both enter a weight loss program called “Waisted”, they are into more than they bargained for. The harshness of words, the lack of food, the nine hours a day of workouts, is a cruel experiment gone bad. They are being filmed in the acts of humiliation but they do find themselves in ways that they never had before. It’s amazing what two or more together can accomplish.

It was hard to read some of the agonizing things these women went through. I cringed a lot. I loved how we saw weight through the eyes of different cultures and different expectations within those cultures. Some points were totally me. The author always has a great way with different perspectives. I can’t say it made me think differently about weight than I do but it was a good read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria for an advance copy of this book.

I have very conflicting emotions about this book. Waisted focuses mainly on two women, Alice and Daphne, who meet at a weight-loss camp. The very first sentence of the book angered me so much that I almost stopped right then and there -- "Everyone hated a fat woman, but none more than she hated herself." I stopped, took a breath and told myself to keep going.

The camp turned out to be hell on earth. Severe caloric intake, grueling and excessive exercise and over the top cruelty were the methods used to force the women at Privation to lose weight. I cringed throughout much of the parts at the camp but I also know that was the point. To what end will people go to be skinny? Turns out, they'll go pretty far as we see in the book.

Alice and Daphne, along with their friend/roommate Hania, embark on a quest to escape the camp and expose the evils behind the scenes. What they find on the outside was not at all what they were expecting. This is when the book began to win me back over. We follow Alice and Daphne as they start to focus on who they are outside of the number on the scale. They begin to see themselves through the eyes of their family and start to learn how to speak up and out and examine the messages they send to others by focusing solely on how much they weigh.

Once the turn around began, I loosened my shoulders and exhaled out some of the anger. I was convinced the author hated fat people but as I exhaled, I realized that this is often how fat is portrayed in the world. As Meyers began to develop the characters in their new post-camp realities, some messages about self-love and body positivity began to appear, redeeming the story for me.

However, I can't really recommend the book to anyone who reads for fun. It was difficult to read about how much the world hates fat people and as someone who has had weight issues my entire life, I don't need to see it when I'm trying to relax. The synopsis calls the story provocative and wildly entertaining. I'll give it the provocative because woah nelly but the entertaining part I fail to see.

Waisted is out tomorrow, May 21, 2019. I give it an overall 2 out of 5 stars and am not recommending it.

This unflinching look at how women perceive themselves in the face of excessive weight gain is sometimes difficult to read. The author hits the nail on the head when it comes to the focus that society has on “being skinny.” I appreciated the overall message that people need to love who they are whatever weight they may be, but I wish there had been a little more focus on the “being healthy” aspect. I also wanted a better resolution to the women’s experience in Vermont. I felt that the author let that plot point go in order to focus on the self-realization of the individuals, and the end felt a rushed. There were too many times that inner dialogues stopped the action. I would still recommend the book, however, for its fearless analysis of society and women's weight. For some more thoughts on this, visit my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks Fiction Reviews. Thank you to Atria Books (via NetGalley) for a pre-release digital ARC.

1 star *
Publication Date: May 21, 2019

Usually I reserve 1 star rating for DNFs. However this one gets the honor that I finished the book and still gave 1 star. I guess unpopular opinion here seeing as there are so many positive reviews for this read but I just didn't get it. I hate giving an advanced read copy a poor review, I try to be positive and grateful I was given the chance to read something that could be great, but this just wasted my time. The premise sounds great, a camp where overweight women go to lose weight and how far are they willing to go to lose weight. Perfect, almost every girl I know, including myself, worries about their weight and wants to be or stay skinny. I was really excited about this but then I don't even know how to review this. The writing style of bad, I didn't like a single character, I felt nothing for any of them. There were racist and fat shaming remarks throughout. The ending .. I don't even know what happened, I just wanted to get this done with, but the writing was so confusing to follow.
I'll try to end on a positive here.. there were quotes from well known people on losing weight scattered throughout the story that I did enjoy. Again, great idea, great potential just poor execution. Sorry!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Sorry this wasn't positive.

A great story but also a great dive into the psychology of why some people weigh more than others. Alice and Daphne are beautiful, strong women but their brains won’t let them accept this fact. It takes being tortured and humiliated for them to search inside themselves and figure out what food and their weight really means to them. Pretty profound stuff for a book of fiction!

Waisted by Randy Susan Meyers is an insightful look at women who long for society's perennial perfect body. They long for it so much they are willing to do anything to achieve what they believe is impossible to do on their own. Set in a remote Vermont countryside, the exclusive program promises quick transformation in a few short weeks. The price in dollars is quite expensive but the price in human dignity and depravity is priceless. Alice and Dephne quickly discover that there while they agreed to be filmed during the program, much more is going on behind the camera.

This book, while showing the extremes of an expensive weight loss camp, is entertaining, yet sad at times. It shows how tied we are to our weight because so society norm. Having a healthy body is important. There is, however, more than the number on the scale or the size of your thighs that matter. What matters most is the work that is done inside of a person who seeks to lose weight. Alice and Daphne grow as individuals along the way as they discover the impact between their relationships with their bodies and all other aspects of their lives, especially within their marriages.

Expectations are powerful and this book provides a look beyond the scale. Well written with interesting characters, I recommend this book to those who are contemplating a major weight loss plan. This book is not a manual for dieters, but rather, a look at how extreme we can become when looking for a quick fix. It shows that even if one has a major weight loss goal, to keep it in perspective and not become so serious that you forget to enjoy life on the journey.

Randy Susan Meyers wrote The Murderer’s Daughters and The Widow of Wall Street. Her new novel, Waisted is a fiercely feminist story that skewers the weight loss industry and a society that “treats fat people like out-of-control horrors” and the war against women with its “intersectionality of misogyny, fat shaming, [and] faux health concerns.” Thanks go to Atria and Net Galley for the review copy. You should read this book.

Alice married Clancy when she was “break-up skinny,” not knowing that he isn’t attracted to any woman that isn’t thin. Daphne is tormented by her 108 pound mother, whose toxic monitoring and obsession with Daphne’s eating have nearly driven her daughter over the edge. Alice and Daphne meet at Privation, a live-in weight loss program in rural Vermont. They and five other women sign on because they are promised rapid weight loss free of charge, with the caveat that they must agree to be filmed 24 hours a day for a documentary. The program is not only extreme; it is cruel and dangerous.

“Welcome to hell, ladies, where we recognize that life is unfair, and you pay the price for every action you take...You've eaten your way through pain, through loss, through happiness, and just for the plain pleasure of crunching calories between your teeth. Not one of you knows how to live with privation. So you landed here. The last stop.”

The women don’t know that there are no doctors here, or that they are part of a nasty experiment to see what women will tolerate in order to become thinner, even when it is obvious that such a program cannot be sustained. Each time one or another of them considers decamping, there’s a weigh-in that shows them to be even lighter than they were earlier in the week, and with dreams of a new, sleek, lovable body ever nearer realization, they persevere.

The readers that will relate to this story best are also the ones that will have a hard time getting through the first half of it. Meyers drives home so many uncomfortable truths that overweight women like me have trained ourselves not to think about most of the time because they are painful. Do it anyway. It’s high time someone wrote this book.

Apart from its very real underpinnings, the story is far-fetched and features an unlikely outcome, but that doesn’t matter. A more nuanced or realistic version would fail to deliver the message in as brilliant a fashion.

This is urgent, angry, and at times darkly funny prose. It will be available Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and Randy Susan Meyers for an ARC ebook copy to review. As always, an honest review from me.

Like:
- The chapters about adults living at fat camp - almost like the book version of The Biggest Loser (tv show). Gives good insight into their thought processes about their bodies, mental state and personalities
- The overall concept for the book
- The social commentary and discussion about body image, weight, and discrimination
- The camaraderie between the women

Love: —

Dislike:
- The first 75 pages or so weren’t what I expected based on the summary (lots of backstory but it didn’t really help me get to know the characters well)
- Story became weird/also boring again after they left fat camp. Also some of it then didn’t make sense in the storyline.
- Didn’t capture my attention or interest me like I hoped it would
- Very underwhelming storylines and characters

Wish that:
- I related to the main characters more. There were several with different personalities and life stories, but I didn’t really connect (or care) about any of them. Sounds harsh, but true.

Overall, a good, unique concept for a book, but unfortunately a let down based on the summary and my expectations. It’s not terrible so I won’t recommend against reading it, but I’m also not going to be telling everyone to read it either. To note: I’m a young adult, white woman, and average/thin body frame, so that may have biased my opinions in some way.

Anyone who struggles with their weight loss should read this book. Even though it tended to be slanted at a black audience it still spoke to me. The burden is universal, young, older and regardless of race. Some skinny people seem to be able to eat anything and everything, total couch potatoes, while others struggle with every bite.
I would have liked to see a resolution to their experience at the “weight loss” ranch, but overall I enjoyed the book. It was well written and expanded on the friendship begun for some at the ranch.
Don’t pass this one up, a different way to look at the struggle through a novel.

As someone who has struggled with weight and an eating disorder I was so excited for this book and I couldnt wait for a positive and uplifting story about overcoming and concuring stereotypes and images issues. However, after reading this story I was left disappointed. The author uses amazing descriptive words to portray the characters however, I found the descriptions to be inaccurate to the measurements provided. I also was thrown off by the bootcamp style techniques used to belittle these women. While the writing itself was good, I just feel this book was not my cup of tea and that is why I am giving this book 4 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to provide my opinion.

Alice is the head of a children's community center and she is overweight. She is obsessed with being overweight. But she can't help but be overweight. Since her childhood her mother has kept tabs on how much she eats. How unhealthy being overweight is and what not to eat. Now Alice only hears her mother's voice in her head when trying to make healthy food choices and it only does the opposite. So Alice continues to eat and continues to gain weight.

Daphne, a make-up artist was very thin when she met her husband years ago. When she found herself pregnant they decided to marry. Since the birth of her daughter years ago she not only never lost the baby weight, but has continually added to it much to the chagrin of her husband and her mother. They are a tag team when it comes to what she puts in her mouth. Now she is beginning to worry about her young daughter and what her perception of the situation might do to her. She feels she needs to get her weight under control not only for herself but to save her marriage and make both her daughter and mother happy.

Alice and Daphne meet at Waisted, a month long live-in mansion in Vermont where it is promised to members a safe, healthy weight loss with psychological assistance to help with their understanding as to why they eat. They soon discover that not only is this program not what it said it would be, but is actually being filmed to become a documentary which will be viewed by many. Not something an overweight person would really be comfortable with.

The women all begin to realize they are being used not in a good way, but in a way in which the documentary will make them be perceived as desperate women who would do just about anything to lose weight quickly. The counselors are cruel and demeaning, depriving them of food and making them feel worthless, even more so than when they arrived. The must figure out a way to get out.

This incredible novel delves into so many social issues seen in both young girls and women who begin to feel powerless and self-conscious at an early age. With problems such as body image, addiction, trying to hold a marriage and family together to being brave and honest and finally accepting who you are and loving that person, this book has it all.

This is an inspiring story of women who decide to take back their power and use it for good.

Waisted will be available on May 21. Thank you #NetGalley #Atria Books #Waisted #Randy Susan Meyers for the advanced copy.

I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. Waisted by Randy Susan Meyers is a woman’s fiction book that explores what it means to be fat to two women Alice and Daphne and what extremes would they be willing to go to lose the weight … to be thin. How does being fat affect our relationships and our lives and can we still love ourselves when we are considered obese are the questions that they ask them selves over the course of the story. It is not an easy book to read as there is a fair amount of fat shaming in the book. I liked how the book showed that the two women could be both powerful and fragile with out one necessarily negating the other, and while I was mostly satisfied at the end of the book there were a few loose ends that I would have liked to have been tidied up as this is fiction not real life and one can do that.
Publishing Date May 21, 2019 #Waisted #NetGalley #AtriaBooks #RandySusanMeyers #WomensFiction

Not an easy book for me to read as I could relate to many of the issues. I love Randy Susan Meyers writing and how she is not afraid to dig into issues that cause woman to struggle. She is an author with a voice that I listen to and respect! Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy!

I don't quite understand the synopsis that called this book "wildly entertaining". I didn't find it entertaining. The producers of the show the women signed on for were cruel, manipulative, they body shamed, they took advantage of the womens' vulnerability, fed them drugs and humiliated them every single time they could.

I gave this 3 stars because this book does explore how people still feel it's okay to put down people that are overweight in this society. Every other thing that makes people different is off limits but obesity still seems to be fair game for every bully or mean girl out there.

I guess I just don't get this author or maybe it was just the marketing of this novel. I think it was a poor choice, calling this book highly entertaining.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for approving my request for an ARC. All thoughts in this review are my own and freely given.

This story covered the present (and glimpses into the past) of two very different women both struggling with their body image related to their weight. Feeling out of options, they decide to join a weight loss program. The book covers their experiences at the weight loss "resort" and after they return home. While I struggled to connect personally with the characters in the book, I really appreciated the complicated family histories and dynamics the author presented. This book also made me really think about the ways different people are treated in our culture, and the ways we think we may be perceived by others. The book covered race, weight struggles, family relationships and many other serious issues that could potentially be triggers for some readers.

Alice met her husband, Clancy, when she was at her thinnest. But over the years, particularly since she had their daughter, the pounds have crept back on. Worried that Clancy finds her less attractive (a:concern he does nothing to dispel), Alice has resorted to purging after she binges on food.

In contrast, Daphne’s husband gives her no reason to think he finds her voluptuous figure problematic. Rather, it is her mother, Sunny, who constantly makes snide, berating remarks.

Both women decide to participate in a reality show-type weight loss resort. There they diet and extreme exercise while enduring insults and humiliation at the hands of the film crew/leaders. When the pounds finally start to drop, Alice, Daphne, and others suspect they are being given speed.

The author tackles the evergreen issue of body image, throwing in a reality TV aspect to give it more currency. WAISTED is impossible to put down, and Alice and Daphne will work thei way into your hearts. Meyers conveys some brutal truths in an entertaining vehicle. While the characters grow in their self-perception, the novel proves there are no easy fixes.

True confession: I am a size 4, but always think I’m just a few cookies from obesity. WAISTED really resonated with me.

Enjoyed the book, but I ended up mixed feelings at the end. I felt like it turned into something else once the women left the Waisted Mansion. I had so many questions. What happened to Jeremiah, Coleen and Valentina? What was their reaction to the Waisted video? How did Clancy and Sunny react to the video? As soon as the woman had to hand over their phones and have no communication with their family or friends for four weeks, I knew it wasn't going to end well. That was the worst weight loss program and bordered on torture. I didn't love any of the characters and pretty much despised Clancy and Sunny. Sunny's reaction to Daphne at the wedding was horrendous. Clancy didn't seem to care about how his wife was treated at the mansion and was more concerned about his career. I felt like I only got to really know Alice and Daphne. All the other women at the mansion are sort of a blur.

Recommend the book, especially if you were fans of the author's previous books. There were some humorous parts, but most of the book focused on fat women willing to do anything to be thin. I look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Atria Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

After reading a synopsis of this book, I knew I had to read it. I mean, what woman does not struggle with her body image at least once in her lifetime and does not want to read some, hopefully inspiring if not funny, fiction book about it? When starting this book I was expecting some eye opening revelations, some confirmations, and at least a little bit of humor, unfortunately I did not get much of any of these things. This was simply not my “cup of tea”, but I am sure there are some readers out there that will appreciate this book and find it satisfying and even entertaining. I am giving it a 3 star review, because I don’t think this book was bad or poorly written, I just don’t think I was the right audience for it.
Thank you Netgalley, Atria Books, and the author for giving me an opportunity to read an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion