Reviews for Big Girl

The average rating for Big Girl based on 2 reviews is 1 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-03-20 00:00:00 J C Larimore I was drawn to Danielle Steel's novel Big Girl because of the premise. I had never read a Danielle Steel book and thought I would give her a test run with this amazing topic. The issue with body-image is prevalent in our society and many women have had to deal with harsh comments if they are not a size 4. Those who are a size 4 have to deal with comments about not having curves. It is a subject that really interests me. It also is a topic that should be very relatable to women. Unfortunately, this story seriously disappointed me. First of all, I had a problem with the writing style. Ms. Steel wrote this very passively. She tells the story instead of showing it. I kept waiting for the actual story to start. You know that first chapter of some books that gives the background of all the characters? That was this entire book. It was frustrating and probably 75% of the reason I finished it. I just kept waiting for it to begin! By the time I realized it wouldn't, I decided to just finish that darn thing. The book seemed like Victoria's memory after she is well into her 60's. The story was also very redundant. Ms. Steel would remind the reader what happened in the last chapters. The same cruel insults, the same feelings of shame continued throughout the book. Her solace is ice cream. That isn't creative at all. I felt insulted as a reader. Many women have body-image problems and never touch ice cream. Let's get some variety and relatability here! Also, this book was not empowering at all! Here is a woman, Victoria, who is trapped by this ideal of perfection by her family and is trying to accept her unique beauty as is. That sounds like a great story! But no, Big Girl seemed to enable this ideal. Her only desire is to lose weight and find a man, which is supported by her friends (whom I loved) and her psychiatrist (whom irritated me. I am a psychology major and the whole psychiatrist character irritated me. On the other hand, I am very happy mental health is being addressed in today's stories! Ok, off my psychology soap box…). That shouldn't be her solution. Her solution should be to love herself unconditionally and if a man comes along, great. If not, she should still be okay with herself. Also, she never stands up for herself to her family! After all the growth she goes through, the least she could do is to tell her family that they are cruel. She moves across the country and her family whines that she is gone and she never explains to them that they are the reason she left!? That just didn't ring true to me. Also, her defining moment (spoiler alert) is a nose job. That is how she comes to accept herself. That seems a bit hypocritical. That leads to my next point: she is upset with her sister for settling down so quickly, but the story never talks about Victoria going out there and looking for a man. -Spoilers ahead-. She finds all this confidence, but still waits for Collin to come to her. That bit irritated me too. The ending is bittersweet and the last scene is great. She has great friends (I loved Harlan!) and Collin is a sweetheart. He was my favorite character. I just wish Victoria had a much bigger backbone in this story and that Danielle Steel could have done this topic justice.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-07-06 00:00:00 Brian Boss Why on earth I'm reading this is beyond me. I hate Danielle Steel. I read my first DS ("The Accident") in sixth grade. And at that point, it was probably appropriate, reading-level -wise (though perhaps not in terms of subject matter). I think I read one more after that before I caught on to the formula and abandoned her in disgust. At any rate, I found this at a rummage sale for a quarter. I'm half done with the book and feel I over-paid. The writing is crap. The characters are one dimensional. Her mother is a Stepford wife. Her dad is cruel. Her sister is beautiful. But fear not! In spite of being "fat" (more on this in a sec!), Victoria, our protagonist, is perfect in every way. She loves her sister. She has a fabulous job, a fabulous apartment, and fabulous friends. She is without fault. You know, except for the fact that she is FAT. And DS won't let you forget it, either. Literally every page, there is some reference to how skinny and perfect her family is and how hideously fat Victoria is. Her parents mock her at every gathering. Her students speak of her weight behind her back. People look and point. So how large is this behemouth? Brace yourself! A 14. (A 12 when she loses 10 lbs.) Now, as a size 14 myself, perhaps I'm biased. I'm under no illusions that I'm thin, and I am well aware that I could stand to lose 25+ pounds. Few people have self-esteem as shitty as mine. Few are as insecure about the size of their ass. And yet I really don't think that I'm SOOO large that people whisper about my size behind my back. Perhaps I am in denial, perhaps I just live in a more generous part of the country (South Dakota), but I still find this incredibly far-fetched. And yet....I continue to read. It's like a horrible, horrible train wreck. I just can't look away. EDIT: I've finished this. It did not get better. If anything, it got worse. After two nights of reading about how fat even a size 10 is, I was left wanting to slit my wrists. I don't think I've ever felt so fat as a result of reading a book. The ending itself was truly awful. There's a "crisis/betrayal" that she devotes about 4 pages to before she entirely glosses over it. Why she bothered with this "plot twist" at all is beyond me. Please, please save yourself a day or two of your life. Even for DS, this is a truly awful book. I didn't even donate it to GoodWill; it went straight to the trash. I don't want to take the chance of passing it on to another unsuspecting reader. If I could give it less than 1 star, I would.