Reviews for Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir

The average rating for Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-05-17 00:00:00 Khashayar Nemati Upon reading the summary of this book, I was simply elated. I thought to myself, 'Finally! An amazing story of weight loss from someone who is my size or larger!' I devoured this book and read it in just a couple of days - in bed when I woke up, during all of my breaks at work, and in bed again before falling asleep. While I admire Fulda's major accomplishment, and her apparent honesty in all steps of her journey, I do have some bones to pick with the author. First, the woman is the Queen of analogies! For the love of all that is organic, readers do not need 4 analogies in one paragraph. They often don't need that many in one chapter! Many of her analogies were completely eratic, as if she were trying to create one for every single person on the planet (some were intelligent, some were comical, but then she made a Star Trek reference that was completely lost and just a waste of type). The other issue I have with Fulda is her narcissism. While I understand this is a story about her personal journey, thus there will be a lot of "me" "mine" "my" and "I"'s, it seemed beyond the normal spectrum of most autobiographical writings. Lastly, she isn't the best role model for anyone wanting to lose a ton of weight. While her physical actions and attitudes toward food and exercise are wonderful and definitely to be emulated, her outlook towards other overweight people throughout the book borders on the line of mean-spirited and hypocritical. Fulda bounces back and forth in her text, from one chapter where she plays a game of trying to figure out if any of the other people around her are fatter than she is (thus congratulating herself on no longer being the fattest person in the room), and expressing a sort of pity towards other women she encounters that are heavier than her as she continues to lose weight. Fulda may have considered it empathy, but if you're playing games like the one described above, it can't truly be considered a compassionate sort of empathy if you're only going to congratulate yourself later for being a mere 2 sizes smaller than the other person. In summary, congratulations to Jennette! She's managed to change her life in a remarkable way and it was an inspiration. However, I pray that anyone wanting to lose weight and radically change their lives would not succumb to overly-critical and judgmental outlook the author has on her (even former) own kind.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-01-21 00:00:00 John Mattli The ONLY criticism I have of this book is the author's overuse of metaphors and similes. However, she comes up with some great ones, so I forgive her. Despite that tendency, Fulda is a very good writer. I kept wanting to stop and write down excerpts because I loved the way she put things. Here are some of the things I liked about the book: The author takes on the fat acceptance movement for its own intolerance toward people who don't like being fat and want to lose weight. She refuses to despise the person she used to be. She doesn't apologize for having been fat or for being happy now that she's not. She doesn't blame anyone but herself for her weight problem. She doesn't sugarcoat what her life is like post-weight loss. She realizes that she could get fat again. She shows how an attitude change is the most crucial aspect of successful weight loss. She illustrates how behavior change is the second most crucial aspect. And she makes it clear that there are no short-cuts to losing weight and getting in shape.