Leah
Written on Nov 12, 2014
Michele Gorman is one of my favourite authors in recent times. Her most recent novel Perfect Girl was amazing and is one of the only novels that literally made me want to punch a main character's family and friends and work colleagues in the face for being selfish so-and-sos. I've never been angrier whilst reading a novel! So I was quite excited to receive an early proof copy of The Curvy Girls Club. It seemed a lot more light-heartened and less anger-inducing than Perfect Girl (or so I hoped) and I was intrigued to see if Michele had written another stellar novel.
If you don't already know this, I am a curvy girl myself. Not for lack of trying. More for lack of will, lack of self-control (which I freely admit). I just can't resist food and it's so frustrating when I'm judged because of it, or when I can't buy decent clothes because shops don't do my size so in that regard The Curvy Girls Club was right up my alley, and I was sorely tempted to make my own club. At the end of the day, the girls are right - at this moment in time being curvy is the "norm", and yet us curvy girls still feel like the people who stick out like sore thumbs. It's so weird, and perhaps it is time perspectives changed.
I loved the girls for putting together a curvy girls club. I loved that they were sick of going to Slimming Zone meetings and having weight loss that flip-flopped from week to week. It was so refreshing to read about girls who weren't necessarily bothered about their weight, but because of perceptions were unable to be happy in their own skin. Surely that's the goal for everyone whether they're fat or skinny - to just feel comfortable as you are. I appreciated that message because that's what we should be striving for.
Sadly, for me, the novel soon dived in to your typical fat vs thin debate, via Katie's miraculous weight loss. That's where the novel lost points for me. I can't stand it when miraculous weight loss occurs (even more so when it's via a medical issue, that Katie then resolutely ignores). The Curvy Girls Club was about being curvy, about striving to feel comfortable as you are (a message that Katie herself said!!!) and it all unrivalled once Katie became "Thin Katie" and started to feel disdain for the people with curves. I thought it was a bad message to send out. I felt shamed, because I've been struggling for ages and ages to lose weight with minimal success and hey presto! One damaged thryoid later and Katie is the best of the bunch. Nuh-uh.
The Curvy Girls Club had a lot going for it, until Katie's unfortunate episode. This could have been a revolutionary novel for the curvy peeps in the world, but it had to come back to weight. It had to become fat vs thin, which I hate. I can't wait for the day an author writes a novel about a curvy person happy in their own body, for the entire period of the novel. Because despite what we're told, I'm sure there are plenty of curvy people happy how they are.
I loved the characters, the girls became like best friends to me, and I especially loved the token male Rob (who was streets ahead of Alex). The idea for the novel was great, and the execution almost spot-on, but I just wish it hadn't come down to a battle between fatties and skinnies.{Leah Loves} http://leah-loves.com http://leah-loves.com/curvy-girls-club-michele-gorman/