I'm not sure what to say other than "WOW"! I personally got where the author "was going" and why, but wow, what a concept! ( )

I found Dietland an easy and compelling read, but I'm still a little unsure how I feel about it in terms of who its intended audience is and what it was designed to do.

It's hard to take Dietland out of the context of its author -- Sarai Walker has a PhD in gender studies, with a thesis focusing on how body weight policing intersects with feminism. Dietland clearly arose out of that interest and is done with an extremely scholarly bent.

There are two intertwining narratives: Plum (Alicia)'s self-discovery narrative, where she emerges from a spiral of self-hate, yoyo dieting and living in the future. This part is beautifully done -- even as a woman who has never been overweight, I'm embarrassed to admit how much Plum's hoard of clothing that didn't fit (yet) and delay of activities until she could be her ideal (thin) self resonated. I think everyone puts off things until the time is right/they are better people/there is more money, but for women, the synonymy of ideal self and thinner self seems persistent. I felt that this was a really important area to explore. The narrative especially focuses on Plum's use of the "Baptist" diet plan (a thinly veiled Jenny Craig clone) and the way that this diet plan keeps women addicted and prevents them from really slimming down. Verena Baptist, the daughter of the founder of the Baptist plan is a health at every size advocate who shows Plum that she can be her "real self" while being fat. In the meantime, she also inducts Plum into a feminist collective.

The second narrative is about a group of female vigilantes who retaliate against sex criminals and the sexualization of women. Many people seem to feel repulsed by this part of the narrative, but Walker's main focus seems to be the thought experiment about if people were truly punished for the objectification of women, would that then empower women to speak out? In the process, Walker highlights the many daily ways in which women are degraded. Although I consider myself a staunch feminist, I was shocked about the things to which I've become enured: the commercialization of making women feel self-conscious about their bodies and the double standard of the use of the female body for advertising in particular.

My uncertainty is this: Walker, it seems, set out to write an Important Feminist Novel. Dietland is also fun and easy to read. However, I'm not sure it has much of a voice beyond the feminist community, where it's kind of preaching to the choir. It's hard to imagine someone who didn't already identify with Walker's message getting through even the first 100 pages of Dietland. Perhaps it will hit home to "choice feminists."
In addition, I thought the fictionalization of the Baptist Plan really trivialized the many important criticisms of the weight loss fascination in America. I wish that Walker had used a real example (as she did with the lingerie store V------ S-----). In particular, I was really disappointed that in the "suggested reading" section Walker listed many fictional resources, but no non-fiction ones. ( )

4.5/5 ( )

I recall some buzz about this novel both at its release and when it was adapted for television a few years later, glad it finally reached the top of my to-read pile. The protagonist, Plum, lives in a lovely, family-subsidized loft in a trendy Brooklyn neighborhood and works for one of the hottest fashion magazines of the time, but her life isn't in any way glamorous. Due to her weight, the office foists unwanted tasks on her and she works entirely remotely, only being called to the Manhattan HQ for rare meetings and being brusquely shown out as soon as they wrap. She has booked a weight-loss surgery and is dreaming of how her life will change after it happens.

In the meantime, Plum stumbles upon secret networks of women that are trying to upend the traditional standards of beauty--and the diet and beauty industries themselves. The second half is a page-turner as Plum comes to understand how to accept herself amid a lot of chaos. Very original at the time of its release, and I'm not aware of any novel since that covers this kind of ground in this way. ( )

Excellent book! This should e read by everyone. I really wish we could do some of the things that Jennifer does. Someday women will be treated as the good people that they are. ( )