Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Book Review: Jemima J


Author: Jane Green
Title: Jemima J
Publisher: Broadway
Publish Date: June 5, 2001
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: Jemima Jones is overweight. About one hundred pounds overweight. Treated like a maid by her thin and social-climbing roommates, and lorded over by the beautiful Geraldine (less talented but better paid) at the Kilburn Herald, Jemima finds that her only consolation is food. Add to this her passion for her charming, sexy, and unobtainable colleague Ben, and Jemima knows her life is in need of a serious change. When she meets Brad, an eligible California hunk, over the Internet, she has the perfect opportunity to reinvent herself–as JJ, the slim, beautiful, gym-obsessed glamour girl. But when her long-distance Romeo demands that they meet, she must conquer her food addiction to become the bone-thin model of her e-mails–no small feat. With a fast-paced plot that never quits and a surprise ending no reader will see coming, Jemima J is the chronicle of one woman's quest to become the woman she's always wanted to be, learning along the way a host of lessons about attraction, addiction, the meaning of true love, and, ultimately, who she really is.

Review: This book was exceedingly frustrating to read. Let me count the ways.

Things that annoyed me.

1. Jemima's weight loss. 100 pounds in a few months. It could happen, but most of us only wish it were that easy.

2. The narration over the first person telling of the story. OMG! This made me nuts and detracted from otherwise decent storytelling.

3. While I along with a bazillion other women in the world could identify with Jemima and though we all loved her when she became a skinny girl, I didn't like her much.

4. I wasn't keen on the when you lose weight love, happiness, promotions etc will come to you. That kind of feeds the whole crappy way the media makes women feel about their bodies. (Even though Jemima didn't stay 121 lbs)

5. The whole Brad/Jenny thing that blows up near the end of the book. OMG this was just PATHETIC!

6. Companies just going on the web in 2000? Really? I graduated college in 1996 and though I didn't have a PC of my own, just about everyone else did.

7. Brad's friendship growing into love only after Jemima lost weight and got hot! Oh and he didn't notice a significant weight loss at his going away party? HUH?

8. I'm so sick of books where the Mother is some nasty women that doesn't care about or is ashamed of her child.

Ok so there was a lot that I found off about this book. Was there any good?

1. I did like Jemima the fat chick. I especially loved her fondness for BACON!

2. Geraldine was the kind of friend we all want. I liked the friendship that grew between her and Jemima and as a result between Jemima and Ben.

Truthfully, I can't find much more to like in this book. It was fast paced and funny at times, and yes, it reads like a fairy tale for grown up little girls, but for me it fell flat. I have a few of Jane Green's books on my TBR pile, after this one, I'm not sure if I want to try them.

Rating: 3 flowers



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