Thursday, September 23, 2010

I Can Read - Women, Food, and God



Trainer Bob asked me to read this book. I shook my head no, because, well, I don't like to read.  But I peeked inside, and the font was huge so I agreed :-)  (If only there were pictures, too!)

Based on the cover, I assumed I was going to hate this book.  I don't believe in God, and so I had no desire to read a religious-based book.  Secondly, that little stock image is so cheesy. But what the heck.
I started reading it.. and, I almost liked it!  The author, Geneen, writes in a fun style. Her descriptive passages—when she is writing about herself, her feelings, and her thoughts—are well-phrased and conversational. However, when she writes dialog (which is often, since the book takes snippets of supposed real-life exchanges during her weight loss seminars), it is horrible.  It's flowery and ridiculous.  The women in the book instantly cry at everything, and then describe their reasons in the most preposterous of terms. I'd love to find you a quoted example, but I gave the book back to Bob already!

Anyway,  the book is, essentially, about what every other overeating self-help book is about - finding your "why".  She makes it sound completely simple.  When you want to eat something, think about WHY you want to eat, and then make the decision. 

Uh.  No Shit, Lady.

Throughout the second half of the book she mentions "following The Guidelines" constantly, and yet nowhere in this book are there Guidelines. 
Nowhere.

So, here's my Pro's and Con's

Good 

• Easy and fast to read
• Half of it is written well, and those parts are almost insightful
• Solidified the same things I've read and believed in, about questioning your motives before eating

Bad
• Not about God in any way.  God is IN THE TITLE. This is such a misleading book. People like myself would never pick this up. Whereas people who legitimately want to read about the correlation of spirituality and food are getting gypped.
• The examples given are the book are ridiculous.
• No real-life tips, or promised guidelines.

3 refreshing comments:

Allan said...

Awesome review. That lovely tomb is great kindling ...

BigGay said...

*blink blink* What a HORRID title!! So many people would either read it or not read it based on that. And no guidelines?? Then it might as well just be a blog made into a book...which is a nasty trend these days.

Melissa Whittaker said...

Your review is incredibly well-written. Much better than mine. "Great book." or "Loved this movie, it was awesome." No interest in a book like this, of course, but I enjoyed reading your review!