The DIETER - Softcover

Sussman

3.93

152 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 067167725X ISBN 13: 9780671677251

Publisher: Pocket, 1990

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Thin, bright and beautiful Barbara Avers has it all, a powerful political husband, great kids, beautiful home -- and a two pack a day cigarette habit.

But, when Barbara decides to honor her best friend's passing by flinging her last carton of beloved cigarettes into Lake Michigan -- she hurtles headlong into the frightening and exotic universe of hips and thighs, weight clinics and fad diets, elastic waistbands and camouflage overblouses.

In this new world, the facade of her life peels away, each layer exposing something new. Her high-power attorney husband begins spending more time with his pretty, thin campaign manager. Her children seem embarrassed by her. Her once solid self-image shifts like quicksand.

When Barbara is offered a job to resurrect her old newspaper career, she catches the eye of a craggy, irreverent crime reporter. And she is befriended by a wise-cracking 300 pound fellow-dieter -- a woman forced to lose weight for health reasons -- whose boyfriend complains she's getting too thin.

Like Alice down the rabbit hole, Barbara emerges much changed, amazed she ever equated body weight with self-worth.

"A delightful novel, intelligent, witty, and very moving."
--Susan Isaacs

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Author:

I dedicate this book to my friends, anorexic to obese, who fight the losing fight and who, over a two-year period, generously shared highly personal and often poignant stories of their struggles.

From the Inside Flap:

Sizzling tacos...peanut butter...bagels with cream cheese. The enemy pursued Barbara Avers everywhere, invading her nostrils, seducing her taste buds, disguising itself in toffee-colored clouds, raspberry mousse roses and designer dresses just the shade of creme caramel.

It began the night her best friend died from lung cancer, when a grief-stricken Barbara flung her last carton of cigarettes into Lake Michigan. That was in February, when she weighed 105 pounds.

Now day by day, her appetite grows bigger and so does Barbara. Her husband Franklin, an ambitious lawyer running for political office, is spending more time with his blond, slim campaign manager.

Her children are ashamed of her. Barbara crams annother jelly doughnut into her mouth as her world begins to crumble. Moving through the terrifying world of Weight Watchers and Nutrisystems, Barbara watches her problems expand with her waistline. "If only I were thin again," she thinks, "my life would be perfect once more."

But perfect it never was -- or the chance to resume her newspaper career wouldn't be quite so tempting. Nor would she be quite so unsettled and pleased at the amorous attentions of Mac, the paper's virile, irreverent crime reporter. Suddenly, Barbara's world is expanding too. So maybe thin isn't perfect...maybe a Size 8 doesn't mean happiness...and after all, life does have riches to be savored...delicious, mouthwatering, spicy, sweet delectable life.

In this endearing, memorable, and sharp-witted novel, Susan Sussman reveals a fresh, original voice, guaranteed to make you laugh, weep, and cheer for one of the most remarkable and appealing heroines ever to appear in contemporary fiction.

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