Debbie Harpham
ABOUT:
In this provocative, wildly entertaining, and compelling novel, seven women enrolled in an extreme weight loss documentary discover self-love and sisterhood as they enact a daring revenge against the exploitative filmmakers.
Two women who torture themselves over the number on the scale,
and are brutalized by others around weight issues,
get caught in the war against women,
disguised as a war against fat.
Alice and Daphne, both successful working mothers, both accomplished and seemingly steady, harbor the same secret: obsession with their weight overshadows concerns about their children, husbands, work—and everything else of importance in their lives. Scales terrify them.
Daphne, plump in a family of model-thin women, learned at her mother’s knee that only slimness earns admiration. Alice, break-up skinny when she met her husband, risks losing her marriage if she keeps gaining weight.
The two women meet at Waisted. Located in a remote Vermont mansion, the program promises fast, dramatic weight loss, and Alice, Daphne, and five other women are desperate enough to leave behind their families for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The catch? They must agree to always be on camera; afterward, the world will see Waisted: The Documentary.
The women soon discover that the filmmakers have trapped them in a cruel experiment. With each pound lost, they edge deeper into obsession and instability…until they decide to take matters into their own hands.
A compulsively readable and ultimately poignant examination of body image, family, and friendship, Waisted features Randy Susan Meyers’s signature “engaging and sharp” (Publishers Weekly) prose and is perfect for fans of Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, Dietland by Sarai Walker, The First Wives Club by Olivia Goldsmith, and Hunger by Roxanne Gay.
PURCHASE HERE.
PRAISE:
“Waisted is a fiercely feminist story that skewers the weight loss industry and a society that “treats fat people like out-of-control horrors” and the war against women with its “intersectionality of misogyny, fat shaming, [and] faux health concerns.” This is urgent, angry, and at times darkly funny prose.” —Seattle Book Mama
To Alice and Daphne, being thin is taking over their world. They become fast friends when they both sign up for a program promising dramatic weight loss in one month. Meyers exquisitely explores body image, family, and marriage in this surprisingly deep novel. though she starts with a fictionalized version of the TV show The Biggest Loser, she dips into major issues of race, culture, obsession, and sisterhood. Taking on the timely topic of how a woman is perceived in today’s society, she twists it into how far women will go to be what society deems right, and at what cost—a marriage, a family obligation, a personal goal? A compelling story that will leave readers giving their scale the side eye.
— Booklist
“Meyers spins a compelling tale, raising critical questions about familial, social, and cultural messages about body image . . .”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Meyers delivers a timely examination of body image, family, friendship, and what it means to be a woman in modern society. It will appeal to anyone who has ever dreaded stepping on a scale; even those who haven’t will learn from it. Culturally inclusive and societally on point, this is a must-read.”
—Library Journal
“Waisted is a wickedly fun spin on the pressure and obsession women put on themselves, and others in regards to food, eating, and weight. Alice and Daphne are obsessed with their weight but neither would tell one another such a thing. The two meet at Waisted, a program that promises rapid weight loss. With five other women, they join forces and leave their lives for change. All they have to do is lose weight… and contribute to a public documentary about weight-loss, Waisted: The Documentary.”
—Women.com
“This deeply compelling (and thoroughly entertaining) novel will give you major Dietland vibes as it tells the story of seven women who vow to take revenge against the exploitative filmmakers documenting their extreme weight loss journey, and the self-love and sisterhood they find in the process.”
—PopSugar
“Meyers touches on the many ways food lives in our psyches and in our stomachs, including self-image as well as being judged by others. . . . The husbands’ attitudes toward their thinning wives come with a delicate texture: “Yes, I always loved you, no matter your size.” But the ambiguity of who the women are as their weight goes up and down is a problem for all. Meyers’ observant wit squiggles through the existential questions of what the fat-thin-fat pingpong means for Daphne and Alice and their families. Her characters move away from their eating obsessions and they focus outward on being better toward the world. Bidding less of an emphasis on calories, those new insights become their version of healthy eating.”
—The Improper Bostonian
Randy Susan Meyers takes a tough subject and writes with honesty from each characters point of view. For anyone that has struggled with weight issues (and I am one of them), this is a great read. She never preaches, just writes an honest look at the issue of weight. The question she does ask is how far would you go to lose weight and try to keep it off? It also looks at fat shaming and support of the people around you that say they love you. They should be helping you with support not saying don’t eat that roll in a way to make you feel bad about yourself.
—Red Carpet Crash
“Suspenseful. Witty. Warm. Wonderful. Disturbing. Thoughtful. Compelling. Riveting. Seriously important. Inspiring. It made me hungry. Then made me never want to eat again. I recognized myself. Then hated myself. Then loved myself. This is a must read for every woman who ever stepped on the scale with her eyes closed. And every woman who hasn’t.”
— M.J. Rose, New York Times bestselling author of Tiffany Blues
AUTHOR VISITS:
Randy Susan is available to meet with book clubs via NovelNetwork. Visit her calendar of availability and schedule your visit here.