Olivia and Maggie did everything together during their high
school years; fantasized about dating the hottest boys in
the school, hung out at each other's houses and ate Nachos
BellGrande in Maggie's car on prom night. After 15 years of
friendship, Olivia is set to marry her golden doctor
boyfriend -- the only boyfriend she's ever had. Maggie is
one of the few people left in Olivia's life who knows her
dirty little secret -- she used to be obese. Taking the
gastric bypass route, Olivia can now shimmy into her
perfect size 2 wedding dress while inventing her perfect
past so she can maintain her perfect present.
Maggie is beyond overeducated for her waitressing gig at
the local coffeehouse. Unlike her best friend, she has no
boyfriend, no prospects and is destined to become a sad old
lady who lives alone with her uncontrollable dog Solo --
that is, until she gets evicted. Solo needs obedience
lessons, but is afraid to go near the trainer or go around
the blue buckets used in her training. If that wasn't
miserable enough, Maggie is still carrying around her high
school weight...plus her college weight...and her can't-get-
a-
man-destined-to-die-alone-depression weight. Things can't
get much worse, especially since Maggie's crush, Domenic,
seems to look straight through her girth. With the wedding
looming, Domenic giving her a cryptic mixed CD with a
beautiful hidden track ,and a new healthy diet and exercise
regime, things might just turn around for Maggie. Will she
be able to get past her fears and go around her own blue
buckets?
With a mix of humor and pity, Maggie's life is full of the
ups and downs an obese person might face. Unlike Jennifer
Weiner's GOOD IN BED, where the main character deals
with her issues with wit and gusto, Maggie seems to be
crippled by a fear of inadequacy instead of charging
through life with her head held high. The saving grace of
this book is the supporting characters in Maggie's life --
her divorce lawyer mother, who swears too much, her small
group of supportive friends, and her feisty sister, who
won't stand to see her sister kicked around.
Everyone seems to be getting on with their lives--except
Maggie. At 27, she's still working at the local coffee
house, while her friends are getting married, having
babies, and building careers. Even Olivia, Maggie's best
friend from childhood, is getting married to her doctor
boyfriend. Maggie, on the other hand, lives with her dog
Solo, and has no romantic prospects, save for the torch she
carries for Domenic, the busboy. Though Maggie and Olivia
have been best friends since their "fattie" grade school
years, Olivia's since gone the gastric-bypass surgery
route, in hopes of obtaining the elusive size two, the holy
grail for fat girls everywhere. So now Olivia's thin,
blonde, and betrothed, and Maggie's the fat bridesmaid.
Ain't life grand? In this inspiring debut novel, Maggie
speaks to women everywhere who wish for just once that they
could forget about their weight.
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