Even when her trusted roommates tell Victoria she looks
terrific in her new outfit, she never really believes them
and only delves deeper into the comfort of ice cream.
Despite being a lovely blue-eyed blonde child with a kind
spirit, Victoria was wounded by the unkind and depreciating
jokes her father made at her expense, starting from the
name she was given to snarky comments on what she ate and
what work she wanted to do. Her parents, Jim and Christina
Dawson, have the good looks admired by their L.A.
counterparts and are obsessed with impression management
and presenting the picture perfect image to the world. As
Victoria's own gifts and body type differed from the box
they tried to squeeze her into, she never received the
welcome attention they bestowed on her baby sister whose
slender, dark haired features only emphasized how she was
the one who belonged in the family portrait.
While Victoria half-heartedly deals with her weight and
family issues, she doesn't fully realize how profound their
negativity and disinterest had affected her. But, when she
sees her sister is about to enter into a similar situation
as her mother, Victoria knows she has to act. But, it is
too late? Will they only think she is jealous? More
importantly, what can she do for her own self?
Danielle Steel is a writer in a league of her own. Her
hallmarks are well crafted characters and strong
storylines. In BIG GIRL, she carefully interweaves a
number of themes affecting family and sibling dynamics,
especially around abuse patterns of belittling kids,
including alternating between poking fun at their weight
while facilitating access to cookies and ice cream and the
impacts that continue into adulthood, especially
when they think they had a "normal" childhood. Having been
born the black sheep with blonde siblings in my own family,
I could identify with Victoria on some points. This
intriguing telling of Victoria's journey certainly makes
one fully aware of the needs to accept the gifts and
uniqueness of children and to be careful of some of those
family stories told for a laugh. Even the title highlights
how the identity is lost behind the euphemism.
Victoria Dawson has always felt out of place in her family,
especially in body-conscious L.A. Her father, Jim, is tall
and slender, and her mother, Christina, is a fine-boned,
dark-haired beauty. Both are self-centered, outspoken, and
disappointed by their daughter's looks. While her parents
and sister can eat anything and not gain an ounce, Victoria
must watch everything she eats, as well as endure her
father's belittling comments about her body and see her
academic achievements go unacknowledged. Ice cream and
oversized helpings of all the wrong foods give her comfort,
but only briefly. The one thing she knows is that she has to
get away from home, and after college in Chicago, she moves
to New York City.
Behind Victoria is a lifetime of hurt and neglect she has
tried to forget, and even ice cream can no longer dull the
pain. Ahead is a challenge and a risk: to accept herself as
she is, celebrate it, and claim the victories she has fought
so hard for and deserves. Big girl or not, she is terrific
and discovers that herself.
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