ISBN: 9781501131387
Publisher: Atria
Publication Date: 05/21/2019
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: TBR In this provocative, wildly entertaining, and thoughtful novel—from the author of The Widow of Wall Street (a PopSugar Top Book of 2017)—a group of women enrolled in an extreme weight loss camp discovers self-love and sisterhood as they enact a daring revenge against the camp’s exploitative owners. Daphne, the plump one in a family of model-thin women, learned early on that slimness earns admiration. Alice, skinny when she met her husband, now risks losing her marriage if she gains any more weight. Though both are successful working mothers, they harbor a secret: an obsession with their weight that overshadows concerns about their children, husbands, work—and everything else of importance in their lives.
That’s where Privation comes in. Located in a remote Vermont mansion, the program promises fast, dramatic weight loss and Alice, Daphne, and five other women, are desperate enough to try it. They’ve left behind their families for this once in a lifetime opportunity. The catch? They must agree to being filmed; afterwards, the world will see Waisted: The Documentary.
Alice and Daphne soon discover, however, that the filmmakers have trapped them in a cruel experiment to test how far they will go to drop weight. With each pound lost, they edge deeper into obsession and instability…until they decide to take matters into their own hands.
Praise
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.
"A big-hearted triumph of a novel. Meyers tackles painful truths and thorny issues while weaving a smart and engaging story about weight loss, self-acceptance and the fortifying power of female friendship."— Carolyn Parkhurst, New York Times bestselling author of Harmony and The Dogs of Babel
"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." — New York Times bestselling author MJ Rose
“The perfect blend of great storytelling and incisive commentary, Waisted peels back the layers of women’s feelings about their bodies, their relationships, and ultimately their self-worth. Readers will ride a tilt-a-whirl of emotions—fist pumping chief among them—as Alice and Daphne wage war on their inner demons and on the heartless filmmaker who would exploit their deepest wounds for his own gain.”— Juliette Fay, author of The Tumbling Turner Sisters
“How far will women go to achieve the weight loss they think will bring them happiness? This incisive story of friendship and self-esteem gets at the heart of body image with the pacing of a thriller.”— Nichole Bernier, author of The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D.
"When body image goes rogue in this tense and riveting novel, three women wade into a swamp of self-destruction as they attempt to save what they love most."— E.B. Moore, author of An Unseemly Wife
About the Author
Randy Susan Meyers is the bestselling author of Waisted, Accidents of Marriage, The Comfort of Lies, The Murderer’s Daughters, and The Widow of Wall Street. Her books have twice been finalists for the Mass Book Award and named “Must Read Books” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book.
She lives with her husband in Boston, where she teaches writing at the Grub Street Writers’ Center.
