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Mar 13, 2010

Nicole rated it:

I grew up with Danielle Steel novels, but I have to admit I haven't been reading very many of her current books. When I saw the ad for this book in a magazine, I thought I have to go out and get it as soon as it becomes available. I have to admit that part of what drew me to this book was the cover, but when I read the synopsis on goodreads I thought this book would be too good. Boy was I wrong!!!While this was an enjoyable enough read, it's not something that I would recommend to anyone. I feel More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2012

Teena rated it:

I haven't read a Danielle Steel novel in about 20 years. A friend read it recently and said it was okay so I thought I'd check it out. It seemed like an interesting story, different from Steel's usual formula.

This story had so many possibilities ... it's a topic that most women today deal with. But Steel didn't do a good job with it ... it was very superficial.

Victoria's parents were horrible. Her dad was an A-hole and her mother was a wimp. Her dad kept reminding her tha More...

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Dec 27, 2011

Sarah rated it:

I have never read a Danielle Steel book. I got given this book for Christmas, and decided to read it. I don't like novels that focus on romance alone, usually preferring paranormal romance instead. This book wasn't purely about romance so that was a plus.
About the only plus, I might add.
I am a writer, and the first thing I noticed is the fact that the story is told and not shown. Her writing is boring and unimaginative, one-dimensional, and (not completely, but not far off) emotionle More...

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Oct 14, 2011

Brittany rated it:

To be honest, I was automatically drawn to the book because of it's flashy and fun looking cover.
I did really enjoy this book though and it was one of those books that I could not put down, which is always a good thing to me when it comes to reading a book.
I feel that this book is a book that a lot of women can relate to, we are all sensitive to weight. No matter if we are on the heavy side, skinny side or some where in between. We all have problems with weight and this book really s More...

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Aug 19, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

Victoria is considered the odd man out in her family. She was the first born and her parents hve been disappointed ever since her birth. They wanted a boy--she was a girl. Her parents named her after Queen Victoria. So a girl they decide must look like them, dark hair brown eyes and be petite like mom. Well, Victoria is nothing like that, she is blond hair, blue eyes, plain looks, and overweight but with killer legs. They comment on how she looks like her great-grandmother--Big so she is their b More...

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Jul 07, 2011

Amanda rated it:

Why on earth I'm reading this is beyond me. I hate Danielle Steel. I read my first DS ("The Accident") in sixth grade. And at that point, it was probably appropriate, reading-level -wise (though perhaps not in terms of subject matter). I think I read one more after that before I caught on to the formula and abandoned her in disgust.

At any rate, I found this at a rummage sale for a quarter. I'm half done with the book and feel I over-paid. The writing is crap. The ch More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 01, 2011

Lisa rated it:

Have such mixed feelings about this one.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It had a nice, happy ending, and I really liked it. I felt like there were some real flaws in the writing, though. From the other reviews, I'm getting that this is not Danielle Steel's best work, but I cna't say I'm chomping at the bit to find anything else.

For one thing, the the characters were kind of flat. Our heroine, Victoria, is noble and self-sacrificing and doesn't seem to have any flaws, nore does More...

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Apr 07, 2011

Wanda rated it:

Ok so here's the story... I have been a huge fan of Danielle Steel since I can remember. She was my favorite author as a pre-teen and a teenager. I have soooo many favorites by her
such as "Daddy" One of the most heart warming books and yes it made me cry. I believe Alan Thicke played in it when it was made into a movie..."No greater Love" "Jewels" all great books… However; Big Girl didn't impress me much at ALL! I was actually disappointed, because I predicted More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 19, 2011

Kiki rated it:

Normally I enjoy Danielle Steel books, and though I haven't read one of her books in a long time I was looking forward to a nice light entertaining read. This was definitely light, a little too light. It was painful to get through and I felt like I was reading a book written by a robot.

It felt like this was a "write by numbers" type of book. X did this, X looked like this. X felt like this. There was barely any emotion in the book at all except for a lot of self pity.

More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Feb 19, 2011

A.-C. rated it:

I'm torn between 1 and 2 stars here. It's not that I didn't like the book as such, but seldom have I read something so repetitive, and, quite frankly, annoying. The sentence structure throughout the novel is weak and just about every sentence seems labored. I caught myself wondering if Danielle Steel had actually written this (or somebody stole her name and somehow got this stuff published) several times. I was certainly not impressed.

On the other hand it wasn't horrible. But it lacks More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2011

Jinky rated it:

(2.5)
This book started out strong and I was really liking it because I could relate. It was straight forward and was quickly telling the events right after the other, building sound character developments. But somewhere before the last third of the book, it went downhill. From there, the book dragged on and took too long to get to the resolution. This resulted in saying the same thing over and over again and so Victoria's character got too whiny and so dense. Poor girl, when it rained More...

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Jan 20, 2011

Filmon rated it:

I've read a couple of Danielle Steel books before and this book is just okay as compared to the others. There isn't too much character in this book. The goal of this book doesn't stays consistent, she always has a different goal in her life and just leaves her previous goal. She switches off from dealing with her weight to suddenly wanting to be loved by a guy. Even though she did that it still made for a decent book, because it still followed a plot line that brought in the readers to continue More...

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Jan 02, 2011

Rachel rated it:

I did not know there were so many ways to say, "I'm fat, I eat when I am depressed, I battle with my weight, my sister is loved more than me, I look nothing like my family, and my parents make wise cracks about my average looks and weight." Every chapter said the same thing, but was worded differently. After the first three chapters, I got a little bored. I stuck with it though and was definitely happy for Victoria in the end.

I must say that reading this book was almost lik More...

6 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 09, 2010

Amanda rated it:

Usually when a child is first born, the parents are nothing more than appreciative and grateful for their newest creation that have brought into this world. Well, that wasn’t the case for girls such as Victoria (protagonist). The second Victoria came out of her mother’s woom, that same instant all her parents desired to do was rewind everything in their life from the second she was born to the night she was conceived. Victoria had the most stunning blue eyes and flawless blonde ringlets but, More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 26, 2010

Christin added it

I read so many reviews about this book, written by Danielle Steele, that when I saw it in the public library, I snapped it up. Danielle Steele has written about 100 novels and I thought this one might be good. I knew it was chick-lit, but hey, it’s summer and I deserve some escape reading!

When I finished, all I could do was roll my eyes. I rolled my eyes at the terrible plot, the poorly described characters and that I had lost a few hours of my life on this book. My terrible secret More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2010

Porsche rated it:

I usually find Danielle Steel books way to explicit for my taste, and give up after reading part of them. This book came recommended by a co-worker. It was more tame as far as the romance she usually writes about. I found the storyline extremely redundant, and skimmed part of the last half because i was getting bored with it (seriously, how many times do we have to hear that she is the tester cake? We get it already!).

However, there was something in this book that resonated deeply More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 09, 2010

Sandi added it

I have never read any Danielle Steel books and Big Girl was not a good place to start. I wanted to like it because I liked the idea of it, but I found it very shallow. The author was successful in making me dislike the parents for the things they said to Victoria throughout the years, but I found her to be...a mouse. There were some stereotypes that I thought were sad and weak, like the "fat" chic only being able to snag gay men or cheaters, going straight for the food whenever things More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 07, 2010

Mary rated it:

Good take on body-image

Victoria Dawson was blond and blue-eyed and had a pretty face, but she was also big-boned and had a tendency to put on weight. Unfortunately she was born into a family of slender, dark-haired people. Her parents constantly put her down as a "big" girl, her father saying she looked like the homely Queen Victoria and was the "tester" baby for her younger sister Grace, who was perfect. Her mother was just as bad, always talking ab More...

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Apr 14, 2010

Paula added it

Big-Boned , a tester and bearing a resemblance to Queen Victoria is what
Victoria exactly is. When she was born, she looked nothing like her family
and when she was 7 her baby Sister Gracie came along who was perfect in
her parents eyes. Victoria has always had a sweet tooth and eating food
has made her feel comfortable , But having a younger sister whose a GAP
Model is difficult. Victoria then decides it's time to leave and start
making her own choices, so she pack More...

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Apr 03, 2010

Jen rated it:

I picked this up as only one of two choices at Wal-Mart before I headed out of town. Usually Danielle Steel is a good bet; however, except for the fact that I have to finish every book I start, I would have quit on this one after the first CD.

This book was terribly shallow, I didn't connect with any of the characters and the writing style was not what I expected. Victoria is constantly put down by her parents, especially after her perfect younger sister is born. But it is all ab More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 06, 2011

Nicole rated it:

This is the first Danielle Steele book that I have ever read. I have to say that I deeply enjoyed it...although, I would have liked to have read a more complete ending. After reading this book I feel so blessed to have been born to such supportive loving parents. This story is about a girl named Victoria. Her parents named her after queen Victoria. It wasn't until Victoria was about 6 and saw the first picture of queen Victoria that she realized how her parents really saw her. She was different. More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 22, 2011

Laurie rated it:

Life is full of ups and downs. Abuse comes in many forms. Physical abuse and emotional abuse are much too common in this world. There are a number of loving individuals out there who hold deep secrets that have left scar tissue in their heart and soul. Sometimes people don't realize what an impact snide, rude, insulting comments leave on a person. In this book you will meet a number of people who have (without knowing) deomoralized a young lady who has nothing but kindness in her heart. He More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 28, 2010

Mel rated it:

Horrible. Her prose is nearly unreadable and I have no idea how someone so lacking in the ability to string sentences together could have been so successful.

The lesson is that you can never go home again and ironically while this is in fact the message of the book what it means for me is that books/authors that were tolerable as a teenager are no longer readable.

The writing style was intensely distracting and prevented any empathy for any of the characters from developin More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2012

Kathryn rated it:

The good: I loved the cover, and I like the font DS novel's are published in (that may be silly, but hey). I liked Victoria and could relate to her weight struggles (without the evil parents, thankfully). I liked the time progression, that we followed this woman from birth to age 30. I wanted her to let go of her past and shake her weight for the right reason. I was happy that the heroine had to be okay with herself and on her way to happiness WITHOUT a man before she found love. All that I like More...

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Dec 14, 2011

Frederick rated it:

A friend recommended this book, because I'm interested in the topic of people losing weight. What a disappointment to find out that this bestselling novel is horribly, criminally flawed! First, the author commits the cardinal sin of telling, not showing, all the way through the book, from the beginning to the end. One example: the main character Victoria goes and gets therapy for her deep seated anxiety. Apart from a few lines of dialogue between her and the therapist, the entire episode is More...

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Apr 30, 2011

Stasha rated it:

"Big Girl" tells the story of Victoria Dawson, a young woman who has battled her weight and constant put-downs from her seemingly cookie-cutter picture-perfect family. I found that I could really relate to Victoria,being big for as long as I can remember...I felt very sorry for Victoria, who felt and looked so different from the rest of her family. I cannot imagine parents actually doing that to their own children, but now I'm aware that this actually does happen. Very sad.

Th More...

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Jan 07, 2011

Heather rated it:

The story was compelling and all too real, even despite the unfathomable amount of TELLING versus showing. That said, Steel is a good storyteller. She draws you in. Toward the end, (SPOILER ALERT!) I felt like Victoria needed more of a victory over her nasty parents than there was with her boyfriend sticking up for her. I felt she needed to get to that breaking point and totally unleash all her pent-up emotions on them in a fury, before taking her new-found self-worth and walking the high road. More...

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Sep 25, 2011

Kelly rated it:

The story follows Victoria, a girl who is born to parents who see her as an ugly duckling who looks nothing like them from the moment she is born and criticize her incessantly about her weight. When she is seven they have another daughter who everyone thinks is beautiful. Victoria is instantly in love with her baby sister, despite being told that she will never measure up. Although her parents dote on her sister and the two girls have drastically different upbringings, Victoria and her sister ha More...

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Mar 13, 2011

Denise rated it:

Not one of her best books, but I don't think it was as bad as many of the reviews have said. Maybe it is because I have lived my life as a "big girl". My parents were never has awful as Victoria's were, but I have always felt not worthy. ALthough from the descriptions given of Victoria, I don't believe she was ever THAT overweight. It always talked about her being a size 16 and needing to lose 25 pounds...not a size 26 and needing to lose 50 or more pounds. Danielle did capture the More...

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Apr 29, 2011

Robin rated it:

This was my first Danielle Steel novel and likely my last. It was just written so strangely.
She writes in a series of short sentences so that the whole book ends up feeling like a list, or like prologue. The short sentences just fly by and don't feel like they have much consequence, so I kept thinking I was getting backstory until I had to face the fact that I was in the book. That was it. This was the plot.

She also repeats herself a lot. Whole paragraphs could have just been on More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)