Bountiful Women: Large Women's Secrets for Living the Life They Desire

by Carmen Renee Berry (Introduction) Bonnie Bernell

While reportedly half of the women in this country wear size fourteen and above, we do not see large women in that proportion. Where are they? Bountiful Women is a celebratory book about the strategies large women have developed for handling embarrassing or challenging situations such as confronting a tight squeeze on an airplane seat or handling judgmental comments about their size. While encouraging women to take good care of their bodies with exercise and healthy food, Bonnie Bernell counsels large women to start living now and not wait until they are "thin enough" to be out in the world, doing the things they long to do. Dozens of women offer their personal stories in this book, with practical ideas, true stories, and hands-on advice.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Health

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2000

Reviews

[Yvensong]

I think this positive book written for "bountiful" women can be an asset to anyone's library. Many of the issues discussed in this book can be experienced by people who are not necessarily bountiful, but who feel they are because our society is aimed to present thin women as the norm, "too short" (a category I tend to fall in), or, ironically, "too thin", (I can tell you stories from my teen and early adult years), and/or any other difference from what we keep being told is the ideal.

What makes this book stand out from so many of the books of this genre is that it is not written by people who have never experienced the inconveniences and the sometimes, harsh realities faced by women who are larger than the ideal. The author and the many people that had contributed to this book are all people who have fully experienced being bountiful women. They discuss the inconveniences, the negativity, the hurt, and how they learned to live full and enriching lives.

[Darlene]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12817834

Merged review:

This was a slow read for me. Not that the writing was bad, but because it was the paperback version and the font was small. But it wasn't so small that I couldn't take it in small doses.

Going deeper, the information that gave reminders that all of us need; that we are okay as we are. Fat shaming has never helped a bountiful woman or man to lose weight. That those who are of bountiful size have had enough with dieting that doesn't work. That trying to hide so as to avoid the critical voices, hides us from those who might be our friends or more.

Did I learn anything new here? No. Just some affirmations I had forgotten. Moreover, I wish the book had started with the ending stories. The beginning seemed a dream for those of us who have fixed incomes. The suggestions we go to health spas or invest in counseling that can also be exorbitant. Instead offering ideas to find those positive beings to come into our lives that create the kind of support we all need.

So, sorry, it's just okay but worth the read. Find the bits, as I did, and pass it on.

I registered this one with BookCrossers, the BCID is here: 473-12817834

[Elizabeth]

$1.99