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Thin
Naomi is a thin, fashion-loving Torontonian living in a world that likes it large. Being small is her life, and she gets by day-to-day ignoring the micro grievances that surround her until they become unavoidable obstacles in her dating, family, friend, and work life.
To add to it, the new girl at work is tormenting her, and she doesn’t know who to turn to. Who is this Ami chick, and why has she taken such an intense interest in her? This isn’t what she asked for. All she wants is acceptance, respect, and a warm body to spoon on cold nights, and it’s going to take more than dressing pretty to accomplish it.
This speculative romance takes place in a world similar to our own, but with a tiny twist. Naomi will have to think large and take charge to get what she wants in life, and a pretty girl or a handsome guy on her arm would be an added bonus.
To add to it, the new girl at work is tormenting her, and she doesn’t know who to turn to. Who is this Ami chick, and why has she taken such an intense interest in her? This isn’t what she asked for. All she wants is acceptance, respect, and a warm body to spoon on cold nights, and it’s going to take more than dressing pretty to accomplish it.
This speculative romance takes place in a world similar to our own, but with a tiny twist. Naomi will have to think large and take charge to get what she wants in life, and a pretty girl or a handsome guy on her arm would be an added bonus.
218 pages, Paperback
Published July 6, 2022
8 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Vanessa L. Krauss
9 books49 followersFor more on Vanessa's literary works and art, visit http://www.vlk249.com
Vanessa Krauss is a Vancouver, Canada resident who loves creating characters and worlds through art and literature. Published works include: the Fatality series, Thin (JMS Books, LLC), Beautiful Dreamer, and multiple short stories with Aberrant Literature and Poe Boy Publishing. Vanessa's overall brand is weird and speculative fiction.
Vanessa Krauss is a Vancouver, Canada resident who loves creating characters and worlds through art and literature. Published works include: the Fatality series, Thin (JMS Books, LLC), Beautiful Dreamer, and multiple short stories with Aberrant Literature and Poe Boy Publishing. Vanessa's overall brand is weird and speculative fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 30, 2022
Thin is an adult romance with an unusual twist: the lead character, Naomi, is looking for love while dealing with everyday difficulties and prejudices caused by her naturally ultra skinny body size.
The plot struck me as extremely niche, yet in one way this probably only serves to increase the book's appeal: having a romance narrator who isn't described as physically perfect or beautiful certainly makes a refreshing change. Even if the emphasis on Naomi's difficulties living as a thin person did put potential readers off I would highly recommend they pick this book up anyway. The style of narration, Naomi's "voice", is witty, engaging and immediately pulls you in enough to silence any doubts about how good her story is going to be.
The writer has a serious knack for character description. Each one is portrayed with such creative flair that they truly feel alive and leap from their pages, capturing interest with such ease that I wanted to see more from all of them. Even the characters deliberately intended to be unpleasant I found myself liking as much as hating.
Naomi herself is a compelling narrator. Her words, thoughts and feelings are written so skillfully and vividly that you can't help but cheer for her, hope for her and really feel her heartbreak yourself when things go wrong. Again, some readers may find it hard to sympathise with her plight of being unusually skinny. In my opinion though common ground can be found with her whatever your own size or shape. Naomi hates her appearance, and feeling self-conscious, wishing we could change something or many things about how we look is a sad struggle it's easy for everyone to wrestle with.
If I had any negative thoughts about this story it would be that Naomi's paranoia and fear over how others perceive her is perhaps a little overdone at times; there were moments when I felt her bewildered hostility towards others was just a tad too exaggerated. And there was one line from her that seemed quite dark and out of character. But for the most part Naomi is a narrator I was 100% rooting for and her story kept me hooked until the end. Thin is a quirky and highly enjoyable read I genuinely loved.
The plot struck me as extremely niche, yet in one way this probably only serves to increase the book's appeal: having a romance narrator who isn't described as physically perfect or beautiful certainly makes a refreshing change. Even if the emphasis on Naomi's difficulties living as a thin person did put potential readers off I would highly recommend they pick this book up anyway. The style of narration, Naomi's "voice", is witty, engaging and immediately pulls you in enough to silence any doubts about how good her story is going to be.
The writer has a serious knack for character description. Each one is portrayed with such creative flair that they truly feel alive and leap from their pages, capturing interest with such ease that I wanted to see more from all of them. Even the characters deliberately intended to be unpleasant I found myself liking as much as hating.
Naomi herself is a compelling narrator. Her words, thoughts and feelings are written so skillfully and vividly that you can't help but cheer for her, hope for her and really feel her heartbreak yourself when things go wrong. Again, some readers may find it hard to sympathise with her plight of being unusually skinny. In my opinion though common ground can be found with her whatever your own size or shape. Naomi hates her appearance, and feeling self-conscious, wishing we could change something or many things about how we look is a sad struggle it's easy for everyone to wrestle with.
If I had any negative thoughts about this story it would be that Naomi's paranoia and fear over how others perceive her is perhaps a little overdone at times; there were moments when I felt her bewildered hostility towards others was just a tad too exaggerated. And there was one line from her that seemed quite dark and out of character. But for the most part Naomi is a narrator I was 100% rooting for and her story kept me hooked until the end. Thin is a quirky and highly enjoyable read I genuinely loved.
March 3, 2024
Naomi battles her insecurity about her body image, convinced that she’s unloveable because she is too thin. I wanted so much to give this one five stars, but in the end, it lost a star because of the typos and the plethora of run-on sentences. There are two elements to writing; storytelling and technical ability. The story was great, but the editor allowed too many errors through in the end, for me.
With that out of the way, this book had so much going for it. A quirky, oddball character with so many personality flaws that you just had to root for her. There is plenty of pithy, wry humour here, and it’s laugh-out-loud stuff. The date with Frank had me crying with laughter, and I would have loved more of those moments.
There is a serious message here, about how we treat those who are different from us, and the effect it has on their self esteem. Seen through her own lens, Naomi is a born failure who cannot see the redeeming qualities that others can. So many people around her treat her the way she expects to be treated, and she hides away from the world in her own little cocoon, free to despise herself all she wants.
In these circumstances, it often takes not much more than a staunch ally in your corner. Enter Ami, the new hire at work, whom Naomi totally misreads. Through Ami’s intervention, a branch of hope is extended to Naomi, if only she has the self-awareness to see it.
Some of the points about the way society treats those who don’t conform felt a bit contrived, and the epiphany had a Road To Damascus feel that I didn’t totally buy into, but this was overall a good romp through the ups and downs of the life of a thin person who only wanted to find her joy.
With that out of the way, this book had so much going for it. A quirky, oddball character with so many personality flaws that you just had to root for her. There is plenty of pithy, wry humour here, and it’s laugh-out-loud stuff. The date with Frank had me crying with laughter, and I would have loved more of those moments.
There is a serious message here, about how we treat those who are different from us, and the effect it has on their self esteem. Seen through her own lens, Naomi is a born failure who cannot see the redeeming qualities that others can. So many people around her treat her the way she expects to be treated, and she hides away from the world in her own little cocoon, free to despise herself all she wants.
In these circumstances, it often takes not much more than a staunch ally in your corner. Enter Ami, the new hire at work, whom Naomi totally misreads. Through Ami’s intervention, a branch of hope is extended to Naomi, if only she has the self-awareness to see it.
Some of the points about the way society treats those who don’t conform felt a bit contrived, and the epiphany had a Road To Damascus feel that I didn’t totally buy into, but this was overall a good romp through the ups and downs of the life of a thin person who only wanted to find her joy.
March 28, 2025
An Enjoyable, Entertaining, and Thought Provoking Story about Beauty Standards
I immensely enjoyed this book. I found Naomi to be a sad but relatable and compelling character who lives in a world that looks down on people who struggle with self-esteem issues. I especially like how this book focuses a lot on how (at least within the context of this universe) this society looks down on thin people in a way that harms people. The premise itself is intriguing and interesting—A cool way to showcase that skinny women also get body shamed just as much (if not more so) than fat people. For that alone, that makes this book worth a read.
Writing style is compelling, and I did like the episodic feel of the story. I did feel that the story wrapped itself up too quickly as it got close to the end, but the journey itself was worth taking. I read some of the other reviews and I really am not seeing how this was “written like a bad TV show.” Naomi felt real to me. I’ve met people like her and Krauss gets it spot on.
All in all, this was worth the read. It’s also a short read as well that didn’t outstay its welcome. Not a perfect book, but one that I found to be thoughtful and entertaining (with some parts sad, in a good way).
Give this one a chance. I know it won’t appeal to everyone, but I liked it overall.
I immensely enjoyed this book. I found Naomi to be a sad but relatable and compelling character who lives in a world that looks down on people who struggle with self-esteem issues. I especially like how this book focuses a lot on how (at least within the context of this universe) this society looks down on thin people in a way that harms people. The premise itself is intriguing and interesting—A cool way to showcase that skinny women also get body shamed just as much (if not more so) than fat people. For that alone, that makes this book worth a read.
Writing style is compelling, and I did like the episodic feel of the story. I did feel that the story wrapped itself up too quickly as it got close to the end, but the journey itself was worth taking. I read some of the other reviews and I really am not seeing how this was “written like a bad TV show.” Naomi felt real to me. I’ve met people like her and Krauss gets it spot on.
All in all, this was worth the read. It’s also a short read as well that didn’t outstay its welcome. Not a perfect book, but one that I found to be thoughtful and entertaining (with some parts sad, in a good way).
Give this one a chance. I know it won’t appeal to everyone, but I liked it overall.
August 8, 2022
Thin is an interesting read and I'm glad I got to fall into its pages. Vanessa has taken reality's idea of beauty standards and flipped them. Now people who are thick, curvy, and fat are consider beautiful (which they are anyway). This leaves the thin feeling like outcasts and ugly.
Of course, some may find it hard to sympathize with Naomi's poor self image, but I think I sort of identified with her. Yes, she's the thin *our* world believes is the ultimate perfection, but the way she feels about her body, the self doubt, is easy to see in myself. I also think we forget that there are people in our world that struggle to gain weight and may actually feel the way Naomi does.
This is a good read, a little light on the romance (which is okay), and one I'd recommend to anyone.
Of course, some may find it hard to sympathize with Naomi's poor self image, but I think I sort of identified with her. Yes, she's the thin *our* world believes is the ultimate perfection, but the way she feels about her body, the self doubt, is easy to see in myself. I also think we forget that there are people in our world that struggle to gain weight and may actually feel the way Naomi does.
This is a good read, a little light on the romance (which is okay), and one I'd recommend to anyone.
April 3, 2024
As a fat person and someone more committed to bodily autonomy and fat justice than to body positivity Ifound this book frequently frustrating. Barriers to access that fat folks experience it are often systemic, and that is addressed in this flipped version of reality, but not in a way that feels as if the author seriously considered what barriers to access thin folks might actually face. The main characters, frequent discussion of how little food she is capable of eating also often feels disturbingly judgmental of the supposedly large amounts of food fat people must be eating to be fat in our world and that just isn’t how bodies work actually.
And when we move into the redemption arc portion of the novel, the decisions she makes to accept being discriminated against from not just acquaintances, but also friends as the price of existing and as an acceptable price to pay feels gross though I accept it is a choice that many folks make.
But I did appreciate the multiple marginalized identities of not just the main character, but many of the other characters and the ways in which those identities are allowed to inform how people show up throughout the book.
And when we move into the redemption arc portion of the novel, the decisions she makes to accept being discriminated against from not just acquaintances, but also friends as the price of existing and as an acceptable price to pay feels gross though I accept it is a choice that many folks make.
But I did appreciate the multiple marginalized identities of not just the main character, but many of the other characters and the ways in which those identities are allowed to inform how people show up throughout the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2024
The first 80% of the book just seemed like a lot of complaining which was hard to get through. Once Ami comes in more the last 20% got so much better.
August 10, 2022
It initially seemed like an interesting premise, but I was really put off by Naomi's attitude towards herself. I also had (and still do) body issues when I was younger, due to my family nonstop making fun of me for being overweight.
So it was very hard to relate, especially with Naomi dabbling in hookup culture. It wouldn't have been so bad if she wasn't so hyper focused on weight.
On the other hand, the book did remind me of that troublesome trend of fat women shaming skinny women that was going around when I was younger (Mo'Nique comes to mind). For some people, the concept of this book wouldn't be farfetched at all.
Not entirely sure who this is for, other than people with a complex like Naomi.
So it was very hard to relate, especially with Naomi dabbling in hookup culture. It wouldn't have been so bad if she wasn't so hyper focused on weight.
On the other hand, the book did remind me of that troublesome trend of fat women shaming skinny women that was going around when I was younger (Mo'Nique comes to mind). For some people, the concept of this book wouldn't be farfetched at all.
Not entirely sure who this is for, other than people with a complex like Naomi.
January 27, 2024
I love the quirkiness of this piece! In a world where beauty standards are switched, the social commentary is all the more impactful. At the same time, we have a well-rounded character whose struggles feel real enough to draw us in and make us root for her. The writing is engaging and very readable. A very clever and witty story.
I'll be reading more by this author.
I'll be reading more by this author.
November 29, 2024
How did this book get approved for publishing? What a waste of trees
November 30, 2024
Startlingly unlikeable main character. Constant stream of negativity makes for a very uncomfortable and depressing read.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews