Angry Fat Girls: 5 Women, 500 Pounds and a Year of Losing It...Again

by Frances Kuffel

This memoir describes the rage, embarrassment, hopes and fears of five overweight women who met online and bonded over their similar situations and their struggle to lose weight after gaining it back.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Adult, Psychology

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 31, 2008

Reviews

[Beth G.]

I read Kuffel's first memoir, Passing for Thin, a few years ago, and I remembered liking it, so I was looking forward to reading this follow-up. In that first book, Kuffel lost half her body weight and found herself on what she called "the Planet of Thin." But her stay (like that of most people who lose weight) wasn't permanent. Over the next few years, during which she was promoting her book and blogging about her life, she regained half the weight. Through her blog, she met several women in the same situation, weight loss "relapsers" trying to lose the weight again. In this book, she tells her story as it intersects with these other women.

Unfortunately, this is where the book falls apart. She decides to write a "non-fiction novel" - while her own details are true, the other women are cast as fictional characters. My constant wondering about who these women really were kept distracting me from the story at hand. Kuffel also threads scientific research results about eating and obesity through the narrative. This is sometimes interesting, but mostly awkward. The writing style vacillates between straightforward journalism, nostalgic memoir, and florid prose, with chapter endings particularly susceptible to strangely philosophical meanderings.

The once-and-again-obese person trying to lose the weight for good is such a promising subject, but this doesn't quite feel like it was the book Kuffel was trying to write, which makes it doubly disappointing.

[Kelli]

I made it about halfway through this book and was actually happy when it disappeared from my Nook and returned itself to the library. My first struggle with this book was that there just seemed to be too many characters. I can handle multiple characters in a book when each one has a distinct personality and has a story that keeps me wanting more. This book did not offer that. My second concern was the mix of fiction and non-fiction. I wasn't distracted by wondering which was which--but knowing it was there was disappointing. The writing wasn't bad, the story was just meandering and mournful. I felt like each woman's focus was on who did what dreadful thing to them that encouraged them to re-gain massive amounts of weight and then more finger pointing at society for not allowing them to be comfortable in their own bodies. It was exhausting.

[Kasey Jueds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really amazing things about this book, and some disappointing stuff as well. I loved (and now would like to reread) Frances Kuffel's first book, Passing for Thin, which I found smart and moving and beautifully written. In a way, it's unfair to compare it to Angry Fat Girls, because Passing for Thin is a pretty straightforward memoir, and Angry Fat Girls a more ambitious "nonfiction novel." So, kudos to Frances Kuffel for attempting something different, and probably much more difficult to write. And there are lots of other positives. Her subject matter is so important, and Kuffel has first-hand experience of being both thin and fat, and she writes bravely and honestly. I was never bored (though sometimes confused--more on that in a bit), and I did learn a lot. Kuffel makes a great case for the truly addictive qualities of sugar, and for the connection between sugar addiction and mood; there's a fascinating section about the theory that people who get addicted to sugar don't create enough feel-good hormones on their own, so they compensate by eating sugar (usually, a lot of it) just to feel normal.

But the disappointing bits were... disappointing--I suppose because I wanted to love the book more. I found it hard to sort out the other four characters and it took me until at least page 100 to begin to do so, probably because the writing jumps around from one woman to another so often, as well as back and forth between Kuffel's own story and scientific information related to weight/food/obesity. I was confused and sometimes frustrated, as well, because some especially interesting parts of the women's stories never get followed up on: there's a wonderful, sad, disturbing scene of one woman crying on her wedding day; when she re-enters the book later she's much older and clearly not married anymore, and she's also gained a lot of weight... what happened?? The book is organized chronologically, but even that didn't make sense to me; much of what happens in each chapter doesn't seem to have a connection to what happened in the previous one. Some of Kuffel's musings are so intelligent and relate-able, and others I found just mysterious. And she is such a likeable, smart, empathetic character... I suppose in the end I really just wanted to read more about her, and less about the other women I never really got to know anyway. I wanted to know more about her horrible abusive crazy boss, and being fired, and what the months after that were like, and how she got better. Now I hope she will write another memoir--she has so much important stuff to say.

[Shannon Krone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read "Passing for Thin" and after reading this book, I don't think I will. Frances makes it sound like being thin is the holy grail. As a fat person, I don't want to be thin. I want to be healthy and Frances and her non fiction characters clearly aren't healthy.

I rarely will make it through a non fiction book unless it's about parenting and even then I have to force myself. This was a book I forced myself to finish as I've struggled with my weight and my demons all my 36 years. I don't know if I thought maybe this book would have an "answer" but I sure felt it would have more than it had. All it seemed to have were angry excuses.

However, the end about "truth" and "facts" really resonated with me and for that part alone, I think this was a worthwhile book. The facts are I'm obese, I have a bad relationship with food and I have always been overweight. The truths are that I'm a great person, a loving wife and caring mother. I'm more than the number on my scale and I hope one day Frances and her characters and her followers will believe the truths over the facts and let that guide them through life a little less angry if not a little less heavy.

[Katie Foster · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was NOTHING like I thought it would be. And not in a good way, either. I was bored out of my mind throughout most of it. It was very confusing because it switches from past to present to past over and over again, even though the chapters are set to read in chronological order. I felt like it was a "fat power" book... or a "why we hate thin people book". It also made some fun of people who are "only" 100 or so pounds overweight, because those people couldn't possibly know what the author went through as a fat person.
A lot of this book seemed like a reference book about fat culture and thin culture, and the diet industry. Less than 5% of the book was about the "Angry Fat Girls" losing the weight.

[Conchetta · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was all over the place and not much in new information. The only thing I didn't have an understanding of before was how mentally ill an obese person can be even if they've lost a lot of weight. This book sprang from the association of some bloggers so who knows what otherwise healthy obese people are like. We'll probably never know because they are not so self obsessed.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating, but kind of disorganized.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

A weird combination of fiction and statistics. You get the feeling that the author is incredibly unhappy. An interesting look into the world of the super morbidly obese. Scary.

[Caitlin Trepp · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was hard to read due to poor sentence construction and a lack of structure. Probably this book should have stayed a blog.

[Laura Bryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t finish it! I was expecting to read about five women’s perspective on losing 100 pounds. It is one women dissecting what she think other women are thinking about why they are losing weight or can’t lose weight or why they blog or why they say thing to each other or I don’t even know. I never felt as if I was reading a story. So I did what o rarely do with books stopped trying to finish and returned the book( library) !

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I understand about what readers say about her fictionalizing her friends or fellow bloggers, but I learned a lot. I've read a lot about women's issues, having been a woman for 65 years. The book brought to light how insidious (on not!!) the messages are that you get growing up. Those core beliefs (the story you make up for yourself) are there for life. All you can do is get better at overriding them when you become aware of them.

[Moe Lil Krooook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book I learned how to turn fat and 500 pounds and never felt bad again I was happy for the rest of my life so what if I'm obese 🤣🥰😀 I died recently from eating a 800 double stacked triple baconater whopper quadruple Big Mac..... GOOD WAY TO GO OUT 😄😁🫡❤🥳 edit: don't question how I'm righting this

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing was rather disjointed and disoriented. The opening said that the author pulled from various blogs and interviews, but I had hoped for a more synthesized narrative. It was also hard to follow the stories of the five different women since the narrative jumped around quite frequently.

[Kerry Crisley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. Not sure why I'm reading about an uncle's foot infection and a Wiccan coven in a weight loss memoir?

[Amy mueller · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to give up on this one. Made it 4 chapters… couldn’t get in to it

[Denise Kawaii · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angry Fat Girls: 5 Women, 500 Pounds and a Year of Losing It... Again is a story of women struggling together to manage their relationship with food. I found the book to be incredibly relate-able, as I come from a long line of dieters.

Kuffel doesn't sugar coat the issues that surround the symptom of obesity. She pokes a bit at the medical issues we are all aware of: Diabetes, arthritis, loss of mobility. But this book dives far deeper than that. It displays the origins of the struggles with food - addiction, broken hearts that never mend, trying to fill the void left behind after abuse and mistreatment, self esteem and clinical depression.

This is a touching tale, based off of the actual stories of women who continue to fight their waistlines despite often insurmountable odds because they realize that they are worth the effort. A must read for anyone who has endured the see-saw of weight gain/loss as it is a wonderful reminder that we are not alone.

[Christiane · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 2004 Frances Kuffel wrote a book called “Passing for Thin” about the huge weight loss that made her a thin woman for the first time in her life. However, like the vast majority (statistics vary, but can be as high as 90%) of people who manage to lose weight, she regained. This book details her and four friends she met online's daily struggle with weight loss and being a fat woman in a society that just hates fat people. It tries to answer the question of why, when the stakes are so high personally, emotionally, professionally (and the indignities so awful...everyone hoping you won't be sitting next to them on the plane) do people still gain (and re-gain) weight? Why, with the millions Americans spend on weight loss plans, is it so hard (impossible?) for some people to get and stay thin?

[Rosemary]

I didn't finish this book. Such an awesome potential but alas the author is a blogger and the book unfortunately read at times like scattered blog posts. In addition, there were too many girls (yes, 5) but the author toggled back and forth between stories/details so much that I had to keep going back to see who I was reading about. Finally, the author employs strange and awkward sentence construction so often I had to re-read sentences over and over to try and decipher meaning.

PS- She first lost me when recounting a story of a young girl being in NY in the early 90s (1992 in fact) wherein the girl grabs her cell phone out of her purse to check the next available flight back home... nice try, but cell phones in 1992 were "mobile" phones only existed in luxury cars owned by fancy businessmen complete with a curly cord. Irritating anachronism.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very moving. Kuffel fairly ruthlessly examines and dissects the lifestyles, histories, flaws and neuroses of her friends and herself. She reveals a bit more about her childhood and it's hard not to feel that her parents really did border on neglectful -- she describes them aptly (and kindly) as having a genius for children under three and over eighteen. She also doesn't gloss over the fat that the angry fat girls eat a lot. Once again, you don't really feel any kind of definitive conclusion has been reached -- which is not a negative, it would be less honest if she had manufactured one. The whole subject of weight is so manifold, and absurd, and ungraspable.

[Erika Nerdypants · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm, I've read non-ficiton that felt like a novel, but I've never really done fiction that read like a memoir. Can't say that this approach worked for me, but it did at least hold my interest until the end. In this book they author tells her own story of regaining a large amount of wright after a very public and successful weight loss journey. She fleshes her story out by introducing fictional characters, so it is difficult to tell the fiction from the non-fiction. Together with numerous intersting facts on metabolism, the billion dollar diet industry and mental illness, some referenced, some not, lets just say it got pretty confusing for me.

[Rhonda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am usually all over these books, I love to read inspirational and motivational books, but this one just didn't capture my interest. I think it was the diet plan that was being followed. While I am happy that people can lose weight and there are several ways of accomplishing it, this just didn't help me. If someone is looking for a good inspirational and motivational read, I would suggest "Finally Thin" by Kim Bensen, or "Ruby's Diary" by Ruby Gettinger. Kim has taken the weight off and maintained it. Ruby is still going through her struggle. They both have something to offer.

[Jenine Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed following the women's stories and lives and to know that I'm not alone in the yo-yoing back and forth and some of the terrible habits I have (Starting a diet? Eat all the bad stuff! Having a bad day? Eat! Celebrating? Eat! *sigh*)
This book didn't really have a great solution because there really isn't one.
It was eye opening to hear about the surgeries available, the costs and risks associated with them, and how unlikely it is that the insurance company would pay for it as well as the costs of all the different diet programs, books, workout videos, etc.

[Dara Jameson · Rating 4 out of 5]

i just pulled it off the library bookshelf and took it home. this was a great read for me. i felt as if i got to know frances enough that she was keeping me company as i read. i had an ache of missing when i was done and was happy to find france's blog so i can still enjoy her company.
the book was so human and raw. i really appreciated the gut wrenching honesty and the continual attempts to reach out of stuck places.

[Noreen Henry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I SUPPOSE i WANTED ANGRIER WOMEN NOT SELF LOATHING WOMEN WHO ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE USED AND ABUSED IN ALMOST ANY/EVERY RELATIONSHIP THEY HAVE. i UBDERSTAND THE FRUSTRATION HAVING BEEN A FAT PERSON MY ENTIRE LIFE bUT i HAVE A MUCH HEALTHIER IDEA OF WHO AND WHAT i AM AND MAKE NOT EXCUSES OR APOLOGIZES TO ANYONE.
Somewhere in the middle of this book fat acceptance is disscussed but to not real solution for any of the women. I would like to help these women love themselves and stop the angry.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with its predecessor I found parts disturbingly like and parts disturbingly unlike my own journey over years. I'm glad I read it.

Do you realize how many people who lose weight regain it? Do you realize that you're not alone if you do? This helps with that. It's a real book with real experiences (although disguised to protect their real lives).

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very confusing to read since it seemed to be jumping from not only person to person but also random topics. It had a lot of great information that would have been more powerful if it was organized better. It is still a great read for people who like diet memoir type of book and it is great because of the facts.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great potential and Kuffel is certainly a talented writer. The book suffers, however, from a lack of a central focus. Each paragraph, or section, reads as a separate entity from the rest. That said, it remained an enlightening account of compulsive behavior and the worldview and attitudes that help perpetuate that compulsion.

[Naida · Rating 4 out of 5]

a well written & thought provoking look at fat, food addiction, the causes of obesity, and whether significant weight loss is actually even sustainable.
Really enjoyed it and the questions that it brought up

[Emma Kaufmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very vividly written 'non fiction novel' about five overweight women who relapse back into fatness. Gives an insight into food addiction and made me realize I am quite similar except not quite so addicted.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book. They all blamed their parents for their issues and weight. I also didn't like the way it was written. The author jumped around so much you didn't know what the heck she was talking about!