Life in the Fat Lane, by Cherie Bennett

Lara is pretty much the perfect teenage girl.  Smart, beautiful, kind.  She is what many girls would love to be, right down to the moment she is crowned homecoming queen.  But her perfect reality ends when she starts suddenly, and inexplicably, gaining weight.  After gaining a substantial amount of weight, it is determined she has a rare disorder.  But that does not stop the way people look at the once perfect beauty queen.

I bought this book because, as a young adult, I struggled with my weight, and back then no one really talked about it that much.  Sure, there were after school specials, and late night movies about eating disorders and such, but no one really talked on a young adult level in a way to which we could relate.  I was hoping that this book would do just that, and it really did.

The story here is not one that is earth shattering; as an adult reader, I found it a tiny bit shallow.  But the book is geared to middle grades and high school readers, so it actually is crafted quite well for its audience.  Lara is a character which comes alive.  She is the girl in high school that you wanted to hate, but she was too darn nice.  Now we get to see what life is like, or could be like, for those seemingly perfect girls.

I enjoyed the story, it was a nice quick read, and well recommended for middle grades and high school readers.  It would be a good book for a young adult book club, to get girls talking about body image.  All in all, a nice book.

Life in the Fat Lane

This book is from my personal library.