Dietland

By: Sarai Walker

Narrated by: Tara Sands

Plum Kettle does her best not to be noticed because when you're fat, to be noticed is to be judged. She is biding her time at a job answering fan mail for a popular teen girls' magazine until she can afford weight-loss surgery. But lately she is being followed by a girl in outlandish clothes and combat boots.

When Plum finally confronts her, she finds herself falling into the mysterious world of Calliope House, where an odd collection of women orbit around Verena Baptist, daughter of a famous diet guru. Verena offers to give Plum the money for the surgery, but there is a catch: First Plum must go through a series of seemingly perverse challenges that will force her to confront her past, her doubts, and the real cost of becoming "beautiful".

Dietland is a scathing and revolutionary debut that takes on the beauty industry, gender inequality, and our obsession with weight loss - from the inside out and with fists flying.

©2015 Reproduced by special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (P)2015 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"A fresh and provocative debut novel about a reclusive young woman saving up for weight loss surgery, when she gets drawn into a shadowy feminist guerilla group called 'Jennifer' - equal parts Bridget Jones' Diary and Fight Club. Keenly intelligent, daring, and original, Dietland has something important to say to us all." (Alice Mattison, author of When We Argued All Night)

Wait... That's it?

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I would have said it was time well spent, that was until the final chapter ended with a fizzle. With a proper conclusion this could have been a wonderful treatise on the female condition in modern society, or a manifesto on learning to love yourself no matter who you are. Instead we're left with an unfinished story, and a sense of emptiness. Unlike some books that end and leave the rest to your imagination, there isn't enough here for the reader to do that with.

What does Tara Sands bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator is a talented voice actor and her reading of the book was enjoyable and entertaining. It was easy to know who was talking in dialogue sections.

Did Dietland inspire you to do anything?

As a male I can only empathize with some of the hardships Plum goes through in the book. But, as a fat person I know all too well much of the pain she feels and the book hit home time and time again. This book helped give me some new tools on my journey towards self acceptance and body positivity.

funny and thought provoking

i laughed out loud....thoroughly enjoyed Plum's awakening and the female empowerment message. the narration enhanced the story.

I am Jennifer

Loved the story, loved the message, loved the narrator. The book is better than the show (as usual).

Dietland

Dietland follows the story of Plum, an insecure woman who is, by all accounts, fat(thought she , like many of us, hates to use or hear that word). Through the events of the book Plum meets a woman who was the daughter of a very popular diet icon in her youth, and while part of her wants to hate this woman for having ruined the diet plan that give her purpose as a child, she finds herself compelled to follow the daughters new diet plan. This leads her down a road of fierce feminism, forcing herself to face hard truths, an uncomfortable but needed journey of self love and discovery and confidence , and a global plot she somehow stumbled in the middle of. This book forces you to feel uncomfortable, but it is nessecary. I enjoyed this novel a lot and feel like it’s a must read for anyone struggling with self image

Changed me for the better. A fun read, too.

The story, especially at the beginning, is quite engaging. This book has the potential to change our culture if enough people read it and think about it and talk about it. Perhaps if enough of us get angry something will change.