MY SYNOPSIS
Imagine This: You are overweight, obese, huge,
big. But never fat. Anyone could call you anything but fat.
You are
tired of people poking fingers at you, mothers using you as an example to ward
their little girls off ice cream, no guy would ever want to marry you, or fuck
you, or kiss you. To the world, you existence is unnecessary. And for so long
you have begun to believe it. All the nasty things people and the media refer to you as. It doesn’t help
that you work for a glamorous teen magazine. Your life has been one big
(literally) criticism after another.
But all this
is going to end. Soon enough. Because in
a few months you are going to do the surgery to transform you from being
overweight, obese, huge, big (—anything but fat!). And soon, you’d be what
society approves of every woman to be!
But then an
encounter with a girl you realize has been stalking you changes your life
forever. It all happens too fast. Next thing you know, you are hanging out with
a group of interesting women who wake up every morning and show a finger to
what society expects them to be, and be anything they want to be! By their
daring lifestyles and their influences on your own life, you are persuaded to
take on some challenges that would deem you ‘beautiful’.
Except no
one told you these challenges would be difficult. No one told you you’d be
waking up one morning putting on make-up, wearing knee-length dresses at the
risk of society perusing your bulbous thighs, no one told you you’d be going
out on blind dates, getting yourself mocked by everyone. How on earth could
this way of living make you feel beautiful?
As if all
the above is not enough, you find yourself entangled in a messy plot involving
a guerrilla group of women terrorizing female-offenders. You can’t afford to
have the FBI breathing down your neck. You need this surgery more than a
feminist group or prison.
Plum Kettle’s ridiculed, complicated
and soon-to-be-dangerous life summarised for your delight.
MY REVIEW
I loved,
loved this book! So you know in my review I’d be yelling in your face to go buy
this book and, in the process, get your
own kind of beachbody this summer!
First of
all, This is a debut? This is a debut!? What the….── ★
The
storyline is off the hook! It’s just one storyline with so many layers that
would surprise and intrigue you! Every section (mind you, not chapter) of this
book is divided into a new story line that you never saw coming! So Girl
working for a teen magazine is FAT, unlike all her glamorous colleagues who
whizz by! Girl wants to have surgery to transform into the kind of woman women
hate and men want to fuck. Girl is made to undertake a series of challenges
that would make her consider herself ‘beautiful’. But can she stand the lure of
becoming the girl society wants to be?
That above
is not all the book is made of. The writer pushes real boundaries. Expressing
admirable feminism that would change your perception of society’s view of
women, the porn industry, the beauty industry. This book is the kind of book
that transforms the reader (it did me!), men, women! I believe this book should
be a staple of every home! The kind of book Lady Bug should make into a classic
fairytale to teach girls from a younger age they should be everything they want
to be (and not what society expects them to be)!── ★★★
Plum, the
main character is my kind of girl! (Oh, don’t worry, I do share). You might not
understand her reasons for wanting to undergo surgery unless you have
experienced the predicament she’s going through—only if you’ve been in her
shoes can you relate. But really, Sarai Walker does a good job to make you, the
reader, be in her (Plum’s) shoes, feel her pain, know her wants. I wouldn’t say
she’s the kind of character for a certain kind of woman—by just being a woman
you’d love her! Even I am not a woman so making that statement surely means
Plum Kettle has the tendency to win every reader over! Her development is so stunning
you would want to rush to Brooklyn to hug her. That said, she felt so
real! A star to her.
Other
characters in this book are also amazing! I was so in love with Verena, the
woman responsible for our character’s change. You’d love Marlowe the ex-American
sweetheart who walked out of Hollywood and decided to never go back (because
really, a Hollywood career ends when girls do not want to be you and no man
wants to fuck you). All the women in Calliope House—the house filled with the
women who leave on their own terms—would be much-loved mostly for their
individual projects to change the world’s view objectification of women! Leeta,
the stalking girl would also be a favourite and a major reader-interest in the
novel. There’s also Julia, the secretive Beauty Editor. Other minor characters
representing figures of society that mock women who are not considered
‘beautiful’ enough would be adored(?) A star to all the characters in the book,
none were redundant!
The writer’s
style is amazing! I love how she reported the attacks of misogynistic
characters in this novel by the Guerrilla Group (I even loved the font she
used! Yes, I am weird). This part of the story held my interest so much. It’s
one of the parts responsible for transforming me.
A star goes
to the humour—wouldn’t call it hilarious, but it’s funny. The mystery, the suspense! Marketers of this
book link this book to getting beach bodies, but I worry what beach body you’d
get when spending majority of the time knitting your brows together(!) focused
on this book! So engaging!
My rating:
Six/Five stars (6/5 stars). (Not mathematically possible, I know. But I run
this blog).
It’s a debut
to go get on amazon. It’s a debut to go buy this instant!
I recommend
this book to anyone who wants a piece of the new age of debut writers who are
breaking bounds! Anyone who wants a book that would change their idea about a
lot of things and inform so much on a lot of things too. Anyone who wants
something to keep them glued to their sun loungers should go get this book—no
need for fake tans, please.
