Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp

Title: Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp
Author: Stephanie Klein
Pub Date: 2008
Pages: 320
Genre: Memoir, Health & Diet

I first heard about Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp from The Book Zombie's blog. It captured my interest and I flagged it on my LT account for future purchase. Of course it never comes up on PBS or BM so heading out to the Keys last week I decided to download it to my Kindle. I wanted something light (bwahahaha) to read while I played passenger.

First off, I gotta say, Klein is one helluva truthful lady. I mean, ya'll, I wanna do a couple of tequila shots with this woman. She openly discusses her weight loss struggle since childhood, her discovery of her body and sexuality, her winnings, gainings, and losses. *whew* I was exhausted at times, still cheering her on.

Okay so at a young age Klein (and I really feel like I should be calling her Stephanie, so Steph? Can I? I mean, I FEEL like we're buds; even if it's a one-sided kinda friendship.) is told by her mom that she must start seeing Fran, a nutritionist of sorts that reminds me of weight watchers, but not? And of course Stephanie is shouting and hollerin' cuz she don't need to see no foodie person. But she does, cuz man, she's a kid.

Moving on. Steph goes through yo-yos with her weight until eventually her ma sends her to fat camp. (I can't remember the name, but it started with a "Y"). At fat camp a new thing happens to Steph becomes the hottie. Or close to it. At least the playing field is a bit more even. So, she lets loose a bit. And maybe a bit more. But you know, haven't we all heard the psychotherapy about how people can use sex as acceptance ergo ego booster?

And she's sharing this man! Open honest dirty raw in your face sharing it.

It kinda came at an interesting time because this week ABC Family premired the new series, Huge (which is evidently adapted from a YA book this past week). Will (short for Willamena) is the leading teen who has been shipped to fat camp by her parents. Her resolution is the gain as much weight as possible while there. She's sorta the rebel with a chip on her shoulder who's super cool and insecure inside but has a tongue that bites and makes you laugh out loud, for real. I was surprisingly pleased with the first episode and will continue to see how the show progresses. I also thought it was cool to see similarities with the book Moose and the show, having recently read it.

From what I've gathered after reading most reviews of Moose, is gen pop is a bit annoyed that Klein never really "grows" or reaches some epiphany at the end of her journey as a fat kid turned struggling adult. And personally, this is what I liked the most about the book. Come on people, how many of us who really have "weight issues" ever truly deal with it? How many, with the exception of maybe Jillian, can say, I'm doing this solely to be healthy and it's not an emotional fight for me against food. So, yeah, at the end, she still has her dependencies. She's not cleaned up. She's still a fat kid living in a skinny body. Makes sense to me. Perhaps her book isn't there to inspire us to make weight loss resolutions as most fatty memoirs are, but to allow us to breath and say, "Hey, it's okay if I still struggle with what I eat. It's okay if I can't always buy into the, 'I want to be healthy more than I want to look good.'".

All in all, this memoir is totally worth it even if you've never had to deal with losing weight.