Jemima J. [Book Review]

Author: Jane Green

What I think about this book?

It was a fast read. It is somehow catchy, for me. There was just something about his book that kept me reading. And the characters felt real that whenever I put the book down, I can't help but wonder what is happening to them so as soon as I can, I go back to reading.

But there were also times that I feel disappointed with the book. There were just parts that were not worth mentioning and I thought maybe the book would be better off without those parts.

I also had this love-hate relationship with the characters. There were times that I hate them just a bit haha.

It says so much about how our society sets the standard of being beautiful.

What is it about?

From the book:

   Jemima Jones is overweight. About seven stone overweight. 

Treated like a slave by her thin and bitchy flatmates, lorded over at the Kilburn Herald by the beautiful Geraldine (less talented, but better paid), her only consolation is food. What with that and her passion for her charming, sexy colleague Ben, she knows her life needs changing.

But can Jemima reinvent herself? Should she?

A brilliantly funny, honest novel from the author of Straight Talking , about ugly ducklings and swans, about attraction, addiction and the meaning of true love.

From the blogger:

It's about an overweight girl who wants to be thin, of course. She wants people to see her as beautiful. She wants people to know that she can be beautiful too, if only she was thinner. She struggles with the insecurities fat people can relate too. (I can even relate sometimes because people are teasing me and calling me fat. But Jemima here is way fatter so I feel a bit ashamed of myself. Haha) While struggling with her weight, she also struggles with how people treat her. Say for example, her flatmates, Sophie and Lisa. They are both thin and pretty, very opposite to Jemima. While they talk about boys the had flings with and boys they plan to have flings with, Jemima can't even talk about her huge crush on Ben Williams, her colleague in Kilburn Herald, because what good can that bring her? Her flatmates would just probably shrug her off. And because she was fat, people pay a little attention to her best features including her intelligence and talents. She continually asks her editor for a sort of promotion, but she was never seen as clever or as a very talented person, she was rather viewed as Jemima. Poor, fat and ordinary Jemima. But Jemima knew she was more than that. She just have to be skinny, like all the beautiful people.. she thought.

Her life became more bearable when Jemima became friends with Ben along with  Geraldine, another fellow colleague.  They became close to each other. But Ben decided to find for a greener pasture, thus, leaving Jemima and Geraldine behind. This made Jemima sad of course. She turned her attention to a new found interest, the Internet. There she found a chatroom and met Brad, the most perfect man you could ever see.  They developed some sort of affection towards each other. Jemima found the attention she always wanted, only because Brad can't see her as she really was. She was feeding him lies, about her work, about her body, about her life. But she can't hide forever, can she? There came the time Brad wanted to see her. And because she knew she can't escape Brad forever, she decided to go and have a major turn in her life. She decided to get her dream, to be skinny, to be fit. Ben ,on the other hand, got all busy and barely kept in touch with Jemima.

Jemima worked very hard and got the body she wanted. Everyone around her had seen the great change that happened to her. Now that she's thin and skinny, they saw her as a beautiful person. Such a shame that you need to be skinny to be beautiful. She can now easily get what she wants, just because she is finally, skinny. But Ben, being away and busy, never thought there would come a day that his friend Jemima Jones can be turned into the contrary of the word fat.

Because of the great change, Jemima now have the courage to finally see Brad in person. They more likely fell in lust rather than fell in love. Jemima thought everything was going fine. Jemima thought this was it, Brad was it. But things turned out differently. And she realized that even when she got thinner, prettier, she didn't get what she really wanted

I will end it here so you will have to wonder what happened to Ben and Jemima. Hahahaha.

• It tells about the standard of our society for the word "beautiful". You have to be skinny to be beautiful. Trash.
• It tells about our insecurities as a person.
• It can motivate you to be a better person
• It shows the cruel truth that only when you are beautiful, then people will like you or will pay attention to you.
• It tells a great story of friendship and of love.
• True friends are those who are present in times of joy and sadness.
• Accept yourself so others can accept you.

Comments:

1. I had a love-hate relationship with this book.
2. I expected more from this book but it was still okay.

I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO PEOPLE WHO ARE STRUGGLING WITH THEIR WEIGHT AND TO THOSE WHO ARE STRUGGLING WITH INSECURITIES. :)