This book is about Cookie, an aspiring fashion designer and the child of deadbeat parents. I, personally, know nothing of fashion. I read that <i>GQ</i> article a while back where the famous author took his fashion-obsessed kid son to Paris for fashion week and it left me feeling confused and unsettled for hours afterward. I have, though, been both a fat girl and a losing-weight girl, so I figured I had better read this book.

It's written in flashbacks and flash-forwards -- two different timelines. There's one where Cookie is in high school, struggling with her parents' absenteeism, her poverty, and the relationships with her best friend and her high school nemesis. The other timeline takes place when Cookie is in college, has lost weight, and all her fashion dreams seem to start coming true. Overall, it's a "finding yourself/staying true to yourself" type story, where Cookie has to decide what it is she really wants out of life, and what she's willing to sacrifice. Some people have referenced <i>Bridget Jones's Diary</i> and this book did kind of remind me of that, but in my opinion <i>Fat Girl on a Plane</i> is way better.

Cookie is an individual and real-feeling character. She has her ambitions, a temper, her loves and weaknesses. I really empathized with her anger -- the Grandma's advice to "take the high road" is one thing, but I would have been just as angry as she was at Kennes, Tommy, and her parents. It was good to see some kind of resolution with Tommy that didn't magically make everything okay, but didn't rug-sweep that he had been disrespectful of Cookie in favor of Kennes. Several of her perspectives on weight loss resonated a LOT with me, especially when she talked about being uncomfortable receiving compliments because it was "a reminder that they didn't like the way I looked before."

I was also really impressed with the priest guy. Usually fictional clergy are terrible, but he is able to give her actually good advice about relationships, and, at the end, about her self-image. Refreshing!

The most unpleasant part of the book was Cookie's time being Gareth's kept woman. It was some funny foreshadowing when she got all awkward about some old lady thinking she was Gareth's "sugar baby" but then like 2 days later she IS. Like, this was a bad decision. Gareth wasn't a terrible person necessarily, but he was Bad News. I was so uncomfortable the entire time they were together, and it was a huge relief when Cookie finally was forced to realize that he's no good.

I'm sorry but this book was just not for me. There was constant switching back and forth of timelines that just made me super confused at times and had a hard time following. I also expected this book to be different and made me a bit uncomfortable about my weight and myself reading this book so just knew it wasn't for me but I really appreciate this opportunity.

DNF, but I have to review this. First of all, it was an ARC. Secondly, this book has been all over fat YA Twitter, and I was super excited for it.

HOWEVER, I'm not going to finish this. I'm not even going past 25%. I don't need to read about an "after" thin girl, and the "before" fat girl on two different timelines. I don't need to read about how the thin girl's life is soooo much better and how the fat girl goes to an imitation Weight Watchers because she's so humiliated at her fatness. I DON'T CARE IF THE STORYLINES FLIP AT SOME POINT AND THE FAT GIRL IS THE HAPPY GIRL. I DON'T WANT TO PUT UP WITH EVEN ONE MINUTE OF FAT GIRL SELF-HATE AND LOATHING. It's insulting to me as a fat girl reader that I should have to put up with it to get to some moral of the story about fat girls loving themselves.

There's an author's note attached to the beginning of the book; the author explains exactly her purpose in the dual storyline. And frankly, I do. not. care. This structure is bullshit, and it's exactly the wrong way to go about telling fat teenage girls that they should love themselves, in my opinion. I couldn't read another word of it. The minute fat Cookie walked into the "NutriNation", DeVos lost me. I can't read another minute of fat girls miserably trying to diet themselves thin to learn to love themselves. It's been done.

If you want a real story about a fat girl in fashion, you should read The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding, because that book is so real about fat girls, and it involves dieting, and it's done the right way.

I'm sorry to Kelly DeVos for feeling this way. I'm sure she's a great lady, and a good writer. But I refuse to punish myself by reading about another fat girl on a diet.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC.

I did not finish Fat Girl on a Plane. I generally enjoy split-timelines in a story, but this one switches too often to follow. I was unable to get a full grasp on her mindframe in either "fat" or "skinny." When a book is too hard to follow, it isn't worth my time.