In this fun little book (easily read in one sitting if you feel like it), New York journalist Rebecca Harrington tries out the diets of the rich and famous to see if they are really sustainable and if they actually work. The full list of celebrity diets she follows is:

Gwyneth Paltrow; Liz Taylor; Karl Lagerfeld; Marilyn Monroe; Cameron Diaz; Madonna; Greta Garbo; Victoria Beckham; Beyonce; Jackie Kennedy; Sophia Loren; Pippa Middleton; Carmelo Anthony; Dolly Parton; Miranda Kerr; Elizabeth Hurley.

Make no mistake – this is not intended to be a serious examination of how dieting works. Most diets are tried for only a few days (some of which I don’t know how anyone could actually do for more than a couple of days without passing out anyway). Each chapter focuses on a new celebrity diet, and they are choppy and short chapters, which make for a quick read.

I really enjoyed this book actually. Harrington is self-deprecating, witty and engaging. The book had me giggling to myself several times and I would certainly read more by this author.

However, it did make me think about celebrity diets and how they are sold to the gullible public – if I thought about it very deeply I would actually get quite angry. Most of the diets feature famous faces with no qualifications in nutrition whatsoever, peddling their wares to their fans and making money off people’s desire to be thinner. Miranda Kerr might be a lovely person but my goodness her lifestyle regime sounds utterly pretentious and completely unrealistic for those of us with actual jobs, budgets and time constraints. Victoria Beckham’s diet was inspired by the diet Tom Hanks followed to lose a ton of weight when filming Cast Away. In other words, she followed the diet that he used to make himself look starved! What kind of messed up is this?!

However, as mentioned above this book is not a commentary on the morality or otherwise of celebrities making money from their diets, but basically an undemanding fun read and a nice way to round off my reading for 2022. ( )

I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would. It is most satirical than I expected, for one thing and the writing is “meh.” I hard a hard time finishing, but I did. ( )

This book had some very interesting facts and entertaining tidbits of celebrity weirdness, but I found the author’s writing a bit bland and amateur. It was a decent book for reading before bed. ( )

While I enjoyed the anecdotes of the celebrity whom's diet she was trying at the time; I had one big problem with this book. In my opinion, trying a diet for 3-10 days (Mostly, she did the diet for 3 days), is not trying a diet. Of course you are not losing any weight, you are not even trying. Quick read though if you need something to read while in a waiting room or on the train to work. ( )

2.5 stars, rounded up
I saw this piece of fluff in a bookstore, then found it as an e-book at my library and downloaded it, thinking it would be an easy airport read for a recent travel day. While amusing, I think this would have worked better an a series of articles. I'd recommend it to be read occasionally a chapter at a time instead of straight through, as I did. The concept was cute, and it was witty at times, but it became tiresome and repetitive after a while. I'm glad I borrowed, not bought. ( )