Rabia Chaudry

The author is obviously the key character in this food and lifestyle autobiography but shares her spot with food which also takes a primary role. What kind of food? Primarily Pakistani but also American, Italian and Junk Food. She lovingly, lavishly describes the dishes, ingredients and preparation. She also describes the excruciating life-long battle with her weight, her self-image, her self-esteem and her important relationships. The book is an insightful view of some aspects of Pakistani culture and fitting - or not - into an American lifestyle. It is also an intensely revealing, very personal, often uncomfortable view of someone’s thoughts, beliefs and actions.

Thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin for the opportunity to read this intriguing ARC.… (mehr)

This book will have you craving the delicious Pakistani foods the author grew up loving. Her life revolved around food; then when her family immigrated to the US, she quickly got addicted to fast food. The author unflinchingly tells about her lifelong struggle with food and body image. To quote the author: "My entire life I have been less fat and more fat, but never not fat.”

I enjoyed the first portion of the book immensely, but I had difficulty keeping the numerous family members straight in my head. Her humorous tales of growing up in an immigrant Pakistani family had me chuckling. I especially loved reading about the political history of Pakistan and its culture.

I am sure many people can relate to her family plying her with unhealthful foods (after all, love is food, right?) while, at the same time, being concerned about her being overweight. Some of the mistakes her parents made in an effort to help her were funny, yet also sad. It was interesting to read of reactions to her weight when she would visit Pakistan as a child.

In the second half of the book, the author writes of the stress of failing and passing the bar exam. I laughed at her name for the secretary where she worked – Jessica Rabbit, “a goddess, shaped like an hourglass and dressed to show every curve she was blessed with.” Chaudry writes about her exercise regimens, diets, and gastric bypass surgery.

After it seems she has no hope of losing her excess weight, she finds a solution. She does eventfully return to her love of Pakistani foods and learns to prepare them in a more healthful way. She now takes control of her food rather than food controlling her. At the back of the book, she shares several of her recipes.

It is a brutal story of how she overcame her weight issues. And through it all, she made me laugh and appreciate her strength.… (mehr)