Monday, July 6, 2009

Speed Shrinking-Susan Shapiro

Speed Shrinking
Susan Shapiro
St. Martin’s, Aug 2009, $23.99
ISBN 9780312581565

Bestselling self-help author Julia Goodman is almost finished with her latest book Food Crazy, which assists people in dealing with food addictions especially sugar. She knows once done, she will make the rounds of the talk show circuit selling her tome just like she did with successful Up in Smoke.

However, her own support group vanishes at a critical moment. Her tough love psychiatrist Dr. Ness moves out of town; her beloved spouse Jake is in Hollywood working on a film project; and her BFF Sarah has married and moved to Ohio. Panicking that she is alone, she goes on a cupcake binge. Now with the Today Show coming soon, she needs to crash diet or be the laughing stock of self help. To return to slim, she needs a new doctor so she tests eight in eight days in a SPEED SHRINKING that leaves even Julia breathless and still feeling overweight.

Although the plot device has been used more times in recent years than Julia weighs after her binge, she brings freshness to the charming story line with her panic to lose the belly in Guinness Book record time. Fans will enjoy Julia’s frantic race as she runs through doctors and gurus while also boohooing her trio of support for deserting her just when sh needed them most. This is a winner as most readers can commiserate; including me who swears the cake hypnotically says “eat me” to the victim, moi.

Harriet Klausner

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