Will “Bigger Chick Lit” Novels Win A Plus-Sized Audience?
Posted by: Jessica Wakeman
Filed in:
entertainment
8:59AM, Thursday November 5th 2009
Hey, Frisky book lovers, have you heard about “bigger chick lit”? Pissiness over a poochy tummy is a sub-plot in plenty of books, most notably Bridget Jones’s Diary, but the Guardian says “bigger chick lit” novels feature a “young woman who is seriously overweight—and doesn’t care.” And apparently, they’re all the rage.
Julia Llewellyn, author of Love Nest, in which one of the characters is fat, explained to the Guardian:
“It’s classic wish-fulfillment: readers want to read about women learning to love themselves whatever their weight, because then they don’t have to go through that pesky world of dieting themselves. There’s a big market of people who want to hear that message.”
I understand that reading is about entertainment, wish fulfillment, relating to characters, and all those other things. But that quote about people wanting to hear they don’t have to deal with that “pesky world of dieting” makes me think maybe “bigger chick lit” is a not entirely healthy marketing ploy thought up by a desperate publishing industry.
I’ve actually never heard of “bigger chick lit” and I’m not at all sure what to make of it. I’m a supporter of the self-love/“Don’t let Photoshopped fashion models get to you!” message within the fat acceptance movement. But I also think there’s a difference between healthy people whose bodies are naturally bigger and unhealthy people who primarily eat processed, fatty foods, drink heavily/smoke, and hardly get any exercise. I confess I haven’t read a “bigger chick lit” book yet (although I would personally recommend BJD or Elegance if you think you might like this genre); still, I can’t really get behind books saying it’s cool to stick with an unhealthy status quo. Bridget Jones was normal-sized and fretted about her weight, but throughout the whole book, she was vowing to smoke/drink less and stop dating “emotional f***wits” for her own health.
Then again, maybe “bigger chick lit” books are just a breath of fresh air for women who’ll never fit into the sample-size dresses name-dropped in Confessions Of A Shopaholic. And everyone deserves to read books they can relate to!
This is an interesting topic—what do you peeps think? And if you have read a “bigger chick lit” book, can you tell us what you thought about it? [UK Guardian]
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amandabear
wrote on November 5 2009 @ 09:32 am: [report]
I’ve read a few books that would probably fall into this category. Some were entertaining and some were terrible, like most chick lit. As a “bigger chick” myself, I appreciate books with protagonists who are outside the normal standard of beauty. But I think it’s sort of counter-productive to make it a genre of its own - I’d much rather just see a wider range of body types (and races, sexual orientations, etc) represented as a matter of course.
betty123
wrote on November 5 2009 @ 09:55 am: [report]
I don’t think it is about encouraging women to live an unhealthy lifestyle. I think it is more about women being able to have a female lead that goes through issues that they can relate to and acknowledging that women of all sizes can be the heroine. That is what makes these books so popular. I think that these books actually relate to women of all sizes because the issues women deal with actually apply all across the board.
H. Blue
wrote on November 5 2009 @ 10:19 am: [report]
“In Her Shoes” was another book that would probably be put in this genre.. They made a movie out of it, and like with Bridget Jones, instead of using an actress that actually was the size of the character, they took a skinny actress and had her gain a WHOPPING 20lb so she’d be a size 8 instead of a size 4.
I think it’s great to represent a variety of people in literature and movies. People occasionally want to read about people that are like themselves. It’s a shame that hollywood can’t seem to get it that not all women should look the same though- especially when it comes to making movies out of books that portray “bigger” women.
Stef-F
wrote on November 5 2009 @ 10:50 am: [report]
Jennifer Weiner is amazing. She’s my fave chick lit author. She writes characters that struggles with their weight, feels like no one will love them because of it, but still are the most amazing characters. I usually feel like the character is my best friend after reading her books. You should totes check it out
Lilypie
wrote on November 5 2009 @ 11:06 am: [report]
I read a lot and have come across several books where the heroine was not a small girl. They are not processed/fatty food eating, heavy drinkers/smokers, who have never exercised. For the record, many of us chubby girls don’t fit that description either. It’s nice to identify somewhat with the characters in a good book.
MissMissy
wrote on November 5 2009 @ 11:33 am: [report]
Good LORD, Frisky!!! When the topic veers to overweight women, someone’s ALWAYS gotta chime the EFF in to say, “Oh, I don’t know if I can get behind this promoting fatties.” Read the books, in this case. Jennifer Weiner, as Stef-F mentioned, is a great author who’s protagonists are well-rounded, no pun intended, to whom many women can relate. They don’t run thru fast food joints at every meal and they don’t shove ice cream down their faces every time a freezer opens. The situations are universal, whether the women be a size 0 or a 20.
Why not educate yourselves about the size-acceptance movement rather than cast judgement on everything that tells women, “Hey, a size 18 is just as OK as a size 4.” It absolutely infuriates me about this site. But I love that the readers are quick to comment in opposition. Kudos readers.
MuchoMacho
wrote on November 5 2009 @ 11:38 am: [report]
its all about target audience and marketability. men want to read about super-hero like protagonists, so they can picture themeselves that way. women want to read about flawed women they can relate to. as long as overweight women are willing to shell out bucks to read about overweight women… books about overweight women will be produced. i dont have a problem with this.
Jenbug
wrote on November 5 2009 @ 05:05 pm: [report]
I just finished Certain Girls, absolutely loved it!
mcosita
wrote on November 5 2009 @ 07:05 pm: [report]
From the description, it just sounded like they were about chicks with self-esteem, instead of weight-obsessed dieters who put themselves on the rack about their weight (ala BJD). I think if you assume that because a bigger girl is the main character, that makes the whole thing is about weight, you’ve missed the point.
I’m plus-size, and the last thing I want to do is read a book about weight - anyone’s weight. If they’re presenting someone who is like me and showing that there IS more to our life than being plus-size, then I think they’re just helping the diversity of main-stream writing. Instead of making us listen to size whatevers talking about how they “should” be a size whatever-else. Whenever I read something like that I roll my eyes and feel sorry for them.