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Greetings, TNB readers and Book Club members!
This month’s TNB Book Club selection is Diana Spechler’s second novel, Skinny.
Spechler’s website describes Skinny this way:
In the aftermath of her Orthodox Jewish father’s death, twenty-six-year-old Gray Lachmann finds herself compulsively eating. Desperate to stop bingeing, she abandons her life in New York City for a job at a southern weight-loss camp. There, caught among the warring egos of her devious co-counselor Sheena, the self-aggrandizing camp director Lewis, his attractive assistant Bennett, and a throng of combative teenage campers, she is confronted by a captivating mystery: her teenage half-sister Eden, whom Gray never knew existed. Now, while unraveling her father’s lies, Gray must tackle her own self-deceptions and take control of her body and her life.
According to the publisher’s website, Skinny is the “darkly humorous second novel from reader-favorite Diana Spechler” with “a vividly realized cast of characters must come to terms with eating disorders, buried secrets, and the trials of growing up.”
What about you?
What do you think of Gray and her struggle to overcome binge eating? What thoughts do you have about the relationship between longing, grieving, and food that are explored in Skinny? Did you relate to the way Spechler explores body image and self-acceptance? What do you think of the characters at the weight-loss camp?
Feel free to share your thoughts about any or none of these questions in the discussion below.
Also, watch your emails for the details about our online discussion with Diana Spechler, which will be happening at the end of May. Until then, enjoy the book!
Not a member of the TNB Book Club? Follow this link to sign up. For the unbelievable price of $9.99 a month, Book Club members will receive a new book each month, along with an exclusive monthly e-mail newsletter with info, updates, and instructions on how to attend the book club meetings online. Attending the meetings will be as simple as clicking a link and logging in to the meeting page at a predetermined date and time, with a username and password provided by TNB. Fun!
Kudos to Diana Spechler! I loved “Skinny.”