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Moose: A Memoir
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Stephanie Klein was an eighth grader with a weight problem. It was a problem at school, where the boys called her "Moose," and it was a problem at home, where her father reminded her, "No one likes fat girls." After many frustrating sessions with a nutritionist known as the fat doctor of Roslyn Heights, Long Island, Klein's parents enrolled her for a summer at fat camp. Determined to return to school thin and popular, without her "lard arms" and "puckered ham," Stephanie embarked on a memorable journey that would shape more than just her body. It would shape her life.
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Start ReadingBook Information
Moose: A Memoir
Description
Stephanie Klein was an eighth grader with a weight problem. It was a problem at school, where the boys called her "Moose," and it was a problem at home, where her father reminded her, "No one likes fat girls." After many frustrating sessions with a nutritionist known as the fat doctor of Roslyn Heights, Long Island, Klein's parents enrolled her for a summer at fat camp. Determined to return to school thin and popular, without her "lard arms" and "puckered ham," Stephanie embarked on a memorable journey that would shape more than just her body. It would shape her life.
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Reviews
Good read!! Loved the authors personality. I would read more books by her Definitely recommend
Rating: 5Stephanie Klein is so genuine and hilarious. As someone who has been overweight all her life and tried every trick in the book, I really relate.
Rating: 5I had purchased and read Ms Klein's other memoir, Straight Up and Dirty, and liked it so much I immediately wish-listed this one. I might have been in a different mind-set by the time I finally got it, or maybe I just don't relate with Stephanie's struggles as a mid-grade pudgy girl, but I wasn't as entertained by this one. I was quite struck by how sexual this young lady was at her age and how much of 'fat camp' is devoted to sexual experimentation..
Rating: 4I enjoyed this book, an autobiographical account of Stephanie Klein’s life long battle with her weight. Her sense of humor throughout the story was delightful. I also loved reading about the whole fat camp escapade, which does take up a good portion of the book. I could relate to much of her experience as I too had weight issues when I was younger which, unfortunately, ultimately tipped over to a lifelong eating disorder. My only issue with the book is that it was a little difficult to follow at times, which I think stems from poor editing. Nonetheless, a fun and funny and delightful read, well worth the time. The cover and title “Moose” are eye catching and drew my initial interest most effectively.
Rating: 4I found this book to be sad. This is unusual since it is written with a great sense of humour and honesty. The story of a young girl battling with her weight and her experiences at "fat camp". The sad part was that she was so obsessed with her weight at such a young age (11) and the importance everyone in her life put on her "weight". All else aside, although the author was very honest in the book, I did not like her very much ... this was unfortunate since it was a good book that I found I just didn't enjoy very much. Make sense?
Rating: 2Loved this book. I enjoyed reading about Stephanie Klein's experiences in this book and immediately had to read her first memoir when I finished. I think every female can relate to aspects of this book and the humor that is found within the pages makes this a delightful read!
Rating: 5I had mixed feelings about this book. I was never a particularly overweight child, but as a teen and adult, I've certainly experienced my own battles with my weight and accompanying self-image, so I was curious to read about what it was like for someone else.I definitely empathized with her love/hate relationship with food, sneaking & gorging on those foods, and "well-meaning" comments from family regarding her eating habits & weight.I didn't find this memoir riveting, but it was interesting to see what a fat camp experience was like for a child so enrolled, and to see how the damage being fat did to her in childhood continues to influence her adult life.
Rating: 3A sad, depressing story of one girl's summer at "fat camp", but more than that, it is the story of one woman's life-long struggle with weight, self-esteem and the expectations of her parents. Well written, what this book really told me is that the author never really got over being an overweight child, and she still struggles with weight issues to this day, even though she is now "normal". A depressing message, and not just for the glimpse into the life of an overweight teen.
Rating: 2Klein's experiences as an obese kid, and her later adventures as an preteen at fat camp. There's some insight here, and more honesty about her sexual escapades than was probably necessary. I'm no prude, but I thought some of it was excessive, though it may prove the point that fat kids have sex drives too.If you've been a fat kid, you may identify here. This is a book I borrowed from the library, and for a freebie, I can't complain. But most of it's been said before. And Klein's style isn't particularly compelling.
Rating: 2I was diappointed with this much anticipated second book by Stephanie Klein. The story was really dragging and I enjoyed her first memoir, Straight Up & Dirty much more. In her first book, the writing was sharp and witty and this one was lacking.
Rating: 3I would give 3 1/2 stars if I could. I loved the first half, but it seemed to fall apart halfway through. I like how the book doesn't try to make any big conclusions about why the author struggled with her weight or why women in general often struggle with weight issues. It's just one person's story. there are definitely some laugh-out-loud parts, just not enough of them...
Rating: 3A difficult book to read, not because it was poorly written, but because it hit on so many subjects close to home! Klein really strikes a chord with any reader who has struggled with weight and/or currently does struggle with weight. This book easily could have been a fat-trashing book, but it really focuses on how the author felt as a preteen and teenager growing up with a weight problem. It showed how the taunts of classmates have long term effects and the gentle "help" that family members suggest aren't very helpful at all.Klein write with compassion. That's important.
Rating: 3Moose tells the story of the author's experience at fat camp as a preteen. In a humorous voice, she talks about both the good and the bad - the camp helped her with her weight in some ways, but it also became the first place where she ate simply because she was bored, and introduced her to bulimia.I really liked this book. The author's voice was engaging and compelling, and she painted such a clear portrait of herself that she could have been a character in a novel. Her portrait of the camp was just as clear; as she describes some of the absurdities of the camp (how, for the first time, she would eat because she was bored), the scenarios common to any summer camp (the complex web of junior-high friendships), and the ways the camp actually helped her, I could almost feel like I was there. Her view of fat camp was mostly humorous, although she did talk about some serious things, such as the unhealthy habits she learned at the camp. In the last chapter, she dropped the humor entirely, for a more serious look at her ongoing weight and body image issues, which was a bit jarring but also, I believe, important to the book.
Rating: 4There is much to like about Stephanie Klein's Moose. Klein writes rather insightfully and poignantly about her weight and the ways that it affected her self image, particularly as a child. There were a half a dozen (or so) passages that moved me nearly to tears. Klein also writes humorously about growing up in the 80s and I chuckled along at her descriptions particularly about clothes. These things which I enjoyed quite a bit were cast into shadow by the choppy structure of the book. I am very interested in creative narration, especially in nonfiction books but I found this one to be difficult to follow at times. Also, the peripheral characters were rather weakly drawn. A number of times, I had to go back to figure out who a character was and try ti figure out how I was supposed to feel about that character. I didn't feel like I could clearly identify with many of the campers, counselors and classmates. Klein has some great insights in Moose but the structure and characters in this account are weak.
Rating: 3Sometimes it doesn't seem all that fair to review a book that happens to be read in the midst of some others you were reading that you thought were brilliant. I'm afraid that Moose falls into that category for me.As another reviewer states, there are a host of memoirs out there about how we grow up and what we struggled with...I just read "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff and "Tweak" by his son...just to name a couple. There is stiff competition.I also chuckled at another reviewers term "Freyed" when referring to how Ms. Klein explained how people and events would be condensed. I long ago quit caring how true memoirs were and approach them the same way I do fiction...The bottom line for me is, "is it well written?" AND "do I look forward to picking it up each day?"Ms. Klein's book does have sections that I think are very cleverly written and offer a true understanding of the self-esteem issues that are the root of every person that struggles with their weight. I particularly liked the way she described the relationship with her Mother and the links between lack of love and rolls of fat.On my second criteria...looking forward to picking it up each day...for me, the book fell a little short. Truthfully, I just got bored. The story seemed to get repetitive in its telling and I thought to myself, "what more really needs to be said?"I am a pretty hard grader when it comes to books, so there is nothing wrong with a good solid three. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it, but I wouldn't tell someone not to read it either.
Rating: 3a funny, painful yet compusively readable book about the author's summer spent at fat camp. i could very much identify with stephanie's portrayal of a teen dealing with weight issues, and thought she did a great job at conveying the pathos of her situation with humor and honesty. i could feel her embarrassment and shame and confusion and finally, her joy when she finally lost her "rolls." i also appreciated her confusion about her parents, and how they treated her b/c of her obesity, part. as it related to her mom's self image and her father's love (or feeling a lack thereof). and i thought it was very true to life that her struggles didn't end when she lost the weight. it was as if that was just the first step in a long line of struggles to find herself.
Rating: 3Moose, A Memoir of Fat Camp by Stephanie Klein was truly a remarkable book. I was so impressed by the author’s honesty in telling about her experiences of being an overweight preteen and teen. Her descriptions of the embarrassment and anger felt by the rejection and names she was called was convincing. I could identify with so much of what was written, the poor body image, the pain of not being accepted just for who you are. I believe that most women have a poor body image; we obsess about those areas that aren’t “perfect” and fail to recognize what is good about our bodies. It’s good to read that these feelings are shared by others.As other reviewers have pointed out, the only fault I felt with the book was the jumping around from the past to the present and not making it entirely clear what time we were reading about. But with a little extra concentration I would easily work out what the author was talking about. I feel this is an important book for anyone with weight issues. Her discussion of various eating disorders was extremely interesting. I think teenagers especially should read this book to find they are not alone in their feelings.
Rating: 4I read this book right after I finished Stephanie Klein's Straight Up and Dirty memoir. I have to say that I had a hard time getting into the book because I still had an image of Stephanie in my mind from her first book that did not match the one she was presenting in this book. I also had a difficult time with her description of her mother and father after reading her portrayal of them in the first book as well. That being said, I thought her account of being overweight as a child and her inability to shed the emotional baggage that comes along, was very thoughtful. I felt a great deal of empathy for her and others I know who have lost a large amount of weight, but continue to struggle with image issues. I also liked that she discusses the importance of realizing that almost all women, regardless of their size, don't feel comfortable in their bodies. Overall, the book wasn't as witty as her first, but I give her a lot of credit for her honest discussion of bulumia, early adolescent sexual behavior and feeling generally unloved.
Rating: 4Stephanie Klein was an overweight little girl whose well-meaning mother sent her to a nutritionist, and then to "fat camp." Here all the usual dramas of adolescence played out: she fell in love, made friends and enemies, and learned to focus even more on her weight in even more unhealthy ways. I was thrilled to receive this book for my first early review, since I love memoirs, especially the rare ones that take place at sleepover camp. I loved the tone, the pace, the balance between dialog and narrative, and the pitch-perfect accuracy of teen-age talk - she could have been transcribing from a tape recorder. Just a few things prevented me from giving this book a "5," many of them having to do with context and the arc of the narrative. First, I wish the driving focus had been even more on the camp. Many of the references at the beginning and end to other camps she'd been to, and to kids at school before and after fat camp, were confusing because she dealt with them so briefly. Also, I never got a good sense of her relationship to her sister, who went to the camp with her even though she apparently was not overweight. But these are small points. Klein's writing is so captivating I now want to read her earlier memoir "Straight Up and Dirty."
Rating: 4These days the shelves at the local bookstore are overrun with memoirs childhood and adolescence - of growing up with alcoholic parents, growing up a nerd, growing up in foster care, or just plain growing up with nothing special to recommend it. Some hit the mark and others are a bit of a disappointment. Stephanie Klein's memoir, Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp is definitely the former. Growing up as a "chubby" kid myself, I could identify with her feelings of isolation, shame, and frustration. At times, they hit a little too close to home. But you don't have to have suffered through a childhood weight problem or be that person who looks in the mirror and sees fat regardless of what the little tag in your jeans says to enjoy this book. Anyone who has feelings of being a little bit "different" will find something to relate to and will appreciate Klein's honesty and wit.
Rating: 4This is an amazing book. Stephanie Klein is a really brave writer, willing to expose the pain associated with growing up overweight. The majority of the book focuses on her first time at "fat camp," and although she had a generally positive experience there, I really liked how she talked about the impact that attending this camp had on her body image throughout her life. Overall, a very good read.
Rating: 5