Designated Fat Girl

July 12, 2010
According to Joyner, a former TV reporter and radio host, American society doesn't take food addiction seriously, and in her engaging memoir, she reveals the incredible toll morbid obesity took on her life. Joyner paid dearly during her 16-year battle with food. She tallies the costs in ruined friendships, stalled professional advancement, rocky family relationships, and shattered self-esteem. ("Temptation would take over my will, and I would find myself eating, and I couldn't stop. I consciously knew that my actions were going to cause my death, and yet I couldn't force myself to abstain.") Finally, reaching 336 pounds, and her health in serious jeopardy, Joyner opts for gastric bypass surgery. The procedure resulted in serious postoperative complications; still it proved to be a turning point in her life. Joyner wrote the narrative as part of a healing process, no matter how humiliating. She gamely explores circumstances in her life accounting for her twisted logic surrounding food and happiness. She also explains that she hopes "that someone hanging on the edge like I was will read this and feel hopeful."

August 1, 2010
Perhaps its her experiences as a TV reporter, radio news anchor, and feature writer for a large CBS affiliates online news, or the extremity of her situation combined with a credibly honest, authentic personality, that make Joyners account of her long battle with weight so intensely readable. Joyner unflinchingly acknowledges moments of self-pity in this account of her obesity and its attendant complications, and displays the humor that likely helped her overcome her food issues and live to tell about it. As her weight rose to 336 pounds, her diabetes and high blood pressure spun out of control. Joyner describes years of difficulties, from breaking toilet seats to struggling to breastfeed during her very public battle, and observes that we wear our failures on our bodies for the world to see. After enduring diets, binges, and self-disgust, Joyner underwent gastric-bypass surgery. After much pain and many complications, including a partially collapsed lung and crushing expenses, Joyner is finally able to tell a wrenching, encouraging, and remarkable tale of success.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)