Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp by Stephanie Klein

Every girl I know has had body issues, been obsessed with their weight, felt bad about their weight, and/or been on a diet (or 12) at some point in their life.  Seriously men, you don't need to worry about our weight for us, bring it up, hint at it, point it out, or even mention it because we are hyper aware of the situation and have been since we were kids probably.  Seriously, is this just a girl thing?

That is why I was drawn to this book.  Not because I had ever been to fat camp, but because I can relate to fighting the scale and living in a world where fat is the last thing you want to be. 

The book was a little disappointing for me.  It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as I had hoped.  The author is really funny and witty and tells a lot of great stories, but I don't know, for some reason I wasn't a huge fan.

Most of the book centers around one of her summers at fat camp.  It brought back memories of summer camps I had been to.  I went to one where we were not allowed meat or caffeine for the week.  It was rough.  I can't imagine one where I had to get weighed all the time and have nothing but diet food!  But her stories are funny and she does give a lot of insight into childhood/teenage weight struggles.

But I think my favorite part of the book was the end where she is all grown up now in her 30s and describes how during her pregnancy her doctor ordered her to gain more weight and she was terrified.  But then she goes on to say "When we die, no one remembers us for what we weighed. Our weight isn't etched into our headstones."  She describes how almost every girl she has known has also had struggles with food, exercise, their body and weight- everything from bulimia to as simple as hiding junk food under the bed so no one would know you broke your diet or obsessively working out several times a day.

I'll try not to get too into my feelings on the whole subject since I could probably go on for hours.  And while I was a little disappointed with the book, I was glad I read it just to see that I'm not the only girl who struggle to find the "happy medium" in the battle of the bulge.

I give this one 3 out of 5 stars.