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Thinner Than Thou
In the tomorrow of Thinner Than Thou, the cult of the body has become the one true religion. The Dedicated Sisters are a religious order sworn to help anorexic, bulimic, and morbidly obese youth. Throughout the land, houses of worship have been replaced by the health clubs of the Crossed Triceps. And through hypnotically powerful evangelical infomercials, the Reverend Earl preaches the heaven of the Afterfat, where you will look like a Greek god and can eat anything you want. Just sign over your life savings and come to Sylphania, the most luxurious weight-loss spa in the world, where the Reverend himself will personally supervise your attainment of physical perfection.
But the glory of youth and thinness that America worships conceals a hidden world where teens train for the competitive eating circuit, where fat porn and obese strippers feed people's dark desires, and where an underground railroad of rebellious religions remember when people worshipped God instead of the Afterfat.
As Annie, an anorexic, and her friend Kelly, who is so massive she can barely walk, find out, the tender promises of the Dedicated Sisters are fulfilled by forced feedings and enforced starvation in hidden prisons.
As middle-aged Jeremy discovers, Sylphania is a concentration camp where failure to lose weight and tone up leads to brutal punishment.
The Rev. Earl's public sympathy for the overweight conceals a private contempt . . . and, beneath that, a terrible longing known only to a select few.
The inevitable decay of old age is the only thing keeping mankind from reaching perfection. Luckily, Reverend Earl has a plan that will take care of that . . . .
But the glory of youth and thinness that America worships conceals a hidden world where teens train for the competitive eating circuit, where fat porn and obese strippers feed people's dark desires, and where an underground railroad of rebellious religions remember when people worshipped God instead of the Afterfat.
As Annie, an anorexic, and her friend Kelly, who is so massive she can barely walk, find out, the tender promises of the Dedicated Sisters are fulfilled by forced feedings and enforced starvation in hidden prisons.
As middle-aged Jeremy discovers, Sylphania is a concentration camp where failure to lose weight and tone up leads to brutal punishment.
The Rev. Earl's public sympathy for the overweight conceals a private contempt . . . and, beneath that, a terrible longing known only to a select few.
The inevitable decay of old age is the only thing keeping mankind from reaching perfection. Luckily, Reverend Earl has a plan that will take care of that . . . .
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
12 people are currently reading
691 people want to read
About the author
Kit Reed
199 books53 followersKit Reed was an American author of both speculative fiction and literary fiction, as well as psychological thrillers under the pseudonym Kit Craig.
Her 2013 "best-of" collection, The Story Until Now, A Great Big Book of Stories was a 2013 Shirley Jackson Award nominee. A Guggenheim fellow, she was the first American recipient of an international literary grant from the Abraham Woursell Foundation. She's had stories in, among others, The Yale Review, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Omni and The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Literature. Her books Weird Women, Wired Women and Little Sisters of the Apocalypse were finalists for the Tiptree Prize. A member of the board of the Authors League Fund, she served as Resident Writer at Wesleyan University.
Her 2013 "best-of" collection, The Story Until Now, A Great Big Book of Stories was a 2013 Shirley Jackson Award nominee. A Guggenheim fellow, she was the first American recipient of an international literary grant from the Abraham Woursell Foundation. She's had stories in, among others, The Yale Review, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Omni and The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Literature. Her books Weird Women, Wired Women and Little Sisters of the Apocalypse were finalists for the Tiptree Prize. A member of the board of the Authors League Fund, she served as Resident Writer at Wesleyan University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
November 20, 2008
Interesting idea, TERRIBLE execution.
May 6, 2008
'Thinner Than Thou' has a lot of good ideas; it is a dystopian tale of a society where image is the most important thing, and thinness is prized above all.
However, what could have been a biting social commentary instead loses its way through too many characters and some plot points that just don't make sense. For example, the plot is set in motion when the older sister of a family is sent away, covertly, in the middle of the night, because she's anorectic; however, it's never really clear why, if being thin is so important, anorexia is even frowned upon at all in this society, much less the shameful taboo it is. By the same token, why does this same society celebrate Glutton Bowl -style competitive eaters?
Though I did eventually get used to the writing style (this book would be over no one's head, which seems like it should be a good thing, but isn't), the ending of the book is really lame in the way it turns its face directly to the reader and almost literally says "Only YOU can prevent this from happening!" Anyone who was unable by the end to figure out that this book had a message would be incapable of picking up to book's standard and waging a battle on its behalf; a subtler ending overall would've served the readers quite a bit better.
To make a truly terrible pun, I think the author bit off a little more than she could chew when she undertook this novel. Fewer characters and more fleshing out (there's another one!) of the characters that remained would've helped the story greatly, as would a bit more thought into some of the aspects of this society. Overall, while I would say this book was interesting in theory, I really can't recommend it to anyone.
However, what could have been a biting social commentary instead loses its way through too many characters and some plot points that just don't make sense. For example, the plot is set in motion when the older sister of a family is sent away, covertly, in the middle of the night, because she's anorectic; however, it's never really clear why, if being thin is so important, anorexia is even frowned upon at all in this society, much less the shameful taboo it is. By the same token, why does this same society celebrate Glutton Bowl -style competitive eaters?
Though I did eventually get used to the writing style (this book would be over no one's head, which seems like it should be a good thing, but isn't), the ending of the book is really lame in the way it turns its face directly to the reader and almost literally says "Only YOU can prevent this from happening!" Anyone who was unable by the end to figure out that this book had a message would be incapable of picking up to book's standard and waging a battle on its behalf; a subtler ending overall would've served the readers quite a bit better.
To make a truly terrible pun, I think the author bit off a little more than she could chew when she undertook this novel. Fewer characters and more fleshing out (there's another one!) of the characters that remained would've helped the story greatly, as would a bit more thought into some of the aspects of this society. Overall, while I would say this book was interesting in theory, I really can't recommend it to anyone.
April 25, 2010
I really didn't like this one too much. It was like reading a VCR instruction manual when you're hungry.
May 29, 2021
fucked me up
March 11, 2011
The premise of "Thinner Than Thou" is awesome and the sole reason I picked this book up. I tried reading Kit Reed's "Enclave" and found it...crappy, to put it nicely.
Unfortunately, it appears Reed and I are just not going to get along.
I hate her run-on, stream of consciousness writing style. It works for some writers, and it works in some situations. But when every single one of your characters is narrated in the exact same way, it gets redundant, ridiculous, and old. Fast.
There's sporadic language, but the perversion meter is really off the charts. I'm not sure why I suffered through this travesty of a novel. It was only vaguely interesting. I get that it's supposed to be all allegorical for our current society blah blah blah, but seriously Kit Reed. Get over yourself and quit writing horrible books.
Unfortunately, it appears Reed and I are just not going to get along.
I hate her run-on, stream of consciousness writing style. It works for some writers, and it works in some situations. But when every single one of your characters is narrated in the exact same way, it gets redundant, ridiculous, and old. Fast.
There's sporadic language, but the perversion meter is really off the charts. I'm not sure why I suffered through this travesty of a novel. It was only vaguely interesting. I get that it's supposed to be all allegorical for our current society blah blah blah, but seriously Kit Reed. Get over yourself and quit writing horrible books.
September 11, 2009
In this new religion, fat is the enemy, not Satan or evil. Well, fat IS evil, so perhaps I'm mistaken. If you aren't perfect - young and beautiful with all of the right features - then you'll do anything you can to fit the proper image. The Reverend Earl, the man with the plan who has taken advantage of the nation's insecurity has a chain of extreme weightloss centers, a formula that's supposed to make you thin, and a number of thriving fast food franchises that do just the opposite. You could say he's got the market cornered. He also has come up with the following rallying cry, "Thinner than thou."
But this is not just the story of the Reverend Earl. It is also the story of Annie, a young anorexic woman who is sent to a secret conclave of nuns called the Dedicated Sisters. They're going to make her eat again. Her twin siblings, Betz and Danny get together with her ex-boyfriend, Dave and decide they're going to find her and spring her.
In the midst of all of this religion and adventure, a marriage falls apart, we see directly into the sick mind of the Reverend Earl, and things all come together in a final reckoning in a remote extreme weightloss facility. And that's when the Rev's new diabolical plan is finally revealed for what it REALLY is.
Who could pass up a story about how dieting/weightloss/body image has become the new religion? Sounds like it's hitting pretty near to home, actually. I could not pass it up. I tried. I even thought I would put it down, but it was eerily fascinating.
This book has a sound hook - the idea that an ideal body type can become an obsession that takes on religious undertones. Is that where we're headed, Kit Reed? It certainly seems so. Thinness, beauty, plastic surgery. We have Extreme Makeovers, we have profitable markets in diet centers, gyms, and new fad diets. We have dedicated pharmaceutical researchers working hard to demystify the fat cell and block fat uptake. This could be us. This may already be us.
However intriguing that idea is, this book has some very slow moments that I just wanted to breeze through. I almost put it down permanently without finishing. Still, there's a nice twist at the end when we find out what the reverend is really up to. Stick around for that, it's worth it.
But this is not just the story of the Reverend Earl. It is also the story of Annie, a young anorexic woman who is sent to a secret conclave of nuns called the Dedicated Sisters. They're going to make her eat again. Her twin siblings, Betz and Danny get together with her ex-boyfriend, Dave and decide they're going to find her and spring her.
In the midst of all of this religion and adventure, a marriage falls apart, we see directly into the sick mind of the Reverend Earl, and things all come together in a final reckoning in a remote extreme weightloss facility. And that's when the Rev's new diabolical plan is finally revealed for what it REALLY is.
Who could pass up a story about how dieting/weightloss/body image has become the new religion? Sounds like it's hitting pretty near to home, actually. I could not pass it up. I tried. I even thought I would put it down, but it was eerily fascinating.
This book has a sound hook - the idea that an ideal body type can become an obsession that takes on religious undertones. Is that where we're headed, Kit Reed? It certainly seems so. Thinness, beauty, plastic surgery. We have Extreme Makeovers, we have profitable markets in diet centers, gyms, and new fad diets. We have dedicated pharmaceutical researchers working hard to demystify the fat cell and block fat uptake. This could be us. This may already be us.
However intriguing that idea is, this book has some very slow moments that I just wanted to breeze through. I almost put it down permanently without finishing. Still, there's a nice twist at the end when we find out what the reverend is really up to. Stick around for that, it's worth it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 31, 2013
Thinner Than Thou is a science fiction book about what the world might be like if body image became a religion. It takes place in America in the future, there are three main characters; one with anorexia, one who's overweight, and one that's struggling with aging in a society that forbids wrinkles.
This book was too triggering for me using phrases such as "scarf and barf" and pretty much romanticising eating disorders. I wouldn't recomend it to anyone with anorexia or bulimia because it might make them relapse.
The narrator's voice was too codesending and didn't allow me to become attatched to any of the characters. The plot wasn't interesting or involved either; I couldn't empathize with anyone in the book. It was like reading a giant, poorly written newspaper article.
This book was too triggering for me using phrases such as "scarf and barf" and pretty much romanticising eating disorders. I wouldn't recomend it to anyone with anorexia or bulimia because it might make them relapse.
The narrator's voice was too codesending and didn't allow me to become attatched to any of the characters. The plot wasn't interesting or involved either; I couldn't empathize with anyone in the book. It was like reading a giant, poorly written newspaper article.
April 28, 2013
This book was so horrible. I tried to give it a chance, but I couldn't read more than the first four chapters. I don't want to waste any more of my time on this.
February 3, 2014
Thinner Than You
Can society affect your body image? Today, there is an intense pressure to be thin in the American society. The media promotes slim bodies. According to CBC News (2014) three out of five teenage girls struggle with their body image. Kit Reed is an American author who wrote about the problem of body image in her book Thinner than Thou, which was published in 2004. The author described the problem of body appearance as one of the most critical problems affecting teenage girls today. Thinner than Thou can help readers understand that body appearance is not the only thing that can bring happiness in their lives. A lot of people with body weight issues feel that others view them in a negative way. They think that everyone is against them. To prove this point, Reed portrays a work in which thinness has become sacred and anyone who is not in a good shape is ostracized. The author’s exaggeration about the importance of body image in the book helps readers understand that people need to have a perfect body to be happy. Reed illustrated in her book how focusing on appearance can become an obsession and lead to severe health problems. The author portrayed looks as a new religion in which fitness clubs are replacing churches. Her satire will resonate with readers, especially teenagers.
F-A-T, three letters, one syllable, one word. When society utters this word, the girl’s heart breaks slowly. Calling a girl fat can affect her self-esteem. Annie, the main character of Thinner than Thou, after reading several magazines and watching many TV shows about top models becomes obsessed with her weight. She becomes anorexic. Annie’s parents try to help her deal with her anorexia by sending her to a special camp called “Dedicated Sisters”, where people suffering from eating disorders get help. However, the help comes in form of forced feeding and starvation in hidden prisons.
The book Thinner than Thou talks about two kinds of people, those who care too much about their physical appearance and restrict their diet and those who do not care about their looks and eat all the food they want. The character of Annie exemplifies people obsessed by their looks. On the other hand, the character of Kelly symbolizes people who don’t care about their appearance. These two symbols will perhaps remind many readers of some people they know, or perhaps even themselves. Do you sometimes look at yourself in the mirror and start thinking you are overweight? The idea of thinness and bodily perfection is prevalent. Today, young teenage girls follow blindly fashion and want to look like top models. The TV shows Annie watches and top models magazines she reads make her feel bad about her body and wants to look slim. Annie follows a restricted diet and starves herself. The diet Annie follows starts to affect her body in a dangerous way. This is how Reed makes her point.
Thinner than Thou is a satire in which the preoccupation with body image is exaggerated. The author of Thinner than Thou uses humor to discuss weight issues. She addresses a problem that affects a large number of people today and which is the worry about physical appearance. Looking at the world we live in today, we can see that religion could not be replaced by fitness in the space of ten to fifteen years -Especially when we see programs that combine religion with fitness. Who needs Reverend Earl and his theories of the "Afterfat" when wealth doctrines are still in business? As it was mentioned before, the author uses a satirical style to show to the audience that the obsession with body appearance has gone too far.
The first thing that got me interested in the book Thinner than Thou is the title. The book discusses an issue that a lot of teenage girls deal with today. I know girls who have body image problems. The book helped me to understand better the body image issues my friends are dealing with and their daily struggles. This fictional book would be highly recommended to young female adults. The book uses a common teen language that teenage girls can understand and relate to. Many young teenagers would be interested in reading this book just by looking at the subject. However, after reading this book it changed my perspective as a reader about the way of thinking of body appearance. The satire used in the book made me recognize how ignorant and imbecile people are still thinking that the way they look in the outside makes who they are, but everyone forgets about the inside. I would really wish that each teenage girl would read the book and realize how unimportant body image is compared to other things in the world.
The way people look and the focus on body image has become a new religion. People are judged on their appearance instead of their character. A lot of people with body weight issues feel that they are viewed in a negative way. They think that everyone is against them. People are taking physical appearance to a new level. The way people feel about their bodies is psychological, and much more influenced by self-esteem than by actual physical attractiveness. Today, we women are starving ourselves, thinking we can be perfect someday. Annie is preoccupied by her body, and experiences psychological problems and health issues that can lead to her death. Society is judging her on her physical appearance, which affects her deeply. If people could see inner beauty, they wouldn’t care too much about the outer beauty. Society should not attribute too much importance to appearance. Never judge a book by its cover.
Review written by: Meriem Haddioui
Can society affect your body image? Today, there is an intense pressure to be thin in the American society. The media promotes slim bodies. According to CBC News (2014) three out of five teenage girls struggle with their body image. Kit Reed is an American author who wrote about the problem of body image in her book Thinner than Thou, which was published in 2004. The author described the problem of body appearance as one of the most critical problems affecting teenage girls today. Thinner than Thou can help readers understand that body appearance is not the only thing that can bring happiness in their lives. A lot of people with body weight issues feel that others view them in a negative way. They think that everyone is against them. To prove this point, Reed portrays a work in which thinness has become sacred and anyone who is not in a good shape is ostracized. The author’s exaggeration about the importance of body image in the book helps readers understand that people need to have a perfect body to be happy. Reed illustrated in her book how focusing on appearance can become an obsession and lead to severe health problems. The author portrayed looks as a new religion in which fitness clubs are replacing churches. Her satire will resonate with readers, especially teenagers.
F-A-T, three letters, one syllable, one word. When society utters this word, the girl’s heart breaks slowly. Calling a girl fat can affect her self-esteem. Annie, the main character of Thinner than Thou, after reading several magazines and watching many TV shows about top models becomes obsessed with her weight. She becomes anorexic. Annie’s parents try to help her deal with her anorexia by sending her to a special camp called “Dedicated Sisters”, where people suffering from eating disorders get help. However, the help comes in form of forced feeding and starvation in hidden prisons.
The book Thinner than Thou talks about two kinds of people, those who care too much about their physical appearance and restrict their diet and those who do not care about their looks and eat all the food they want. The character of Annie exemplifies people obsessed by their looks. On the other hand, the character of Kelly symbolizes people who don’t care about their appearance. These two symbols will perhaps remind many readers of some people they know, or perhaps even themselves. Do you sometimes look at yourself in the mirror and start thinking you are overweight? The idea of thinness and bodily perfection is prevalent. Today, young teenage girls follow blindly fashion and want to look like top models. The TV shows Annie watches and top models magazines she reads make her feel bad about her body and wants to look slim. Annie follows a restricted diet and starves herself. The diet Annie follows starts to affect her body in a dangerous way. This is how Reed makes her point.
Thinner than Thou is a satire in which the preoccupation with body image is exaggerated. The author of Thinner than Thou uses humor to discuss weight issues. She addresses a problem that affects a large number of people today and which is the worry about physical appearance. Looking at the world we live in today, we can see that religion could not be replaced by fitness in the space of ten to fifteen years -Especially when we see programs that combine religion with fitness. Who needs Reverend Earl and his theories of the "Afterfat" when wealth doctrines are still in business? As it was mentioned before, the author uses a satirical style to show to the audience that the obsession with body appearance has gone too far.
The first thing that got me interested in the book Thinner than Thou is the title. The book discusses an issue that a lot of teenage girls deal with today. I know girls who have body image problems. The book helped me to understand better the body image issues my friends are dealing with and their daily struggles. This fictional book would be highly recommended to young female adults. The book uses a common teen language that teenage girls can understand and relate to. Many young teenagers would be interested in reading this book just by looking at the subject. However, after reading this book it changed my perspective as a reader about the way of thinking of body appearance. The satire used in the book made me recognize how ignorant and imbecile people are still thinking that the way they look in the outside makes who they are, but everyone forgets about the inside. I would really wish that each teenage girl would read the book and realize how unimportant body image is compared to other things in the world.
The way people look and the focus on body image has become a new religion. People are judged on their appearance instead of their character. A lot of people with body weight issues feel that they are viewed in a negative way. They think that everyone is against them. People are taking physical appearance to a new level. The way people feel about their bodies is psychological, and much more influenced by self-esteem than by actual physical attractiveness. Today, we women are starving ourselves, thinking we can be perfect someday. Annie is preoccupied by her body, and experiences psychological problems and health issues that can lead to her death. Society is judging her on her physical appearance, which affects her deeply. If people could see inner beauty, they wouldn’t care too much about the outer beauty. Society should not attribute too much importance to appearance. Never judge a book by its cover.
Review written by: Meriem Haddioui
November 20, 2018
Thinner than Thou is definitely a book that requires a little effort to read. You get so many different perspectives all paired with multiple questions, and in the end, have to have the mental capacity to sort them out. I loved the moment building up in the story, but the ending was in my opinion, not as good as it could have been. I'm going to have to give it 4 out of 5 stars, the story was amazing, but the end ruined it for getting the 5th star.
February 9, 2022
I can appreciate the concept here—a dystopian US where weight loss has become a religion and the religion has become a cult and the cult has taken over the country—but the execution was very much Not For Me. Several different POVs here, but all written in a sort of manifesto-lite style. A choice that I don't know what to make of: thinner people in the book are rarely described eating, while fatter people are described in detail as they gorge themselves. There's probably a point to this, given the content of the book, but it felt oddly voyeuristic at times.
August 19, 2020
This sort of read like a watered down Chuck Palahniuk novel. A desperate part of me wanted to like it. There were some concepts that could have been rendered fascinating in another author’s hands. But this was just too full of world building inconsistencies and unexplained events, plot holes, and severely unlikeable and unbelievable characters for me. Two stars is me being kind.
March 22, 2022
Decent concept, ending was all rushed and bumbled after much build up from book. With all the zealous people of today I can see this being a reality unfortunately and I think that is the author's point. Not to bad of a read, let down of an ending
March 2, 2023
Un bel distopico, con un tema diverso dal solito. Alcuni personaggi sono caratterizzati meglio di altri, alcuni POV sono più interessanti di altri. Ci sono piccoli buchi di trama e passaggi non molto chiari. Lettura scorrevole ma con messaggi d'impatto. Consigliato.
December 25, 2021
Scarier than a horror novel.
Read
May 13, 2023I remember this book being poorly written but a wild ride.
May 28, 2023
4.5 stars. As someone who has suffered from anorexia I could relate to a lot of Annie's thoughts and feelings. Overall I thought this book had a brilliant plot/story.
July 2, 2023
Extremely bad. Initially I thought this was a debut novel and was willing to forgive some of the writing, but it turned out that was far from the case so there’s no excuse
February 13, 2015
Abderrahmane Azmi
6/02/15
English 8-3
For starters, this novel first expresses unfaithfulness and polygamy. Readers can sense that there is going to be polygamy, love, hate and straying. "Dave is kind of in love with Annie and Bertz is kind of in love with Dave." (Reed 10). Coming back to unfaithfulness, Annie is very unfaithful to herself since she reveals a secret that she obligated herself to keep. Annie exposes her condition, which is a secret, to her parents. For these two reasons, Polygamy and unfaithfulness are going to be experienced by readers.
All of a sudden, a mother is worried and two nuns or church sisters appear. Annie's mom is very worried and enters a difficult life. "It's for her own good, but Mom was crying when they took her away." (Reed 10). The church sisters, or the "Dedicated Sisters" as they call them in the novel are pious brainwashers that are the only religious people in the novel's district. The brainwashing sisters are the only serious and religious people, they are strange to the characters. For these two reasons, a mother worries and some church sisters appear bizarrely.
The church sisters are sort of burglarious since the commit a bad deed and made the school students' blood run cold. The sisters were stealthily robbing other people's property. "First they take away your cellphone and sweep your hard drive... and they rip off your earring... and laser off everyone of your tattoos." (Reed 11). The Deds or Dedicated Sisters frighten the school students because they published a very threatening legend. The sisters had a legend that said "YOUR BODY IS A TEMPLE. IF YOU CAN'T KEEP IT SACRED, WE WILL." (Reed 11). For these tow reasons, the sisters stole and scared the students.
The Deds are professionals that are professional in kidnapping. The Deds indoctrinate and brainwash newcomers. "The next morning Betz woke up to megasilence... Hello?" (Reed 12). The Deds are pros. The method with which they kidnap people is genius and criminal, all the people that are kdinapped become religious people. For these two reasons, the Deds are pros and kidnap ingeniously.
English 8-3
13/02/15
Abderrahmane Azmi
Annie is undergoing physical changes and this largely affects her social life. "Belly looks like the Goodyear blimp" (Reed 26). Here Annie is told that she is very fat. The faces of Annie's brothers and sisters are full of shame. They are full of shame because of their fat sister. For these tow reasons, Annie is making her life worse and worse.
Every child in Annie's family is feeling a difference in life too. For example, the children don't even want to go out with their mom. Such as in (Reed 27), they are inhibited. The Dad is spoiling Annie and his children. He says that he'll buy them a car. For these two reasons, the family's life is increasingly changing.
Annie encounters problems with her Dad and boyfriend. Dave is cold on his relationship with Annie. He is cold because her fatness is making her ugly (Reed 27). The Dad finally accuses Annie without spoiling her. He says that she destroyed the family's reputation. For these two reasons, Annie encounters problems with her dad and boyfriend.
The fat Annie goes through ups and downs. Her boyfriend finally restarts his romanticizing. Dave expresses it by complimenting Annie (Reed 29). However, Annie is now powerless. Annie agrees with any of Dave's hangout plan suggestions. For these two reasons, Annie goes through ups and downs.
This review is short, sorry about that, but I just couldn't manage my time.
6/02/15
English 8-3
For starters, this novel first expresses unfaithfulness and polygamy. Readers can sense that there is going to be polygamy, love, hate and straying. "Dave is kind of in love with Annie and Bertz is kind of in love with Dave." (Reed 10). Coming back to unfaithfulness, Annie is very unfaithful to herself since she reveals a secret that she obligated herself to keep. Annie exposes her condition, which is a secret, to her parents. For these two reasons, Polygamy and unfaithfulness are going to be experienced by readers.
All of a sudden, a mother is worried and two nuns or church sisters appear. Annie's mom is very worried and enters a difficult life. "It's for her own good, but Mom was crying when they took her away." (Reed 10). The church sisters, or the "Dedicated Sisters" as they call them in the novel are pious brainwashers that are the only religious people in the novel's district. The brainwashing sisters are the only serious and religious people, they are strange to the characters. For these two reasons, a mother worries and some church sisters appear bizarrely.
The church sisters are sort of burglarious since the commit a bad deed and made the school students' blood run cold. The sisters were stealthily robbing other people's property. "First they take away your cellphone and sweep your hard drive... and they rip off your earring... and laser off everyone of your tattoos." (Reed 11). The Deds or Dedicated Sisters frighten the school students because they published a very threatening legend. The sisters had a legend that said "YOUR BODY IS A TEMPLE. IF YOU CAN'T KEEP IT SACRED, WE WILL." (Reed 11). For these tow reasons, the sisters stole and scared the students.
The Deds are professionals that are professional in kidnapping. The Deds indoctrinate and brainwash newcomers. "The next morning Betz woke up to megasilence... Hello?" (Reed 12). The Deds are pros. The method with which they kidnap people is genius and criminal, all the people that are kdinapped become religious people. For these two reasons, the Deds are pros and kidnap ingeniously.
English 8-3
13/02/15
Abderrahmane Azmi
Annie is undergoing physical changes and this largely affects her social life. "Belly looks like the Goodyear blimp" (Reed 26). Here Annie is told that she is very fat. The faces of Annie's brothers and sisters are full of shame. They are full of shame because of their fat sister. For these tow reasons, Annie is making her life worse and worse.
Every child in Annie's family is feeling a difference in life too. For example, the children don't even want to go out with their mom. Such as in (Reed 27), they are inhibited. The Dad is spoiling Annie and his children. He says that he'll buy them a car. For these two reasons, the family's life is increasingly changing.
Annie encounters problems with her Dad and boyfriend. Dave is cold on his relationship with Annie. He is cold because her fatness is making her ugly (Reed 27). The Dad finally accuses Annie without spoiling her. He says that she destroyed the family's reputation. For these two reasons, Annie encounters problems with her dad and boyfriend.
The fat Annie goes through ups and downs. Her boyfriend finally restarts his romanticizing. Dave expresses it by complimenting Annie (Reed 29). However, Annie is now powerless. Annie agrees with any of Dave's hangout plan suggestions. For these two reasons, Annie goes through ups and downs.
This review is short, sorry about that, but I just couldn't manage my time.
Read
December 25, 2023To all Earl
who salvatiton the thiner
who robber the dream
who make to be thiner a holy rilgon
stop ya dream
enough eat ma flesh
my blood so rick
itsnt unque win
but its mine
yr dream fuck to solve
dark as nourth
i want to be south
wher the sun fat as y blind
fat as gd brid
y cant drink the sea
y cant see
iam the sun
iam the moon
iam not thiner as yr mind
who salvatiton the thiner
who robber the dream
who make to be thiner a holy rilgon
stop ya dream
enough eat ma flesh
my blood so rick
itsnt unque win
but its mine
yr dream fuck to solve
dark as nourth
i want to be south
wher the sun fat as y blind
fat as gd brid
y cant drink the sea
y cant see
iam the sun
iam the moon
iam not thiner as yr mind
August 8, 2014
Thinner Than Thou was my first experience reading anything by Kit Reed but I have to say, though it wasn't a five star book, it was definitely worth the four star rating. The story blends a bit of bizarro fiction involving a fanatical religious cult with the very real pressure from the media that tells us that we must look a certain way or we are not fit to present ourselves in society at all.
So what happens when a new religious order springs up from seemingly nowhere with the soul purpose of making the obese thin and the emaciated heavier? The Dedicated Sisters are not the kindly nuns from your holy books. They are a religious order sworn to control, alter, and "cure" anorexic, bulimic and morbidly obese youth, no matter the cost.
So what happens when a new religious order springs up from seemingly nowhere with the soul purpose of making the obese thin and the emaciated heavier? The Dedicated Sisters are not the kindly nuns from your holy books. They are a religious order sworn to control, alter, and "cure" anorexic, bulimic and morbidly obese youth, no matter the cost.
"You want to survive and triumph here so whatever you do, stay within the parameters and whatever you do, don't rock the boat."But the overseer of all of those brainwashing evangelical infomercials is a man named the Reverend Earl; and the Reverend Earl has power, more power than one man should ever have. He preaches of a new Heaven called the Afterfat, where you will "look like a Greek god and can eat whatever you want." But I know you are smart, dear reader, so you know that with these things, there is always a catch.
"The Reverend Earl promised, 'Really really thin.'Would you, reader, follow the flock, or would you shepherd the misguided?
'Thinner than we are now?'
'Thinner than everybody!' His eyes swept the middle-sized crowd of oversized followers and a slogan was born. His eyes caught fire and his voice cut through to the heart of them. He thrilled as he said it. 'THINNER THAN THOU.'"
"I am here to tell you that the Reverend Earl is stringing you along on promises that he will never keep. I bought in to Sylphania [a concentration camp where failure to lose weight and tone up leads to brutal punishment]. I am totally with the program, but a deep suspicious part of me begins to think it's all surface, but surface covering... what?"This darkly satiric book is a nightmare come to life.
"'It's all about body image,' the priest said and when he went on he wasn't exactly asking, he was telling. 'How did this get so important that it's the new religion? Why are our bodies more important than ourselves?'"
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May 14, 2011I feel dirty after reading this book. It's a rather formulaic dystopian story about image trumping inner character. The humor at the beginning of the book is not sustained throughout. One dimensional. I adored the nebulous ending.[return][return]Favorite passages:[return][return]Mom s so smart but she prayed and prayed and never lost an ounce, was she doing it wrong or praying for the wrong thing? Mom, she realizes, has had a long, sad life trying to be beautiful, when any fool can see at a dead run that beautiful was nothing she was ever going to be, not even in the pictures when she was a lot thinner and almost as young as Betz. What can Mom hope for now, when her life is over because she is, like north of forty and therefore officially old? So what is it with you, Mom, isn t it enough to be smart, which is the best thing about you?[return][return]My love courted me with roast duck and steamed Christmas puddings, we coalesced in debauchery and now we are bonded: we fall down together and gorge and get up and live for the next night when we fall down all over again, but when you are happy, especially when you are this happy, you must always remember. Nothing is forever. It never is.[return][return]For imagining there s anything out there beyond physical perfection, for believing there is something beyond the NOW, these groups will be hunted down and burned out of their quarters or harassed to extinction. It s not persecution, exactly, but it is. These holdouts who pursue a higher power, whether they call it God or Yahweh or Buddha or Allah or a name we don t recognize, are a living reproach to right-thinking people who live for NOW. They are an insult in these days when body is everything, and appearance comes first.[return][return] He wants us all fat and hungry and suffering, OK? He likes us that way. [return] No! [return] This people do. Who else do they have to make fun of? [return]
December 12, 2017
This book was written in a very interesting and different format, alternating between at least six different points of view and one in a journal style. The idea of the book is very important and talks about a dystopian future (not that different from ours today) where looks are everything. Being fat is the worst sin, and eating is pretty much condemned. The book was brutally honest and never sugarcoated any of things like bulimia or anorexia. Unfortunately, there were so many different characters that I never got to really connect with any of them. Other times I sort of feel like I had to choke down the information, and it switched POV’s so fast I couldn’t consume much information about all the separate plot lines. I feel like the author wanted to address a very important topic, but added so many other "foods for thought" that the ideas got jumbled together and lost. This book just wasn’t my cup of tea, but I recommend it to people who are interested in a possible future of how body-shaming and fasting might look like.
February 9, 2017
*SPOILER ALERT IN THIS REVIEW*
In the book "Thinner Than Thou" by Kit Reed, the author creates a story about today's society. The main focus of the book is around what you look like and eating disorders. The Dedicated Sisters is a religious group that helps kids and teens with eating disorders which the main character Annie, has to go to. Around the town new workout centers ans places to keep you body image pop up. The world has transitioned into that only your body image matters. The special camp Annie is sent to "Slyphania" is a brutal concentration camp where if you don't eat, the punishment is awful. Eventually Annie is saved from the camp and the evil Reverend Earl.
One bad thing about this book was the authors writing style. There are a lot of run on's and dialogue throughout the entire book. Another thing is the word choices. This book and my mind don't get along very well. The words used were complicated or made the sentence or the scene much harder to keep along with and understand. A great thing about this book was the message. This book is up to date of society and the impact of young teenagers and kids on todays society. Society is brutal and beating people down to look a certain way and this story explains and shows this and how teens respond to it. I liked this book but wouldn't recommend. I found the story hard to follow and very long at times. Its a book you could get bored of quickly and have to really focus to follow the story.
In the book "Thinner Than Thou" by Kit Reed, the author creates a story about today's society. The main focus of the book is around what you look like and eating disorders. The Dedicated Sisters is a religious group that helps kids and teens with eating disorders which the main character Annie, has to go to. Around the town new workout centers ans places to keep you body image pop up. The world has transitioned into that only your body image matters. The special camp Annie is sent to "Slyphania" is a brutal concentration camp where if you don't eat, the punishment is awful. Eventually Annie is saved from the camp and the evil Reverend Earl.
One bad thing about this book was the authors writing style. There are a lot of run on's and dialogue throughout the entire book. Another thing is the word choices. This book and my mind don't get along very well. The words used were complicated or made the sentence or the scene much harder to keep along with and understand. A great thing about this book was the message. This book is up to date of society and the impact of young teenagers and kids on todays society. Society is brutal and beating people down to look a certain way and this story explains and shows this and how teens respond to it. I liked this book but wouldn't recommend. I found the story hard to follow and very long at times. Its a book you could get bored of quickly and have to really focus to follow the story.
March 9, 2015
I really enjoyed "Thinner than thou" it was actually a really good book, I didnt think I was going to like it at first when i got it in the library but I started to read into it and still a couple days into it I didnt get very hooked on it and was going to bring it back but as I read into it and just told myself "Read a couple more pages, nothing is just gunna start out an amazing" So thats what I did. About a week later things started getting even more interesting. I would rate this book a 4 I really liked it but some parts where really kinda just plane and soft. I would have probably given the book a 5 if it kept rolling and kept me hooked a little more. Also some parts where confusing. I would recommend this book to kids around the age of 7th or 8th graders and up. Parts of this book got sorta intense and left me hooked but other than that it was a pretty standard easy read. I enjoyed it for the most part. And dont let the books title turn you away, it made me thing over reading it to but im glad I did.
August 16, 2012
Religion has been driven underground by the new faith/mantra/be-all-end-all of your body being the temple. Image is everything in this dystopia. Interesting concept, not so smooth execution. Big things I disliked: it's far too often repetitious, characters get a lot of play then vanish into the background for no goo reason, things don't make sense - like 3 kids are out on road for a long time trying to find a sent away sister and nobody is looking for them (police/father) activitely? Riiight. Especially if it's about image, I would think that would be a blow to your social image... ALso disliked the stream of consciousness POV, the failure to develop a major character (Dave) at all after numerous hints that he definitely has a backstory and is complex - yet never comes to the fore. Overall, let's just restate this: interesting concept, not-so-smooth execution.
November 3, 2012
I'm not sure how I feel about this one... ambivalent, I guess. On the one hand, the premise is interesting and the ending triumphant. On the other hand, there are a lot of images and beliefs in here that make me feel kind of sick. For example, the kind of relationships people have to food and being fat in the society portrayed are similar to the double standard around sex in US culture today. This is a useful comparison to make, and I also really hate the double standard (in either case), so it was upsetting being immersed in such a culture.
This book had heroes and villians, saints and sinners. Abandoning the shades of grey made this story more simplistic and predictable than it needed to be. In the end, I'm not sure I learned enough or was surprised enough to justify exposing myself to the disturbing aspects of this book.
This book had heroes and villians, saints and sinners. Abandoning the shades of grey made this story more simplistic and predictable than it needed to be. In the end, I'm not sure I learned enough or was surprised enough to justify exposing myself to the disturbing aspects of this book.
April 14, 2016
This book is basically a parallel universe where instead of religion people have fitness. Where instead of religion we have being physically in shape and physically fit. This book takes us on the journey of achieving Afterfat, which is basically the heaven of this world. The Afterfat is a state of which you would be allowed to eat anything and not ever get fat and you would stay physically fit and in shape for the rest of your life. But before Afterfat on earth you must endure the strict diets and training and never be out of shape to reach this state of Afterfat. Parents will force their children to eat nothing but the best and only ever eat healthy and not eat too much. This is basically the journey of annie kelly and jeremy as they try to find out why people value this more than anything else that happens to them.
December 1, 2010
Not being a scifi lover, I was surprised that I actually stayed up reading this book one night. Instead of living in a time where being good on the inside is better than physical perfection, This book takes place in a time where not being over weight or thin is the ideal. People who are both under weight and over weight have a special spa they can go to (it's marketed as a beautiful spa with pools, massages, etc, but in actuallity it's like a concentration camp. When Annie is sent away in the middle of the night her siblings and boyfriend go out to find her.... This book pulls you in from the first page and makes you wonder if all the hype of perfect bods could lead us to something like this.
May 11, 2016
We all know about the cult of fitness. This book is about a pair of twins who want to rescue their sister from this health retreat where the owner/spiritual guru creates a following based on his mantra 'Thinner than thou'. If you are easily triggered, be warned. Reed managed to grasp some of my oldest fears and this was evident in the passages that involved Annie. Reed touches upon anorectics, obesity and feeder fetishes.
Reading it in 2016, the revelation about the 'Reverend's' schtick is not surprising considering how the diet and fitness industry is getting pushback from the Fat Acceptance movement. It's a dystopian that I was hoping had the texture of a triple berry cheesecake but instead it tasted more like a slice of plain angel food cake. Digestible but okay.
Reading it in 2016, the revelation about the 'Reverend's' schtick is not surprising considering how the diet and fitness industry is getting pushback from the Fat Acceptance movement. It's a dystopian that I was hoping had the texture of a triple berry cheesecake but instead it tasted more like a slice of plain angel food cake. Digestible but okay.
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