Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
Let me start my review by saying I’m a 40 year old straight male- so I’m clearly not the demographic they were going for. My wife read this book and really enjoyed it, so she gave it to me to read. I found it interesting, and at times enjoyable, but it missed the mark for me on a number of points:
1) I didn’t find it funny and their use of stronger language came off as sloppy and intentionally trying to shock, but they would have had to venture into Margaret Cho/Lisa Lampinelli territory to make me even flinch….The writing style was conversational, girlfriend to girlfriend. To me (again, a guy), it came off sloppy rather than casual.
2) It’s very stong towards the PETA side of things, and since my wife and I were already in the process of switching to a vegetarian lifestyle, it wasn’t that shocking to me. They get a bit preachy at points, but it didn’t bother me as much as the facts they supported were from PETA publications and other like-minded people. Perhaps those are the only folks who know the true story, but to me it came off like an essay on how great Kobe Bryant is, with the major sources quoted being the Kobe Bryant Fan Club and his mother.
That being said, they do nicely portray how you can eat vegetarian and be healthy, and how it’s not as scary as some might think. They offer many ideas on how to make the switch and nicely get through it. And biased or not, they remind people how the food industry treats animals. I’ve thought about this before and had my own ways of rationalizing it, but I’m not sure everyone knows what happens in a slaughterhouse. So it’s something folks should be aware of.
I give this book two 1/2 stars mostly for the wrting style, but:
>add one star if you’re a woman
>add another star if you’re thinking of going vegetarian, vegan or are already either
>add another half star if you are passionate about the ethical treatment of animals ( 
)
)
