About the Book
Wendy McClure’s I’m Not the New Me takes a hilarious and sometimes poignant look at the absurdities of weight loss culture. It’s a memoir of the author’s struggle to define herself both online and in the flesh. As a self-proclaimed dieting fat girl, she traces her journey in uneasy steps leading her to a karaoke stage in Vegas, a scale at a garage sale, a Weight Watchers meeting in a bleak office basement, and finally to her website Pound, the universe she created for herself when she couldn’t see herself as a kicky Success Story.
I’m Not The New Me is about coming to terms with a family heritage of fat and drastic surgeries, and about self-esteem issues that are nobody’s business but your own. It’s wondering what’s left of yourself after you lose weight—and just who the hell you are if you gain it back. It’s about the absurdities of online personas and fat girl clichés, and the sheer terror of appearing live and in person in your very own life.
“Her confessional is worth reading not just for its elegant treatment of a difficult topic but also for her cultural criticism. Cynical girls of all sizes will delight in her withering take on the junk heavy women have been fed—from Cathy to Weight Watchers recipe cards.” —Elle
“The great American obesity epidemic has given rise to its own literary subgenre.…This wicked, paradoxically lean example chronicles McClure’s overeating, her love-hate cycles with Weight Watchers, her rationalizations. And what it’s like to binge, postbreakup, on hamburger buns sprayed with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!…I’m Not the New Me is, in every way, tastier and more filling than that. And so much better for you.” —Time
“There is no self-pity, self-hate or perky self-help, just the thoughts of a really astute writer.…McClure is able to craft lines so funny and caustic that readers of all shapes and genres should go back to savor them.” —USA Today
“A witty and sincere memoir of weight loss in the Internet age. …A deeply funny and affecting book, the kind you give to your best friend and insist she read immediately.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“In this funny, likable memoir, McClure offers sardonic commentary on her struggle to shed pounds. …An encouraging, spirited book.” —Publishers Weekly
“Wicked…impressive…elegant…McClure’s book offers a snapshot of a life that’s internalized, externalized, conflicted, single, utterly modern, funny as hell and, yes, fat.” —New York Newsday
“McClure shares the experience of weight loss and weight gain, including Weight Watchers meetings, working out, online dating, therapy and e-mails from her blog. With a refreshing voice, McClure’s memoir is honest and inspiring.” —The Oregonian
“I’m Not the New Me is a hoot—when it’s not heartbreaking. McClure’s voice is unconventional and unafraid.” —Hartford Courant
“McClure is a funny, sarcastic writer—an honest, bright, and caustic wit.…I’m Not the New Me is encouraging, and encouragement can be a lot more effective than inspiration.…McClure takes her situation seriously enough to address it, but it doesn’t define her. She’s a wry, sharp-eyed, clever observer of the world.” —Baltimore City Paper
“Inspiring, heartwarming, and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time, this debut offers a distinctive look into the growing blogosphere through a voice that shines.” —Library Journal
“It’s hard not to fantasize about what it would be like if Wendy McClure were your best friend. …She writes like the funniest, smartest, most acid-tongued version of yourself—the one you hope will come out after a few cocktails, but rarely ever does.” —BUST Magazine
“This isn't a shameful chronicle of being overweight that invites our pity. Instead, McClure gives a behind-the-blog view of her life rife with karaoke parties and boy drama, proving that she truly knows the meaning of living large.” —New York Post
“She’s hilarious. …The world is unkind to overweight women—but McClure shows you can keep a wicked sense of humor about it.” —Chicago Sun-Times
“A brave, bittersweet look at weight, loss, and elusive happy endings. If you’ve ever shopped in the big-girl ghetto, endured a bad boyfriend, or tried to count a vodka-and-cranberry as a Weight Watcher fruit, I’m Not the New Me is for you.” —Jennifer Weiner,
author of Good in Bed and Little Earthquakes
“I’m Not the New Me is the hilarious, painfully honest, totally compelling, (surprisingly) suspenseful and strangely comforting story of a girl trying to lose a few pounds and not disappear in the process.” —Jennifer Belle,
author of Going Down and High Maintenance
“Let’s please (please) not categorize this book as a diet confessional or, God forbid, a self-help book for fatties. Wendy McClure’s true subject is the profound crisis of identity that lurks beneath our culture’s endless weight-loss pathologies. How refreshing.” —Steve Almond,
author of Candyfreak
