Review of My Mad Fat Diary

My Mad Fat Diary
by Rae Earl

Published on April 19, 2016
by St Martin's Griffin

Source: finished copy from publisher for review

Synopsis from Goodreads

It's 1989 and Rae Earl is a fat, boy-mad 17-year-old girl, living in Stamford, Lincolnshire with her mum and their deaf white cat in a council house with a mint green bathroom and a refrigerator Rae can't keep away from. She’s also just been released from a psychiatric ward.  

Review of My Mad Fat Diary


Overall, I'm not a huge fan of books in diary format, but I've had good luck with British diaries-as-books. Remember The Adrian Mole Diaries? I read those years ago. And of course, there's always Bridget Jones's Diary, which I loved. And the movie. But the sequel was crap.

My Mad Fat Diary was, at times, both entertaining and touching. It is (according to the blurb) the author's actual teenage diary, which was published in the UK in 2007, and then made into a British TV show that's now available on Hulu in the U.S.

As the synopsis indicated, Rae has just been released from a stint in a psychiatric hospital and is trying to sort out her life. She's desperate to lose weight, desperate to have a boyfriend, and isn't having a ton of luck with either.

While I liked this well enough, I wasn't completely gripped by it. It got a little repetitive for me. Rae hangs out at the local pub with the usual suspects (her friend Bethany and some cryptically named guys called Haddock and Battered Sausage). She lusts after guys who rarely reciprocate her interest. She bickers with her mother. She starts yet another diet. She bemoans the fact that "being thin and pretty is the best thing a woman can be." (I do think that seems to be true when you're a girl in high school.)

Many friends on my Goodreads feed seem to say that they've enjoyed the TV show more than the book. While I can't deal with setting up yet another trial account on Hulu, I might check the show out over the summer. And if you've watched it, let me know what you think in comments!

Comments

  1. Sounds like my teenage years. Lol. I've seen a whole slew of Tumblr posts about this show! Now I know where it came from.

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    1. Ha - I had a diary in middle school. It's pretty funny stuff!

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  2. Ehhh I'll pass. These kind of fumbling around, quirky characters annoy me after awhile. I find them adorable and accessible at first then it wears thin.

    Karen @For What It's Worth

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  3. Hmm. I skipped this one and I'm still unsure if I'll read it or not. I've not read many diary style books but I can see how the format might feel repetitive. I know MY diary would be boring "I read a book today. It was wonderful" lol. I do like the summary of this one so we'll see.

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    1. My diary at this point in life would put you to sleep!

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  4. HA! That title of the cover though!.. haha I just stared at it for like legit five minutes because I couldn't believe that was actually the name of it! ;) But yes! It sounds like the main character really has a lot of things that would make it easier for someone to relate to! <3 Thanks for sharing this lovely review with us, Jen! <3

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  5. Oh, I'm not sure about this one. I've seem it around, but so far I've only read bad reviews about it.

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  6. I'm not sure about reading this. I've been seeing it around but haven't really seen enough reviews that are positive to make me want to pick it up. But after reading this review and knowing it is repetitive, I feel like I already know how the whole story is going to play out. When books are lie that, it's no fun.

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