Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Book Review: Slightly Single by Wendy Markham


Wendy Markham's Slightly Single was a good read. Her story revolves around Tracy, an overweight twenty-something living in NYC. Her boyfriend, Will, is an actor and as the summer begins, Tracy is faced with her biggest fear--spending the summer alone. Will is off to upstate New York for summer stock. Without her.

I could relate to Tracy's character in a lot of ways. We're both overweight, we both have overbearing families at least an hour's drive away from us (her's is a bit farther...in Jersey no less!), we're both broke and we're both horribly self-aware. On the other hand, Tracy and I are different. While I battle issues with self-image, I'd like to think I'm not quite as abusive to myself as she is. Maybe I should be, though. Through the course of the summer, Tracy ends up losing forty pounds.

I liked the ending because it was hopeful. While Tracy ends up breaking up with Will, she's not utterly devastated by it. She realizes she can go on. I recently broke up with my long-term boyfriend and, despite it being really effing hard, I'm trying to keep that same mentality. Reading this book at this point in my life is sort of like a nice girlfriend reminding me I'm totally not alone. You can never have enough of those girlfriends.

Well-written and full of good characters, I really liked Wendy Markham's Slightly Single. I'm looking forward to reading Slightly Married next.