Good girls do swallow by Rachael Oakes-Ash
My request earned me a smile from the man behind the desk. Actually he laughed out loud. Thankfully another librarian came to my rescue and helped me find this truly interesting book. And yes, it’s as fascinating as it sounds.
A witty account of one woman’s battle with the bulge it tells the tale of Rachael Oakes-Ash, an Australian magazine columnist and television presenter obsessed with acquiring the waif like figure of her idol Kate Moss. Leaving behind a trail of frustrated personal trainers, Tim Tam wrappers and Sara Lee goodies, Rachael’s struggle will be familiar to many binge eaters.
She works her way through a series of diets losing 63kg and gaining 76 kg on a roller-coaster of body image problems including anorexia and bulimia. Believing she wasn’t worthy of her dream job, a man, money or friendship unless she was slim and gorgeous, she tortured herself with the latest fad diets and exercise regimes.
The book cleverly intersperses facts and figures about the diet industry as well as making the point that a svelte figure isn’t the solution to life’s problems. There are some nasty moments in the book. The heroine suffered severe setbacks and challenges, but it is beautifully written and the author never takes herself too seriously.
I found it a fun and entertaining book that provided an insight into the importance of self image. Written in the style of Helen Field’s popular Bridget Jones books it is a described as the blackly comic true story of how one woman stopped hating her body.
