A review by kbruneau
Eating Heaven by Jennie Shortridge

3.0

The author seemed to be trying to do two things in this book and wasn't able to accomplish both very well. On the one hand, there's the theme or the main character's relationship to food and her body, and on the other, there's a narrative of family relationships and secrets. I think Shortridge does a better job with the latter - the family's story is complex and intriguing, though the book doesn't delve deeply enough into the characters and their motivations for me. The food and body theme, though, was really poorly addressed. The narrator's body and food issues are painful to read in the beginning, but in a way that is realistic for a lot of women in our society. But then those issues sort of disappear with only the flimsiest of reasons. I didn't buy the transformation, and a more realistic account of the protagonist's changing attitudes and self-esteem would have been much more compelling. Ultimately, I found the book fluffy and mildly entertaining, but with a lot of wasted potential.