The Afterlife Diet

by Daniel Pinkwater

Book Overview

The first commercially published fat novel, (or Schmalzroman), this book sold out its first printing in three weeks, and was promptly abandoned by its original publisher. Was this fat-prejudice, or... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679419365
• ISBN13: 9780679419365
• Release Date: February 1995
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 259 Pages
• Weight: 3.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

one comment about the plot

spoiler one place this book goes "off the rails" is this three book section in the middle. I believe this part was deliberately bad, compared to the rest of the book, to give context to how bad of an author the protagonist was and also to give the reader and incentive to skip that section. I think readers weren't suppose to read the entire shark discount pharmacy parking lot in the middle, I think it was a test of your patience to see if you were more like the writer or more like the publisher.

Ahhh what a story

Pinkwater has a great way of telling a story. Just enough Chicago to keep the listener listening. Why aren't these in audiobooks? Whatever happened to Chinwag Theatre. Ahhh what a story.

Three cheers for Pinkwater

I snatched this book off the shelf after hearing about it on NPR. While others had complaints, I wasn't dissapointed at all. Pinkwater recognizes that the pressure to lose weight can come from anywhere, especially other fat people. The worst are always those who've lost weight and want to help the rest of us to be the wonderful thin people they are. He also shows us that beyond the social stigma and constant ridicule are real people living lives just like the thin people. Ok, so the plot was, well, I don't remember it well enough to comment. However, the characters are still with me.I was very upset when the first edition went out of print. I'm thrilled it's back.

A Serious Work

Reader reviews of this wonderful book are obsessed with its being a wildly funny book. What they fail to see is the very serious work beneath the comedy. Read it for the hilarity, but give its subtext the sober analysis it deserves. As with all comic masterpieces -- and this is one -- there's far more to it than the laughs.

The funniest thing I've read in years

Only one way to describe it, GREAT!!