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Stranger Here
Jen Larsen
2013, 267 pages
Nonfiction
Jen Larsen always thought that if she could only lose weight, she would be unstoppable, so when diet after diet failed she decided to try bariatric surgery. This book is pided into two parts: part one involves the time before surgery when we meet her friends and family and learn she is over 300 pounds. She works in a library and is in graduate school. She believes if she could lose weight, maybe her boyfriend would love her more and she would get that great job. After she earns her MFA, she signs up for the surgery.
She tells her boyfriend, but no one else for three months. She felt her friends and family would be angry, horrified, or try to talk her out of it. There are, of course, a slew of forms to fill out and insurance approval to get and many doctors to see and arrangements to be made.
The second part of the book deals with after the surgery. There are endless vitamins and protein shakes and, of course, learning to eat “right” and exercising. In the end she lost a total of 180 pounds. What she learned is weight loss surgery requires a lot of paperwork and being skinny is far, far easier in this world than being fat, but being skinny doesn’t solve all your problems. There are recommended books and websites at the end of the book for anyone considering weight loss surgery.
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