Size Eight in a Size Zero World
Meredith Cagen
This one is not about fad diets. Thank God!
The story is essentially about Lindsay Chandler – a thirty-something New York lady – a working wife-and-mom of two. She seems to have the “picture perfect” sort of a life.
Lindsay is married to Grant, a high-profile divorce attorney who treats her like a subservient slave, ignores the children completely, is a bully, and basically, not-a-good husband/human being.
Lindsay isn’t like the other uptight Manhattan wives. She raises her two kids, Kristen and Jake, with good values and ensures quality upbringing. She has a day job; and she takes care of her house and does the cooking, cleaning herself. In spite of doing all that she considers her duty she receives no appreciation. And her work place is full of pin-thin blonds who are simply looking for rich men, to become trophy wives.
Her two other friends, on hearing about her pathetic relationship with her husband are on the lookout for someone nice for her. But one day as Lindsay steps into the elevator of her building, she bumps into her upstairs neighbor – a smart, successful, intelligent, charming man and they strike a good rapport. Over time, Lindsay falls for him. He appreciates her, compliments her, and seems genuinely interested in her. He even befriends her kids.
This liaison makes her question her life and relationship with her husband. She decides to re-invent herself and change her life.
Down the road, realizations hit her. She finds out about how the man only used her to walk up the corporate ladder. She feels betrayed and heartbroken towards the end, but all for a reason.
There are a lot of things we tend to take at face-value. But what lies underneath is an ugly truth. The truth about life, about people and how things actually are. Lindsay learns it the hard way. Her affair teaches her a lot about people and relationships. The book reflects the face of society today and is a pretty mature read. It comes with a message that we needn’t rely on others to prove our worth. We need to love our self and our life.
The book is uplifting, smart, funny and unpretentious.
The simple language and the slow pace initially bothered me. But soon I started caring for Lindsay. What wasn’t really appealing initially became quite interesting towards the middle. The book talks about relationships, love, infidelity. The characterization is very good and believable. I’m sure many a working women would relate to Lindsay’s character and feelings.
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