The Makedown by Gitty Daneshvari

Product Description
Anna Norton used to be fat. Correction: Anna Norton used to be a fat, nerdy, overeater with low self esteem. When she moves from suburban Ohio to Manhattan at age 23, her life does a total 180. With guidance from her boss, an unlikely Fairy Godmother in the form of a chic caterer and excellent cook, Anna loses all the weight and--though still not quite Kate Moss--finally drops her inferiority complex, brushes the crumbs off her skirt, and enters the world of feeling good, looking good, and...finally having sex.

When Anna meets Ben, the man of her dreams (and of every other person's dreams who isn't blind) she almost can't believe she is dating the Ken Doll. Deep down, she is still the chubby nerd who wrote in a diary called Hello Fatty. But not everything is perfect; her hot boyfriend is a huge flirt, and every leggy blond who crosses his path is a threat to Anna. She just can't escape the feeling that Ben is way out of her league and that everyone thinks she is dating up and he's dating down. It gets so bad, she decides she will do anything to make these women go away.

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book. Not sure if it had anything to do with being an overweight ie. fatty... nerd myself throughout my formative years and being teased and bullied but this book felt like retribution on my behalf! What made this book so eminently readable for me was how real Anna and her family were. I could absolutely picture them together and all the family conversations...in jokes and embarrassing family-speak with each other. What was also classic was remembering yet again that no matter how old we become we never stop being somebody's baby...their child.
I could also picture how insecure Anna would be about dating such a "god" as Ben after being the aforementioned fat-girl but I followed every step of the 'Makedown' with horror and felt this way through to it's inevitable conclusion. Despite her incredible metamorphosis into a girl in control of her life...Anna needed to grow into believing in herself and though the story turned her life into a 'train-wreck'...she came out this experience stronger yet more resilient.
Good read!
I give this a 4 out of 5 stars.