Invitation to a Former Girlfriend’s Wedding
By Fred Schafer. Available here.
I have struggled with my weight for many years, though unlike many, including much of my own family, I have struggled in vain to gain weight. This book is clearly not for me, as it is a diet book presented in the form of a sort of short story, about a man losing weight.
In the beginning, Tony, the narrator, is fat and divorced and old and sad. He happens to get an invitation to the wedding of a girl he dated when he lived in Germany many years prior, that he remembered fondly but hadn’t heard from in a long time. He resolves to lose weight before the wedding, and if he doesn’t lose enough he won’t go.
He’d tried various diets and weight loss plans many times before, with little success. Eventually, fortuitously, he was scrolling through Clint Eastwood’s wikipedia page and stumbled on the man’s fitness habits. He resolves to eat only when he is hungry and stop when he is not.
For the next 3 months, he does his best to hold himself to this, and it works. He loses a little weight, and he eats a lot less. He spends a lot of time talking about the “club of overeaters”, and offering support both for those attempting to leave the club and those content to stay in it. I must point out here his remarkable level of fat acceptance, which is rather uncommon. He simply states that if one is happy with how they are, they do not have to change, as long as they keep up with their doctor’s appointments just in case.
When he is still not losing weight at a rate that would reach his goal for the wedding, he has an imaginary phone call with Clint Eastwood. Clint suggests he eat what his mother fed him as a child. This would be largely vegetables, lean meats, and the like. When he does this, he sheds his excess weight much faster. He includes another caveat here, nothing that while he gives an example of his typical meals during this period of his diet, these are simply what he ate, and while they worked for him, are not the only “right” way to go about it.
He reaches his goal weight almost 2 months early. He travels to Europe and spends some time exploring before returning to Germany for the wedding.
It turns out his former girlfriend is not as beautiful as she made herself out to be. She had sent a photograph, supposedly of herself, but she looks nothing like it. Instead of attempting to seduce her as he had secretly hoped he could, he ends up supporting her through her depression and isolation. He meets her daughter, almost half his age, and they get together instead.
I deeply appreciate the accepting and supportive tone of the narrator. While it is not an issue that I myself have to deal with, it does apply to some of my friends and family, and it is reassuring to see them as being treated with the kindness and respect they deserve. The advice given is also very reasonable, and the author very carefully points out that what was right for the narrator is not inherently what is right for the reader. That is a very important point to make.
There were occasional editing mistakes, and it was not exactly riveting from a narrative standpoint, but I do appreciate it for what it was and would likely recommend it if someone asked.
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Page count: 78
Objective quality: 4/5
Personal enjoyment: 3/5
Amazon review