Official Review: Shedding the Past by Nicola Kirk

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[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Shedding the Past" by Nicola Kirk.]

This story introduces over-weight, twenty-something Valerie Nightshade and follows her progress as she embarks on a drastic new diet in an attempt to change her currently unfulfilling life. Dissatisfied with her self-image, her job and her single status, Valerie sees the weight-loss plan as the key to her transformation. The reader shares the ups and downs as she fights inner battles over food and eating, and copes with the complicated situations she soon finds herself in as the men around her become aware of her newly emerging attractions.

However, before she can move forward, she needs to deal with some of the baggage from her past, in particular an old attraction she needs to lay to rest, and resolve a number of issues with her mother. By the end of the book it's uncertain that Valerie has shed the past as easily as the pounds, but, as this is only the first part of a trilogy, there is still plenty of time for her to move on.

Numerous characters are introduced on the way; among them are her sylph-like friends, Louisa, Carly and Jo-Jo, who endeavour to support her through this trying time; her colleagues in the IT department where she works; her mother, with whom she seems to have a rather distant association; her mentor, Rihanna, and the other members of the diet support group she attends. I found some of them a bit unrealistic, superficial and self centred, with little compunction in splitting up existing relationships to get what they want.

Considering that its main theme is self development, the book is a lot less insightful than I was expecting. The author touches on some other important topics such as drug use, male / female discrimination in the workplace, and attitudes towards gay people, but then fails to go on to develop them. And it isn't clear to me whether or not she condones the use of illegal drugs or driving a car without a licence and insurance when these matters arise in the story. In addition, I am surprised that she doesn't mention the health issues associated with obesity which are surely more important than looking good. At one point I thought we were going to go down the 'don't judge by appearances, look for the inner person' road, but the message that comes across in the end is that appearance is everything and only thin girls find love.

In contrast, the book does contain some interesting points relating to psychology, and not just in connection to eating disorders; through the medium of the weight loss support group it does look at ways to change behaviour to achieve a goal and makes reference to Berne's Transactional Analysis. Unfortunately, none of this ultimately helps with Valerie's unanswerable question: Does he want to be with me or with my body?

The story is narrated in the third person with Valerie's thoughts interjected, and the writing style is quite lively and chatty, however, the version that I read had not been very well edited and contained a lot of grammatical errors.

I have to say that I prefer a book that gives me a bit more food for thought than this one did. I have rated it two out of four stars, realising that perhaps another reader will find something that I missed.

***
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