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The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other…
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The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation (edition 2008)

by Elizabeth Berg

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6655134,502 (3.67)9
Fiction. Literature. Short Stories. HTML:Exhilarating short stories of women breaking free from convention
Every now and then, right in the middle of an ordinary day, a woman rebels, kicks up her heels, and commits a small act of liberation.
What would you do, if you were going to break out and away? Go AWOL from Weight Watchers and spend an entire day eating every single thing you wantâ??and then some? Start a dating service for people over fifty to reclaim the razzle-dazzle in your lifeâ??or your marriage? Seek comfort in the face of aging, look for love in the midst of loss, find friendship in the most surprising of places?
Imagine that the people in these wonderful storiesâ??who do all of these things and moreâ??are asking you: What would you do, if nobody was looking?
From the Hardcover e
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Member:writestuff
Title:The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation
Authors:Elizabeth Berg
Info:Random House (2008), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 256 pages
Collections:Your library, To read
Rating:
Tags:Short Stories, Women's Fiction

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The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted and Other Small Acts of Liberation by Elizabeth Berg

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» See also 9 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 50 (next | show all)
Interesting read of short stories by this author. I'm not sure if it works. She has a unique way of writing what people are thinking which works well over the course of a novel. These short stories feel like disorganized digressive ramblings in need of a story. ( )
  marquis784 | Feb 15, 2020 |
Every now and then, right in the middle of an ordinary day, a woman rebels, kicks up her heels, and commits a small act of liberation. What would you do, if you were going to break out and away? Go AWOL from Weight Watchers and spend an entire day eating every single thing you want - and then some? Start a dating service for people over fifty to reclaim the razzle-dazzle in your life - or your marriage? Seek comfort in the face of aging, look for love in the midst of loss, find friendship in the most surprising of places? Imagine that the people in these wonderful stories - who do all of these things and more - are asking you: What would you do, if nobody was looking? ( )
  jepeters333 | Sep 18, 2017 |
Thirteen stories of women’s inner lives, told through the eyes of various characters of varying ages, I could readily identified with all of them in some way. The overweight woman’s tale, from the book’s title, momentarily disillusioned by Weight Watchers, almost blissfully eating her way through the day without regards for the consequences, “...by now I was feeling the shame but also defiance. Like here, I’m carrying the banner for all of you who cut off a little piece wanting a bigger one, who spend a good third of your waking hours feeling bad about your desires,”

I listening to these stories, read aloud by the author on CD, which gave them a cozy girl-talk feel. I then read the book. The descriptions of place, persona, and emotion were done with a light but thorough hand. Her voice is one that draws me in, by way of dialog and setting that is genuine and honest. ( )
  LynneMF | Aug 20, 2017 |
Tamer and less inspiring than I hoped. Not bad, mostly, but I just can't bring myself to recommend cliches & irrelevancies to any of you, my followers.

I was especially pissed about the title story, in which our heroine gets all judgmental on another client of Weight Watchers because she's blind. She's all, 'she can't see herself in the mirror, so why does she care what she looks like?' Um, wtf? Being overweight is something *others* see and despise, and it's unhealthy, and it's uncomfortable. If a woman has only her mirror telling her she's too heavy, she is *not* (yet?) in need of Weight Watchers.

That's typical of the stories. They tend to make big deals out of minor things, giving these supposedly mature women excuses to be catty & melodramatic like they were when they were teens. Get over yourself, girlfriend. Or, when a woman does behave herself, fate conspires to add drama to her life.

It's a quick read. If it's already on your list, don't take it off. I'm sure it's a personal read, meaning different things to different folks. But I was disappointed. ( )
  Cheryl_in_CC_NV | Jun 6, 2016 |
What a delightful book of TRUTH! This middle-aged, female reader laughed out loud more than once and nodded in agreement too many times to count.

Which story did I love the most? Goodness! I loved the title story, and the sad truth that it is, indeed, not as fulfilling as you think or hope it will be when you throw caution to the wind and eat it all.

I loved the story of the 50 year friendship between two ladies who were still so playful with one another that they had a very difficult conversation using a Ken and Barbie doll.

I loved the closure the woman received when the very man who walked into her dating service turned out to be a long, lost love with no memory of her. The closure...and the new beginning with her own husband.

Every story was a good one, a true one, and I highly recommend this book. ( )
  CarmenMilligan | Jan 18, 2016 |
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To Matthew Sumner Krintzman
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Katelyn Rose Krintzman
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I began at Dunkin' Donuts.
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Fiction. Literature. Short Stories. HTML:Exhilarating short stories of women breaking free from convention
Every now and then, right in the middle of an ordinary day, a woman rebels, kicks up her heels, and commits a small act of liberation.
What would you do, if you were going to break out and away? Go AWOL from Weight Watchers and spend an entire day eating every single thing you wantâ??and then some? Start a dating service for people over fifty to reclaim the razzle-dazzle in your lifeâ??or your marriage? Seek comfort in the face of aging, look for love in the midst of loss, find friendship in the most surprising of places?
Imagine that the people in these wonderful storiesâ??who do all of these things and moreâ??are asking you: What would you do, if nobody was looking?
From the Hardcover e

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