Jemima J

I don’t usually read reviews of a book before I read it. If I’m considering ordering a book online and the star-rating is low, then I may second-guess it, but as a rule I don’t go looking for opinions ahead of time. This time, I wish I had.

I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so insulted by a book, both personally and intellectually. And because I don’t want to encourage anyone else to read it, I’m not going to hold back on the spoilers.

On its face, this starts out like it’s going to be your typical “fat girl gets skinny and finds herself” story. Which is fine. Only mildly insulting, in the way that it insinuates that a fat girl can’t be loved. But as soon as Jemima starts to change her life, things go downhill, and show more fast.

The entire beginning of the book is spent telling us how fat and pathetic and hopeless Jemima is. People stare at her, she has problems getting around, frankly, she’s as big and ugly as a house!! So when she decides to go and join a gym in anticipation of meeting her online boyfriend, and has to step on a scale, I am expecting a number in the 300lb range. Or at least in the high 200s. Something in Biggest Loser territory.

So what’s the magic number? 204lbs. 204. Seriously. The average 200lb woman probably wears a size 18 pant. Maybe 16. Sizes that you don’t even have to go to the plus-size section of the store to find. I don’t mind telling you that I weigh more than 204 lbs, and I certainly am not stared at by random passers-by, nor do I have problems getting around, nor do people look at me weird when I eat. I do not evoke feelings of pity from the general public. I do not have problems fitting in chairs. But Jemima? Poor sweet Jemima is horribly hindered by her ginormous bulk. At 204 pounds.

I almost stopped reading there, but then I got curious about just how bad it could get. And yes, it got worse.

Jemima’s approach to losing weight is simple: eat almost nothing, and exercise as much as possible. But don’t worry! According to the author, she is definitely not anorexic! She says so, right there! No, this is a perfectly healthy approach! Anyone can survive on mineral water, lettuce, and a chicken breast every day! And look at those results! Not only has Jemima lost roughly 80 pounds in 3 months, she has a fabulously tight, perfect, body! Never mind that this is absolutely unrealistic…it’s impossible. And a horrible message to send.

But it doesn’t stop there! I actually didn’t have any problem with her rather successful meeting with her online boyfriend, but the reason why their relationship doesn’t work out is ridiculous. We are supposed to believe that he loves his fat (supposedly – who really knows) assistant, but that it would ruin him professionally if anyone knew about it. Really? Really? And their solution to this problem is for him to find a trophy wife? Just how exactly was that supposed to work out? He would just cheat on both of them forever? They’d become polygamists? How?

The entirety of the story was so ridiculous that I didn’t even care about the “hey girls, get skinny and you can find love too!” message. Or the constant switch between 1st person and 3rd person.

And don’t throw that “it’s just a fairy tale!” crap at me. Fairy tales are allowed to make sense.

It’s obvious that not only has the author never been overweight, she doesn’t even know any overweight people. Or at least has never asked them what they really weigh or how they really feel. I have read (and enjoyed) Jane Green’s books before, but this book made me angry enough that I will think twice before I pick up another.

So yeah. Don’t bother reading this book. show less

So here's the thing. Before I purged all of my Amazon reviews I think most people would have realized that I used to be a huge fan of Jane Green. I loved Jemima J, Mr. Maybe, and even loved Bookends. Then I started to really not get many of Jane Green's later books and after a while just stopped making them my always have to buy books. However, I still re-read Jemima J, Mr. Maybe, and Bookends once every year or so. Jemima J holds a special place in my heart just because it was my first Jane Green book and though there are problems galore with the entire story-line and ending. I loved the character of Jemima so much that I always over look it. And up until now I would have probably have still given it 5 stars. However, I actually read show more this book with an offline friend of mine at the same time and we later on discussed it. And I didn't realize until she pointed some things out, how seriously messed up this entire story is. So I can say that this book is probably going to come out of my rotation for future use.

Told in the third person, we follow Jemima Jones. Overweight by 100 pounds (apparently she is obese), Jemima feels despair that her crush on coworker Ben is never going to realize how perfect for him she could be. Due to being sent off to a computer course with Ben and their colleague Geraldine, Jemima gets to know more about Ben and even becomes his confidant. However, due to the three of them talking on chatrooms on the internet, Jemima starts an online relationship with a guy named Brad in California. The only problem is that Jemima has lied about her job, her hobbies, and oh yeah about how she looks. Jemima uses this lie to push herself to being the thin woman that she has always wanted to be.

As I said above, I can't help liking Jemima. Maybe it's because part of me wanted to give her a hug and tell her that her weight isn't her problem, it is her crippling self esteem.

So below you will see my comments on the book and my friend's comments which seriously had me wondering if I just have really bad taste in books when I don't see some of the problems that she did.

Most of this book is following Jemima being treated horribly by people until her weight loss transformation. Jemima does start getting treated differently by people around her and she is still focused on being what she considers a "hardbody" and losing so much weight that someone will practically be able to see her ribs.

My friend thought this book was pointing out the wrong things to women and she got worried that if someone younger read it, they may try some of the same things that Jemima did to lose weight. For example, somehow Jemima loses almost all of her extra weight in 3 months. And I kid you not, I don't know how in the world I overlooked that detail all of the times that I read this book previously. It took my friend pointing it out to me that this was something that Jane Green had included in this book. I kept wondering as I re-read this how in the world did she not have any loose skin anywhere.

Second, Jemima has really bad self esteem. I think things would have been better in the book if Jemima acknowledge she had some issues to work through, and saw a therapist. I guess it doesn't make for a chick lit type of book though.

My friend loathed the character of Ben. Her exact words were and I quote:

For goodness sake! Every woman I know has some idiot like this in their past. You just become the guy's sounding board and you think to yourself if only I lost some weight, or were more funny, or something that he would be into you. The only problem is that Ben doesn't even start to think about Jemima until he realizes he doesn't have someone to listen to his shit! Ugh! I hate him!

Yeah...up until talking to her I always thought how romantic it was that Jemima was secretly in love with Ben.

The writing I always thought was quite good, though in parts I remember initially not understanding what a lot of terms means (British chick lit novel) and I thought the pacing was quite good.

My friend thought the writing was not as advanced as she would like it, and she thought the pacing was all over the place.

Apparently my friend booed the ending.


in the end she and Ben end up married



I stupidly said, well come on. I mean look at how in the end she realized that she needed to stop trying to force herself into being someone she was not. And she responded, that whole part where she went to California was awful and I wanted to scream throughout it.

So there you go. A book I used to keep on my comfort read list is now going on my shelf of shame. show less

Fat, lonely, underemployed Brit Jemima Jones transforms herself through extreme diet and exercise into a perfect California girl, but happiness eludes her until she realizes that true love and friendship matter more than superficial good looks.

Jemima J. is a prime, if overlong, example of the chick-lit genre. Realism is not its strong suit; for instance, Jemima's strict diet and exercise regimen has her losing a consistent "five to six pounds per week", a feat which is not biologically possible. Still, if you take it for what it is worth, there are some decent moments here. Recommended for those looking for escapist fare.

I remember picking up Jemima J in a bookshop, reading the first line, and knowing this was a book for me. It didn't fail me then and it hasn't failed me on each re-read. I'm guessing it will hold true when I decide to pick up again. Yes, the book is dated (we are all pretty familiar with the internet now) and no, Jemima shouldn't need to change who she is. But this book gives hope for those out there who feel as Jemima does. It reminds you that even when you get what you think you want, the grass isn't always as green on the other side as you thought. But it also shows you that you can find a middle ground where the grass is just the right shade for you.

Note: Reading date is random. I have read this multiple times, but have no idea of show more the exact dates. show less

This book was fine as a story, but I don't like the message it sends about our bodies. ***Spoilers*** Jemima is this overweight girl whose life is falling apart. She can't get the job; she can't get the guy. In a sudden flash of commitment, she decides to lose the weight. Suddenly, she's thin and bordering on happy. At the end of the novel, we see the previously overweight Jemima suddenly getting too thin and being told to gain weight and work out less. So, she eventually does. She finds her happy medium weight and her perfect job and her gorgeous guy. Ummm...Jane Green, if you think that by making your now skinny and happy heroine gain 5 pounds at the end of the novel you have redeemed this book from it's status as just another piece show more of media that tells us we have to be thin to be happy, you are terribly, terribly wrong. Your message is even worse than that! We have to be a certain kind of thin. Thin but not too much so! This reminds me of a comment made by a friend of mine who had previously struggled with anorexia. She said, 'Well, it's confusing to be a person with anorexia in this culture because you are losing weight and people are telling you how great you look, and then, suddenly, you're too thin and people are telling you to get help and to gain weight and that you are looking ill and you are not able to see the difference between the weight where they said you looked great and the one where they say you look ill.' I just can't support this book's message. show less

Jemima J by Jane Green for all of it’s charm and humor, was still a difficult book to struggle through. We are told about overweight Jemima who everyone pushes around, treats badly, and downright ignores. Then she transforms herself into skinny Jemima who is gorgeous to look at, promoted at work, popular with the men and makes friends with other skinny girls. And all of this happened in what, three months!

Also the love of her life, who at first treats her as a inferior mate and seems to use her to get close to another girl, suddenly falls in love with her when he sees the thin version. Shallow.

Even though I understand that this is a fantasy novel, I would not recommend this to any young women as the message to me seems to be that your show more self-confidence will grow as your weight shrinks. If you want to be popular and get a boyfriend, you must be super thin. Not a book to help a young woman with her self-image. show less

Loved this book to start. I have to say that I can always get behind a plus-sized leading lady, so of course I was in love with Jemima Jones... until I found out the Jemima is 5'7" and weighed 217 lbs at her largest. Jemima is described as being almost grotesquely fat, so when the acutal number of pounds she weights comes up, it stopped me in my tracks. "Wait, what??" I'm 5'4" and weigh 212, so what kind of fat monster does that make me? I don't feel like people stare at me on the street or only have relationships with me out of pity, and I don't really feel like I'm this HUGE BEAST (as a size 16/18), so that rather put me off. Here I was imagining Jemima as being actually FAT. I have a friend who's 5'7" and she weighs 263 lbs and, in show more all honesty, she's probably the most gorgeous woman I know. If Jemima was a real person who ate the way she does, she should seriously weigh far more than 217. So pffffft!

Basically, the message of this book made me mad... If you're fat, be ashamed of it, lie about it to people who can't see you anyway, and then diet and exercise like mad until you're thin. People are fat because they eat too much, so if you eat like a normal human being and exercise like crazy, you can be tiny in a matter of months! Then everyone will love you, and you can get the man of your dreams! Aside from THAT... I really loved this book. And okay, maybe I'm hoping that I can be like Jemima and literally work my ass off and be gorgeous too. So shoot me.

The dialogue was very natural and flowed realistically; okay, better than realistically since - let's face it - most people just aren't that witty in real life. The plot was fast-paced enough to keep the whole thing moving, though at times I found myself flipping forward a few pages to see what would happen next...

I love how Jemima keeps ALMOST having these fated meetings/happenings, but the timing is just the teeniest bit off, and she misses bliss by mere moments. By the end, I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat going "OHMIGOD, JEMIMA, TURN THE H*** AROUND!!!"

It still gets 5 stars, even though if Jemima was a real person who ate the way she does, she should seriously weigh far more than 217. All in all, this is a lovely book, and I will definitely be adding it to my hoard for keeps. show less