All of Me: a Voluptuous Tale: A Voluptuous Tale - Softcover

Berry, Venise

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451202627 ISBN 13: 9780451202628

Publisher: Dutton / Signet, 2001

Synopsis

So Good, Venise Berry's first novel, spent six months on Essence magazine's Blackboard bestseller list and was an Alternate Selection of the Literary Guild. With All of Me, Berry again delivers a compelling, humorous, and poignant story on a subject that plagues half the women in America--weight.

Serpentine Williamson has a good life: an exciting career as a television reporter in Chicago, a sexy boyfriend, membership in a popular gospel choir, and a family who loves her. But in the midst of her positives lies a powerful negative--her lifelong struggle with weight.

After years of buying into fads and labels, Serpentine finds her world crumbling. And, finally losing the battle to uphold her plummeting self-esteem, she breaks down and needs to be hospitalized. All of Me is a heartwarming, inspiring, and often funny chronicle of Serpentine's fight for recovery. As she learns to meet her challenges with dignity and strength she also learns to love herself, for the first time, just the way she is. All of Me will resonate with women of all shapes and sizes and will once again affirm Venise Berry as a fresh voice in African-American women's fiction, whose snappy characters, according to Rosalyn McMillan, "double-dare you to put the book down."

About this title

Review:

"Poignant and realistic...winning and absorbing...serious and funny...a lovable soul-searching heroine readers will sympathize with, and root for." --Publishers Weekly

"Engaging...a study in resilience, told with warmth and humor...More than being about bigotry as found in race, gender and size, All of Me is about the importance of knowing who you are and why you're here...This is a book that deserves attention." --The Dallas Morning News

"A moving story of a sister's struggle with weight, health, and self-respect." --Essence

"A great new read." --Mademoiselle

"Berry tackles the subject of weight with humor and tact...Excellent." --Booklist

"Through flashbacks, reminiscences, notes from her journal, and excerpts from sessions with her therapist, readers come to know and like this feisty woman, who has much more to give herself and those she loves than she realizes. Women of all races will find All of Me funny, sad, inspiring, and delightful." --Library Journal

"A welcome respite during this season of weight-loss resolutions...If Berry's latest is true to form, it will enjoy the success of her debut effort, So Good."--

The Washington Post

"By exposing one woman's secret battle with the bulge, Berry's fast-paced novel may be just the stimulant we need to encourage more dialogue among sisters...peppered with just enough humor...Entertaining and realistic...Readers of all shapes and sizes will be inspired."--Black Issues Book Review

Synopsis:

A Moving Story Of A Black Woman's Struggle With Weight, Health And Self-Respect; Serpentine Williamson is an ambitious TV news reporter with a close family and a hot new romance, but her struggles with a larger-sized frame have influenced everything else in her life. She's tried losing weight - from high fat to low fat diets, starvation to seaweed body wraps - but pressured by fans, an image conscious boss, and a boyfriend who can't stay away from his size-10 ex, all she's managed to lose is her self-esteem. It's not until Serpentine reaches rock bottom and attempts suicide that she courageously faces her insecurities and discovers how to stop counting calories and start counting her blessings.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dutton / Signet
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0451202627
• ISBN 13: 9780451202628
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288