The Gilmore Guide to Books

Connecting Books and Readers One Review at a Time

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Reviews
    • Reviews by Author
    • Reviews by Title
    • Reviews by Genre
  • More Books
  • Policies
    • Review Policy
    • Privacy Policy

Fitness Junkie: A Novel

July 17, 2017

Fitness Junkie by Lucy Sykes, Jo Piazza
Published by Doubleday
Publication date: July 11th 2017
Genres: Chick Lit, Contemporary, Fiction, Humor, Satire
five-stars

fitness

 

There are many things that make being a booklover wonderful, but one that makes me positively giddy is when a book finds me when I need it most. That feeling of a book that knows what you need and provides it. No point in prolonging the suspense, I’m talking about Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza’s new novel, Fitness Junkie. DON’T. RUN. AWAY! It’s not a non-fiction workout book. It is a hilarious, intelligent, impactful novel about the crazy things women do for their appearance. And why it’s messed up. Which is kind of all you need to know, so if you want to leave right now and go buy the book you have my permission.

You’re still here? Awesome! Fitness Junkie is about Janey, a healthy, attractive, forty-year-old woman with an MBA who is the co-founder of the chicest bridal dress company in the U.S. The designer, Beau, has been her best friend since childhood. At least he was, right up until he told her at brunch in Manhattan (because, of course, most of my favorite books take place in NYC) that until she lost 30 pounds she needed to take a sabbatical. Her weight was not befitting the image of their sylphlike gowns. Janey is hurt, but willing to acknowledge that she’s put on a bit of weight due to an acrimonious divorce and maybe getting in shape and losing some weight would be healthy. So begins the journey into lunacy with Janey as the only sane person on board.

Janey soon learns about diets of nothing but clay (oh, the minerals!), “kelp is the new kale”, and a gym membership that if you miss class they charge you anyway and donate the money to a cause you hate—as in the Trump 2020 campaign. (Actually, that sounds like a great idea because it would motivate the hell out of me.) Then she meets a female shaman—a beautiful, breezy, calm woman who introduces her to all kinds of way to achieve transcendence (and get skinny). All of this culminates in being inducted into an invitation-only fitness class with more rules and regulations than most country clubs. Run by a sprite who only wears grey and spouts affirmations like “Hold your own hand”.

At this point, my head explodes. Or more accurately, I explode with laughter (in public) that just keeps coming because so do these insane takes on the health and wellness industry. Page after page of witty, snarky spot-on satire about the modern day obsession with the superficial aspects of a healthy lifestyle that only the wealthy can afford. Fitness Junkie works so well because Piazza and Sykes use multi-faceted characters to drive home their point. The novel is filled with highly intelligent, successful women who still feel compelled to try wild fads in order to maintain an unrealistic appearance. Throughout the novel they work with this theme, exposing it for what it is. While women being unhappy with their appearance is not a positive I do appreciate that Fitness Junkie does not play to the old stereotype about chick-lit—it’s not about getting or keeping a man. In fact, men and relationships are not even a factor in the plot. Yay!

Sykes and Piazza are so in-the-know that they impart the feeling of fact to the fiction in Fitness Junkie. They also have no qualms about skewering some of the new new-age fitness lifestyle gurus out there, like Gwyneth Paltrow and Tracy Anderson. You know, the kind of women who make me want to wear a polyester muumuu while eating lard on bacon because their aspirational ‘perfection’ is nauseating. The only ones for whom the whole wellness craze is working because they are making money hand over fist selling unattainable goals. Whether you are all-in on the latest diet or fitness craze (daily IV treatments, anyone?), this novel is perfect in its execution of how even things that start out as healthy can go very wrong when they’re co-opted by people just looking to make a buck. Grab a bowl of ice cream or your carb of choice, throw on comfy clothes and just ENJOY this fabulously witty, fun novel. All calories consumed will be burned off by laughing. You’re welcome.

 

five-stars

Related Posts

  • Related Posts
  • Same Genre
  • 5 Star Books
  • By Jo Piazza
america
This is My America
house
The House of Impossible Beauties
Billy lynn
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
inventing
Inventing the Rest of Our Lives
summer fun
Summer Fun Reading: Mini-Reviews
sugarhouse
Sugarhouse: Turning the Neighborhood Crack House into Our Home Sweet Home
Ignorance
Ignorance
swans
The Swans of Fifth Avenue
ten
Necessary People: A Novel
island
Mothers’ Week: The Island of Sea Women
goodbye
Goodbye, Vitamin: A Novel
stargazer's sister
The Stargazer’s Sister
nightingale
The Nightingale
evelyn hardcastle
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
mambo in chinatown
Mambo in Chinatown
nonfiction
Nonfiction November 2017: Fiction Nonfiction Pairings
charlotte
Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win
knockoff
The Knockoff

12 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: chick lit, contemporary life, Doubleday, humor, Manhattan, midlife, satire

Comments

  1. Deepika Ramesh says

    July 17, 2017 at 4:41 am

    What a lovely, lovely review! Thank you for this. I usually don’t read books like this. Now that I have read your glowing review, I am surely going for this. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Kate @ booksaremyfavouriteandbest says

    July 17, 2017 at 6:26 am

    This sounds like good fun. And honestly, that incentive for turning up to the gym is genius!

    Reply
  3. Eva @ The Paperback Princess says

    July 17, 2017 at 8:57 am

    This review was like reading the book all over again! Yes to all of it!

    Reply
  4. Susie | Novel Visits says

    July 17, 2017 at 8:59 am

    Is that last line of your review a promise? If so, I’m sold! Sounds like a fun summer read.

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      July 17, 2017 at 6:59 pm

      LOL! It is that spot-on funny. It was just what I needed, so much so that I wish it was also a movie- right now!

      Reply
      • Susie | Novel Visits says

        July 17, 2017 at 7:38 pm

        You should go see The Big Sick. It’s very funny!

        Reply
  5. susan says

    July 26, 2017 at 3:20 pm

    Sounds funny. Kelp is the new Kale? Uh-oh. That’s all I needed to seek it out. No Kale for me and definitely no Kelp either!

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      July 27, 2017 at 2:40 pm

      Lord, do I hate kale! My husband loves it so I’m left politely saying, “No thanks” a lot.

      Reply
  6. Rory says

    July 30, 2017 at 10:19 am

    So…there’s a food truck by my work today, selling large pizza by the slice. I am going to go grab a slice in honor of this novel. And GOOP makes me rage-y.

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      July 30, 2017 at 11:12 am

      GO YOU! Goop is the absolute worst. The pinnacle of aspirational living- as long as you have lots of cash.

      Reply
  7. Karen says

    August 10, 2017 at 12:36 pm

    You totally inspired me to read this (and I was really hesitant) but absolutely LOVED it! Thanks! Just the laughs I needed at the moment!

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      August 12, 2017 at 5:15 pm

      YAY!!! Wasn’t it awesome fun?! It’s the only kind of book I should be reading these days, but it’s not easy to find.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Save time and subscribe via email

No time to keep checking for new reviews? Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email. No spam!

Currently Reading

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
by Emily Nagoski
The Dutch House
The Dutch House
by Ann Patchett
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
by Adrienne Brodeur

goodreads.com

Affiliate Disclosure

I’m an affiliate for Indiebound and Amazon. If you click on a link that takes you to any of these sites and make a purchase I’ll earn a small fee, which goes towards the costs of maintaining this site. Your support is appreciated. Thank you!

Archives

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Theme Design By Studio Mommy · Copyright © 2021

Copyright © 2021 · Beyond Madison Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in