All of Me: A Voluptuous Tale

by Venise T. Berry

After suffering from a breakdown, an African-American woman begins to rebuild her life and learns to love herself for the first time in the process. 35,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[TK · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading the back of the book was trickery! I was pulled in with the first chapter and quickly got ice water poured on my face.

What I liked: the plot. Black woman early 40’s struggles with her weight most of her life. Insecure, teased; unsuccessful in love, diets and positive self talk. Tries to commit suicide.

What I didn’t like: Completely underdeveloped characters. There were so many people introduced and not one had depth, least of all the main character, Serpentine. I was not connected to anyone. Not one person.
-Journal entries were a nice touch but fell short overall. I’m guessing it was an attempt at showing growth or depth but were about rain puddle deep at best.
-No accountability for her part in her weight issues.
-The fact that the author glosses over a sexual assault
-Nothing said or done about her pulling out a gun during a therapy session.
-the grammatical errors
-the inconsistency in the story telling. So confused at the time line set up.
-the narration instead of first person was a drag.

As much as I wanted to love this book…I DID NOT.

[Tamara Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first saw this book, I will admit, my interest was piqued. However after recently finishing this book, I was left feeling somewhat disappointed.Although the author does a great job in capturing the struggles faced by the plus size woman, she does a lousy job in reference to narration.

What usually draws me to a book is the way in which an author presents dialog.In the case of All of Me, while the author had a wonderful story to tell, it seemed to me that she really didn't put all of herself into Serpentine's shoes but rather, she described what happens to her as an observer. Because the author presented the book in reference to what the character did in the third person as opposed to speaking as the main character, this left me feeling detached from the entire book and this also prevented me from being interested in either the story or Serpentine.

The story line here is for the most part very predictable. Serpentine Williamson is overweight. She's a plus size woman in a world of size sixes and sevens and instead of the world changing its view, she is forced to changed hers. Her boss tells her to lose weight, her man claims that weight doesn't matter but yet, he still wants his slim ex-girlfriend.

Sound familiar to you?

This was the one think that I liked about this book, the fact that the reader could sympathize with her on not only one but three different levels.Through reading this book, the reader gains an opportunity to see what it feels like to be black, female, and plus size.

While I particularly don't like how the author went about delivering this story to readers, I do honestly believe that she meant well. I definitely feel that this book is a big step in the right direction and that through presenting realistic characters, this can help to change the way in which society views the plus size woman.

[Diana Townsend · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember in the 90's or maybe early 2000's my mom had this book in her book club and I snuck and read it, but I can't remember if I liked it or not. I remember it prompted me to listen to the song Serpentine Fire, which I had never heard of before then. Anyway, reading it now, it made me sad and it annoyed me a little. Sad because I am fat and I know how she feels. I mean wow, I could relate to this so much it hurt. But it annoyed me because she was not a nice person. I don't care what has happened to you, why treat people like crap because you have an attitude. When she lost some weight, she was breaking hearts, but when she gained it back, it was poor me poor me. It's an okay read I guess.

[Monalisa Watkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book! I feel that a lot of areas aren't covered Black people especially women. We all have so much in common but there are things specific to the Black community. Great book!!

[Michelle]

When I chose this book to read, I didn't really know what to expect. The cover kind of interested me and then I read the back and that's pretty much what got me to read it. When I started, it kind of reminded me of myself. Reading what she had gone through with her weight, really got me thinking about society today, because America has a big problem with being overweight. She talked about how she got picked on and I thought of the people at our school and the way we pick on each other. I have issues about my body and my weight, but it is nowhere to the point that she got to. I will never result in what she did, I don't have the guts to do that. I really liked how she came back from her incident, meaning everything she accomplished afterwords. I would hope that looking back at everything she accomplished would make her realize that she may not have ever gotten the chance to do that stuff. Reading this book, made me think about the things around me happening at school and the things people say and the actions they do.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about self acceptance and seeing oneself as beautiful. Serpentine has done well in her career as a television journalist, but has struggled with her weight and male companionship all her life. Compounding her issues is her well meaning but ultimately wrong headed mother. Mom can not help herself with her casual cruelty all in the name of honesty.
I liked the plot of this book, but feel like Berry concentrated too much on some plot threads and not enough on others. I wanted to know more about Serpentine's aunt and her sketchy appearing boyfriend. I wanted to know my about Serpentine's singing and her relationship with her mother. I would been happy to read less about her cheating boyfriend!

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Fully Know

I am a full figured sistah
I figured out the truth in folk
That judge you by your size
If too thick -- they’ll despise
So I tossed them away
Real friends
Will not depend on whether you shop at
Saks or Lane Bryants

I figured out that my full hips
My full breast
My nice shapely legs
And my pretty face
Don’t make me depressed
Don’t make me a mess
I celebrate life daily


Need I say more about how I feel about this book.

[Niloofar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. Her style of writting is just up my alley (like sitting across a friend and talking). She is really funny too, her description of things of great. I also liked it because dealing with weight issues most of my life, it was easy to relate to her problems. Very fast, easy read.

[Karma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book about how we as African American women have to learn to accept and love ourselvs no matter what other people or American society says about us. Serpentine has many obstacles to overcome, but with the help of her family, her psychologist and God, she finally gets to that point.

[Jemalyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book because it looked good. Although I didn't love all of it, I believe it gave me fresh ideas and a new perspective on life. I can't remember much of what happened in the book, but I know I finished it and gained some good insights.

[Lmcelebre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It seems like it would make a great movie.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different and very, very good.