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Rita Just Wants to Be Thin
As she breaks 200 pounds, and not in a good way, 29-year-old Rita finds herself married to a self-focused widower with two difficult kids and a mother who almost makes Rita's own mother look like a role model-which is really saying something. Graham's first wife, being dead, just keeps getting better and better in everyone's memories while Rita just gets fatter and more aggravated. She's tried every diet in the book, but it's not until a family crisis forces her out the door that she discovers that the easiest way to lose weight is to get rid of the baggage on the inside. Funny and insightful, RITA JUST WANTS TO BE THIN is sure to make readers of all shapes and sizes feel better about themselves-and ultimately maybe even about Rita.
376 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2014
57 people are currently reading
602 people want to read
About the author
Mary W. Walters
9 books19 followersMary W. Walters is the award-winning author of 4.5 novels, a collection of short stories, a non-fiction book about grant-writing for academics, and hundreds of essays, articles and blog posts on a host of subjects. She has been executive director of a writers’ organization, awards facilitator at at university, a writing teacher, a freelance writer, editor and grants consultant – and, throughout it all, she has been a fiction writer.
Mary has won a Writers Guild of Alberta award for excellence in writing and been shortlisted for several other writing awards. She has won an Achievement Award from the Province of Alberta, and is listed in Who’s Who in Canada. She lives in Toronto and on the Internet.
Mary has won a Writers Guild of Alberta award for excellence in writing and been shortlisted for several other writing awards. She has won an Achievement Award from the Province of Alberta, and is listed in Who’s Who in Canada. She lives in Toronto and on the Internet.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
June 9, 2014
I am going to say at the outset that I was impressed immediately with way the opening pages grabbed my attention. Rita is a young woman of 28, but she is like so many other women. She smokes too much, her addiction to food has tipped her into the morbidly obese category, and her life has gone to hell because of it.
Only a few years before, when she was young and svelte she met and fell in love with a widower who had two young children. Her husband, Graham, is a journalist, and his two children, Ida and Simon, resent her presence in their lives. The ghost of her husband’s dead wife looms large in Rita’s life—appearing as an unseen but ever-present specter whose perfection can never be matched no matter how she strives to do so. She cooks and cleans and does everything a mother does with none of the gratitude or respect. Her sole place of comfort has become her green sofa, her cigarettes and food.
Severely depressed, she goes to her regular doctor only to find him gone. The new, snarky nurse informs her she will have to see Dr. Graves or wait weeks. Dr. Graves takes one look at her and unleashes a diatribe which destroys Rita, humiliating her and telling her if she wants to die she should just do it.
Each section opens with the diet Rita is attempting to stick to that month, and the final one is seems the most sensible one when you look at it.
Rita’s journey to self-discovery is a compelling character study by the mistress of character studies. Her struggles with self-doubt, self-loathing and addiction to both food and cigarettes are vivid descriptions of the daily torments so many women endure. The place where Rita at last begins the final steps to healing is the last place anyone would ever think she would find refuge.
For Rita there is no magic bullet, no perfect diet and no easy way out. This book is a testament to the strength and determination which is sometimes found only when a person is completely broken down to their component parts. The reassembling process is what I find most inspiring.
I freely give this book 5 stars.
Only a few years before, when she was young and svelte she met and fell in love with a widower who had two young children. Her husband, Graham, is a journalist, and his two children, Ida and Simon, resent her presence in their lives. The ghost of her husband’s dead wife looms large in Rita’s life—appearing as an unseen but ever-present specter whose perfection can never be matched no matter how she strives to do so. She cooks and cleans and does everything a mother does with none of the gratitude or respect. Her sole place of comfort has become her green sofa, her cigarettes and food.
Severely depressed, she goes to her regular doctor only to find him gone. The new, snarky nurse informs her she will have to see Dr. Graves or wait weeks. Dr. Graves takes one look at her and unleashes a diatribe which destroys Rita, humiliating her and telling her if she wants to die she should just do it.
Each section opens with the diet Rita is attempting to stick to that month, and the final one is seems the most sensible one when you look at it.
Rita’s journey to self-discovery is a compelling character study by the mistress of character studies. Her struggles with self-doubt, self-loathing and addiction to both food and cigarettes are vivid descriptions of the daily torments so many women endure. The place where Rita at last begins the final steps to healing is the last place anyone would ever think she would find refuge.
For Rita there is no magic bullet, no perfect diet and no easy way out. This book is a testament to the strength and determination which is sometimes found only when a person is completely broken down to their component parts. The reassembling process is what I find most inspiring.
I freely give this book 5 stars.
December 15, 2015
I interviewed the author of this book for a radio show I used to host on Trent Radio (the community and campus radio station in Peterborough, Ontario). I read the book in preparation for our interview and found the book both entertaining and insightful. (Like the heroine, Rita, I have struggled with my weight over the years.) Definitely recommended, particularly if you have ever struggled with body image issues.
March 6, 2017
So close.... Honestly the story and the writing were much better than two stars, at least, right up until the last quarter of the book. Rita was breaking free of the diet-binge cycle and finally learning to actually pay attention and take care of herself and care about herself and then, bam, right back to guilt and shame and the righteousness of hunger bullshit. I am quite disappointed.
October 27, 2016
This novel made me feel sorry for Rita all the time. Not because she is overweight but that she is in such a bad situation. Even at the end when she should be happier I find that she is still stuck. I didn't like it because of how it made me feel.
July 28, 2023
As someone who has battled with weight for most of my adult life I could identify with Rita in a lot of her thought processes. Although I get supper, unlike poor Rita.
Everyone in her life takes advantage of her, her husband, step-children, in laws and mother. Interestingly the only ones are truly nice to her are her hairdresser and the mother of her husband’s first wife who is dead.
I was disappointed at the end though when she moved back in with her husband as I really hoped she would kick him into touch for good. He came across as a horrible, selfish man, who first starting pursuing her when they met while he was placing the obituary for his first wife! For me this showed that he just didn’t want to be on his own bringing up his children and all through the book I kept getting that same impression.
Everyone in her life takes advantage of her, her husband, step-children, in laws and mother. Interestingly the only ones are truly nice to her are her hairdresser and the mother of her husband’s first wife who is dead.
I was disappointed at the end though when she moved back in with her husband as I really hoped she would kick him into touch for good. He came across as a horrible, selfish man, who first starting pursuing her when they met while he was placing the obituary for his first wife! For me this showed that he just didn’t want to be on his own bringing up his children and all through the book I kept getting that same impression.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 1, 2018
A New Twist on the quest to be thin.
I don’t know what I was expecting when I selected this book, but author Mary L. Walters managed to exceed all my expectations. I cheered for Rita and I sometimes lost patience with her during her struggles to balance her demanding family and her addiction to food and cigarettes with her hopes and dreams for a healthier more independent life. Rita’s revelations about food and comfort interspersed with the issues of grief, loss, codependency and independence hit home with me as did the cavalcade of fad diets and the expectation of instant results or a quick fix. I hope Ms. Walters revisits Rita in a future novel, so we can see how she’s coping with her new life.
I don’t know what I was expecting when I selected this book, but author Mary L. Walters managed to exceed all my expectations. I cheered for Rita and I sometimes lost patience with her during her struggles to balance her demanding family and her addiction to food and cigarettes with her hopes and dreams for a healthier more independent life. Rita’s revelations about food and comfort interspersed with the issues of grief, loss, codependency and independence hit home with me as did the cavalcade of fad diets and the expectation of instant results or a quick fix. I hope Ms. Walters revisits Rita in a future novel, so we can see how she’s coping with her new life.
December 27, 2016
I get what the author was trying to do with this book. It just wasn't executed well. If I wanted to listen to someone whine about how they couldn't lose weight while sitting on the couch stuffing their face with potato chips, I'd talk to myself about it. I do sympathize with Rita's predicament with her husband and two step kids. I actually enjoyed that aspect of the story more. But over all this just wasn't the story for me.
June 27, 2018
Unlike able but authentic
When I started this book I didn’t like any of the characters, they were written at their ugliest and it becomes clear that although not written from first person point of view I can see that this was the perspective of the main character. As she changed so do the words that represent her and the other characters. In the end I’m glad I read this book as the people dealt with real problems in a real way not like a fairytale.
When I started this book I didn’t like any of the characters, they were written at their ugliest and it becomes clear that although not written from first person point of view I can see that this was the perspective of the main character. As she changed so do the words that represent her and the other characters. In the end I’m glad I read this book as the people dealt with real problems in a real way not like a fairytale.
October 19, 2017
Represents the feelings of being a trapped overweight woman well
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. The writer speaks well from the position of being trapped in your body and compulsive overeating.
I did give it three stars because I didn’t like how abruptly it ended. Miraculously all her problems are solved...
Light and easy read with a good message though.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. The writer speaks well from the position of being trapped in your body and compulsive overeating.
I did give it three stars because I didn’t like how abruptly it ended. Miraculously all her problems are solved...
Light and easy read with a good message though.
March 2, 2018
This book was hard to work through. I've had issues with my weight throughout my life and I often feel lost in the day to day routine of having children and a job. What I found hardest was how little Rita tried to find herself until the very end of the book. It was mind-numbing.
March 17, 2017
I was initially incredibly disappointed/annoyed in the start of this book, primarily because the author describes a vastly obese (almost seemingly someone who can barely walk a few yards) woman (Rita) who then transpires that whilst she is most definitely overweight, should not on the weight indicated be described as such... and I speak as being marginally lighter than Rita is at the start of the book having already lost a considerable amount of weight so have been that 'vastly obese' person I felt the author was describing. Once I got to the point where I could ignore the actual weight and concentrate on the story this moved on apace...only for me to be disappointed again when I 'turned' the page over to find that the book had finished. This certainly didn't seem to have a distinct ending.
March 12, 2017
For most of this book, I just wanted to be finished reading it. The last 1/3 was much more interesting than the first 2/3 as Rita stopped whining and trying different fad diets and became a more interesting, introspective person who started doing something about her life!
September 20, 2016
I was expecting something rather light-hearted, based on the cover and the description.
It isn't.
Rita is trapped in a horrible marriage with a man who pretty much married her to get free housekeeping and childcare for his utterly horrible children. And then he starts to "work" at home, and rather than him chipping in and dealing with HIS kids, he abdicates...and abdicates even more when his mother moves in with him and contributes nothing except added stress for Rita. Plus, he wants her to have a baby!
Eventually Rita does develop a spine, but during most of the book she is downtrodden. And even after the spine-growing- she's still stuck with the obnoxious stepkids, her selfish and oblivious husband who is not even supporting the family, etc.
This was well-written, but very NOT light, and very sad.
I gave it 3 stars because it IS well-written, but also is far more depressing than the cover suggests.
It isn't.
Rita is trapped in a horrible marriage with a man who pretty much married her to get free housekeeping and childcare for his utterly horrible children. And then he starts to "work" at home, and rather than him chipping in and dealing with HIS kids, he abdicates...and abdicates even more when his mother moves in with him and contributes nothing except added stress for Rita. Plus, he wants her to have a baby!
Eventually Rita does develop a spine, but during most of the book she is downtrodden. And even after the spine-growing- she's still stuck with the obnoxious stepkids, her selfish and oblivious husband who is not even supporting the family, etc.
This was well-written, but very NOT light, and very sad.
I gave it 3 stars because it IS well-written, but also is far more depressing than the cover suggests.
November 3, 2016
Some books aren’t great literature but you like them because you find you can connect with them. This was one of those for me.
28-year-old Rita was young, pretty and thin before she got married. Marriage brought her a husband, Graham and two rather unpleasant step-children. She also has to contend with Graham’s dead and quite perfect first wife who she can never measure up to. Graham is a work-from-home journalist. He isn’t really a bad sort but is self-centred and inhumanly insensitive.
Overworked, undervalued, exhausted and lonely, Rita finds solace in food. As the pounds pile up she begins to hate the way she looks. She tries out new diets regularly but fails to stick to any of them, fuelling rounds of self-loathing and more bingeing.
Things come to a head when her mother-in-law comes to stay with her until finally one day she decides to walk out.
What I liked:
Rita’s struggle with weight is something common to a lot of women — the constant awareness of one’s weight, the acute self-consciousness due to it, the self-loathing that comes after a binge and yet not being able to find the will-power to do anything about it — all of that made the book extremely relatable.
Later the rush Rita gets when she begins to walk, the way she learns to disengage herself from her situation and make time for herself – I loved all of that.
Also, her story isn’t just about her fight with fat. It is about how she learns to assert herself, how she decides that she will be the one in charge of her life. It is a reminder for anyone stuck in a rut that they alone can change their lives.
What I didn’t like
Rita’s struggle is so long that it gets tedious and depressing. The turnaround comes after a long long time.
The book ends right at the beginning of Rita’s new journey. I would have liked an epilogue, at least. I will always have the niggling feeling that she slipped back to her old ways and that takes away from the perfect ending.
28-year-old Rita was young, pretty and thin before she got married. Marriage brought her a husband, Graham and two rather unpleasant step-children. She also has to contend with Graham’s dead and quite perfect first wife who she can never measure up to. Graham is a work-from-home journalist. He isn’t really a bad sort but is self-centred and inhumanly insensitive.
Overworked, undervalued, exhausted and lonely, Rita finds solace in food. As the pounds pile up she begins to hate the way she looks. She tries out new diets regularly but fails to stick to any of them, fuelling rounds of self-loathing and more bingeing.
Things come to a head when her mother-in-law comes to stay with her until finally one day she decides to walk out.
What I liked:
Rita’s struggle with weight is something common to a lot of women — the constant awareness of one’s weight, the acute self-consciousness due to it, the self-loathing that comes after a binge and yet not being able to find the will-power to do anything about it — all of that made the book extremely relatable.
Later the rush Rita gets when she begins to walk, the way she learns to disengage herself from her situation and make time for herself – I loved all of that.
Also, her story isn’t just about her fight with fat. It is about how she learns to assert herself, how she decides that she will be the one in charge of her life. It is a reminder for anyone stuck in a rut that they alone can change their lives.
What I didn’t like
Rita’s struggle is so long that it gets tedious and depressing. The turnaround comes after a long long time.
The book ends right at the beginning of Rita’s new journey. I would have liked an epilogue, at least. I will always have the niggling feeling that she slipped back to her old ways and that takes away from the perfect ending.
Want to read
September 21, 2016I had to stop reading this book after being 21% the way through...it was way too depressing and life is too short!
I'm not sure if the intention was to make the reader feel depressed reading it, Rita is clearly depressed with her life and being "fat". I say fat like that because her weight is certainly not that big to affect her life so badly, at least it shouldn't be! She seems to blame her weight on a lot of things and that a lot of different things have caused her weight to go up but really the problem is that she has 0 self-esteem, married a guy who clearly just wanted her to replace his dead wife and that she seems to have no ambition.
Anyway, I couldn't finish it, the first ever book I haven't persevered with. Maybe I will go back to it at some point but right now it just was not for me.
I'm not sure if the intention was to make the reader feel depressed reading it, Rita is clearly depressed with her life and being "fat". I say fat like that because her weight is certainly not that big to affect her life so badly, at least it shouldn't be! She seems to blame her weight on a lot of things and that a lot of different things have caused her weight to go up but really the problem is that she has 0 self-esteem, married a guy who clearly just wanted her to replace his dead wife and that she seems to have no ambition.
Anyway, I couldn't finish it, the first ever book I haven't persevered with. Maybe I will go back to it at some point but right now it just was not for me.
July 22, 2014
A bit depressing, especially at the beginning...
Rita is fat and generally hates her life. This story tells her journey from her food and nicotine addiction to even deeper into depression, to her finally realizing that her life is hers.... if she wants a better life, she has to be the one whom gets it.
Rita is fat and generally hates her life. This story tells her journey from her food and nicotine addiction to even deeper into depression, to her finally realizing that her life is hers.... if she wants a better life, she has to be the one whom gets it.
July 8, 2016
Nice read
Frustrating at first to get into Rita's head, but as the book carries on, it is easier to understand where she is coming from. It is nice to be able to see her grow as a person and stop blaming those around her for her problems. And a good reminder as well that we need to make things happen rather than wait and hope for better things to come along.
Frustrating at first to get into Rita's head, but as the book carries on, it is easier to understand where she is coming from. It is nice to be able to see her grow as a person and stop blaming those around her for her problems. And a good reminder as well that we need to make things happen rather than wait and hope for better things to come along.
July 12, 2016
A bit depressing and self hating because she is fat. She hates her life and herself, in a marriage after the first wife's death, raising his children in their house. Bad health and a self esteem she finds herself at a doctor's office getting scolded for her lifestyle.
A very disturbing story but happily she finds an "out" walking.
A very disturbing story but happily she finds an "out" walking.
August 14, 2016
This book was amazingly well written.
The characterization is pure genius. Walters writes the truth of what it means to struggle with your identity. I loved this book. I loved it so much. Rita is every woman who has hated her body, every woman who has fallen prey to the incessant needs of others without carving time for herself. Rita is all of us and this book is one that all should read.
The characterization is pure genius. Walters writes the truth of what it means to struggle with your identity. I loved this book. I loved it so much. Rita is every woman who has hated her body, every woman who has fallen prey to the incessant needs of others without carving time for herself. Rita is all of us and this book is one that all should read.
August 2, 2016
Easy holiday read
Looking for an uplifting light read for the summer then read this book. A story about a woman struggling to find her identity who cannot keep to a diet and over eats when things get tough but after an unpleasant encounter pulls it together.
Looking for an uplifting light read for the summer then read this book. A story about a woman struggling to find her identity who cannot keep to a diet and over eats when things get tough but after an unpleasant encounter pulls it together.
August 31, 2016
Rita is me. I am Rita. Whatever. This book hit home! I can totally relate to Rita and her struggles. I was mesmerized to see my feelings so thoroughly described. Maybe this will help me understand my eating issue/addiction and experience some of Rita's success. Fingers crossed!
October 7, 2016
This book was great! I think a lot of people can relate to Rita, not all the circumstances but definately the feelings. I was hooked after the first chapter but the ending is a bit unfinished... is there a sequel to the book?
July 22, 2016
A quick read... Rita was kind of a sad character, but she found herself in the end. I found the ending only partially satisfying though.
August 2, 2016
This was a strange book. The story and the characters were strange. This was set in the late 90's in Canada so it had some different references than I'm used to.
August 9, 2016
There is a reason they give books away on BookBub....they can't sell them!
August 15, 2016
This was a fun lighthearted book. It was a little clumsy in some places and it felt a bit like Mary Walters wanted to 'teach' us a bit about obesity. Overall a nice & easy holiday read.
November 9, 2016
I found this book quite boring and stopped reading it after the first few chapters!
Read
July 21, 2016Funny! I strongly identified with Rita.
July 24, 2016
This book started out annoying but changed into something completely different by the end.
May 30, 2017
Never really got involved in the book but understood the challenge of trying to be thin when everyone around seems to not struggle with it
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews