Manstealing for Fat Girls

by Michelle Embree

This off-kilter novel centers on three girls who are definitely not part of the in crowd: one’s fat, one’s a dyke, and one is missing a breast. Nicknamed "Lezzylard" by her classmates, Angie is seduced by the prettiest girl in school, an anorexic who just wants to make imaginary grocery lists. Inez, the school’s pot dealer, can’t shoplift because security guards are mesmerized by her single enormous breast. Shelby and Angie can’t be together, because then everyone will think Angie’s only a dyke because she’s too fat to get a guy. Manstealing for Fat Girls explodes the locus where patriarchal and class violence intersect, while embracing all that is magical — and dangerous — about adolescence. Set in a working class suburb of St. Louis in the 1980s, the book is replete with music and pop culture references of the era, but the bullying, lunch table treachery, and desperate desire to fit in ring true for every generation.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Queer, Teen, Lesbian, LGBT, Novels

264 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2005

About the author

Michelle Embree (born April 23, 1972) is an American novelist and dramatist originally from St. Louis, Missouri.

A High School drop-out, she worked a series of low-wage jobs while earning her GED. Embree then attended McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois, graduating in 2000 with a B.A. in Sociology and Psychology.

Her novel, Manstealing for Fat Girls, was nominated for a 2004 Lambda Award for "Debut Lesbian Fiction."

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what alternate universe this high school exists in, but DON'T GO THERE. It's awful. Also, this book started out relate-able but got so complex and dramatic that I was like... was high school really like this? For.. anyone? There were like, way too many characters. I couldn't keep track of them all. It had a lot of cool moments, I guess. When the characters involved weren't getting raped or having underage sex and smoking and drinking and doing drugs CONSTANTLY. I know high schoolers experiment, but COME ON. Also, what time period is this supposed to take place? And.. where? In what state? I can't even tell. I really liked the character Inez. She rocks. The main character is pretty cool too. The characters were all excellent, I guess, it was just the situations they were put in (the climax of the book, while thrilling, was ridiculous) that didn't exactly work. The ending sucked, it didn't provide closure.. but it also didn't sum everything up with some shitty moral like a lot of YA books do (which i appreciate). Actually, it generally steered pretty clear of obvious DON'T DO THIS things. The main character is fat and hates it and is half anorexic/bulimic, but I don't get a sense that the author is like THIS IS BAD, she's just saying, this is how it is.

Also, I'm fairly positive the title was picked by someone who didn't' read the book. who maybe SKIMMED a summary of the book. But clearly had no idea what it was about. unless the author came up with he title, in which case.... lame. Because that's a horrible, horrible title. And this book is much darker than the silly-ass title makes it out to be.
ALSO, by far the most obnoxious thing about this book that I cannot get over... are the 8,000 typos and grammatical errors. I mean, a typo here and there, fine. But there were too many. Mostly it was lack of commas. Whoever edited this book is fucking fired forever. Or maybe the author sent it off like this, in which case she sucks at grammar and both her AND the editors who failed to fix it are fired forever. Really, the dumb title is one thing, but this is unforgivable. Soft Skull press, you FAIL.

Also, I can't fucking believe I wrote this long of a review on this book, when this book, while amusing enough, has left relatively little impact on my life. I think it's because I stayed up all night starting and finishing this book. I'm not sure why, I just couldn't stop. Damn you, Poorly Titled Book of Teenage Drama!

[Richard]

Sixteen year old Angie is called "Lezzylard" by her classmates. Her best friend Shelby is an out dyke--in a working class suburb of St. Louis in the 1980s--while the third member of their trio can't shoplift because security guards always fixate on her one enormous breast. Angie's mother is marrying a man with a sleazy mustache who puts up NASCAR posters in the living room while her friend Inez, the school's pot-dealer and sometime beer whore, stands outside convenience stories, pretending to talk on payphones in order to yell things like, "I'm not having your RAPE BABY, DAD! Give me the money for an abortion or I'm gonna have you KILLED!" Inez, it turns out, is also on a diet.

Angie is teased by classmates, than platonically seduced by the prettiest girl in school, who is anorexic and wants to make imaginary grocery lists with her. To top it off, she told fat-baiting Mindy Overton to "just puke up your lunch and kill yourself already," prompting the school's most brutal popular kids to decide she needs to be taken down a notch. Just how is Angie supposed to get though the next two months?

Complete with acid dealing high schoolers and characters obsessed with FDS "pussy deodorant," Manstealing for Fat Girls takes Mean Girls and makes it scarier and funnier, more political and closer to the bone.

[Ciara · Rating 2 out of 5]

man! another book that was such a disappointment! i was all set to be really into this book, which i imagined to be about a likeable, chubby, misunderstood protaganist who shows everyone up in the end with her sassy ways & doesn't shed an ounce. & i think that's what the author was going for, but it kind of meandered all over the place, covering all kinds of coming-of-age territory that left me wondering what the hell the point was, & worst of all, it faced the same sad fate as every other book published by soft skull press: dreadful editing. i get that they are independent publisher, & that they have had some hard times in the last few years, but explain to me the point of employing editors who can't edit? i wanted to take a red pen to this & just go to town. soft skull also uses really terrible typeface & design. seriously, a bad typeface can completely wreck the experience of a book for me. i hope someday embree decides to re-work her manuscript, strengthen her protaganist, & take her book to a competent publisher. because there is potential here.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is one of the most honest and painful voices i've read in a long time - the weight-loss self-talk, the flashes of sexual fantasies, the passivity with dudes who aren't good enough. i don't know when i've read a truer account of being a teenage fat girl. constantly funny and ridiculous and heartbreaking. YES.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very few YA books are truly edgy - some of them live on the outskirts of suburbia (Rachel Cohn and others), but they never make it to the place that this book goes. Inhabiting the same world as Michelle Tea's Rose of No Man's Land, this book feels immediate, even though it takes place in the 1980s.

[Kelley]

Dredging the archives of my old YA blog--from back in the day when I was a YA para-librarian. Awesome!


Now this book isn’t really a Young Adult novel, per se, but the characters are high schoolers. And if you want to read a story about some kids with fucked up lives, this is it. The main character and narrator is Angie Neuweather. She’s a fat girl whose weight loss plan is to just stop eating, and her nickname is “Lezzylard.” Her best friend is Shelby, an out dyke. And her other close friend has only one developed breast. Every day at school is hell for them.

Angie’s mom drops the bomb that she’s engaged to Rudy, a sleazy, moustache-y loser who moves in immediately and insists on barging in Angie’s bedroom without knocking. At school, the popular crowd hates her guts, except for the prettiest girl in school, Carrie the anorexic, who platonically seduces her behind the cafeteria by making up imaginary grocery lists with her. When Angie tells Mindy, Carrie’s best friend, to “just poke up your lunch and kill yourself already,” an all out war begins between the popular kids and the rejects.

Michelle Embree sets this story in St. Louis, down in south county, and the characters attend Mehlville high school. For this reason alone, the story resonated with me, as I went to the nearest (and rival) high school Lindbergh. Additionally, she weaves in punk rock, hoosier-ways, and bad 80’s style to make a book that speaks to my youth. There’s lots of drug use and sex (especially in Angie’s bizarre and wonderful fantasy life), so I wouldn’t necessarily feel comfortable recommending this to just any old high schoolers, but Michelle Embree captures the snotty angst of my teens so well, I’m sure it would speak to teens as well as those of us who (just barely) survived our teens.

Manstealing for Fat Girls was published by one of my favorite small presses: Soft Skull Press. There are a fair share of typos, and the dialogue is super-heavy and felt awkward to follow along with in the beginning. I read this book, however, in one day, and fell in love with all the messed up characters within one chapter. My only real complaint is that Angie does eventually lose weight from all the dexatrim she pops, and she only receives positive reinforcement for this. That reason alone is why I would not recommend it to most young adults because of their heightened sensitivity to body image due to existent social/cultural norms that I think are reinforced in the book.

This book reminded me of two other books: Lynda Barry’s Cruddy (adult) and Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s Name Me Nobody (YA). With the former book, it’s almost as if Manstealing for Fat Girls is a continuation of the characters’ lives, with more drugs, more violence, and more neuroses. As far as Name Me Nobody, the biggest parallels lie in the plot line: the main character has body issues, her best friend is queer, and she eventually has a forced sexual experience. Both books I highly recommend as well, by the way, although the latter does have the same fault I list above.

[Hilo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, was für ein Triggerfest. Erstaunlich gut geschrieben, und spannend bis zum Schluss. Trotz allem ist die intensive Thematisierung von R*pe und Essstörung zuviel. Die ES wird auch am Ende ganz plötzlich beendet, so von jetzt auf heute und das einzig nicht nachvollziehbare. Die Auseinandersetzung mit Class ist leider viel subtiler als ich gehofft habe. Aber generell sind die Teenieschmerzen echte Schmerzen. Ich mag, dass es ncht die "rettende erste Liebe" gibt, dass ihr erstes Mal enttäuschend ist, dass Männer für sie ein Grund von Misstrauen bleiben. Es gibt einen viel größeren Fokus auf ihre Freundinnenschaften und grade auch die mit der besten lesbischen Freundin ist wichtig. Fucking hilarious sind Nebensätze ala "Ich hab davon geträumt, mit diesem Mädchen Sex zu haben, aber ich bin ja nicht lesbisch, das hat also bestimmt eine tiefere Bedeutung" oder "In der Grundschule hatte ich nur einen Crush und zwar auf dieses eine Mädchen, aber das zählt ja nicht, weil ich bin ja nicht lesbisch" xD Am Ende realisiert sie, dass sie "mindestens half-gay" ist, das war süß.

[Peace · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some positive things about this book, but they were mostly overshadowed by the ridiculous lack of proofreading. I don't mean using -in' instead of -ing, because that's a valid stylistic choice even if I don't like it. I mean "its" and "its" mixed up, "were" instead of "we're," misplaced periods, incorrect capitalization.. These things were happening on practically every second page and every time I saw one I wanted to throw the book against the wall. Ugh.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very bizarre book. It almost read like a teen book, but was very graphic at times when it talked about genitalia and the actual sex acts. There was a ton of foul language in it, too. Even when it was over, I wondered if there should have been more to it. It ended kinf of abruptly.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of crazy, a little trashy, but really fun. Sometimes you just wanted to shake the main character for getting into terrible situations, but her strength and humor made the book. Plus I liked the dynamics between her family members, very realistic.

[Adam]

I read this for the same reason they climb mountains

[MKatie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, why does she not write more?!?!

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michelle Embree, Manstealing for Fat Girls (Soft Skull, 2005)

It's been a bit of time since I've read this, because I haven't quite been sure what to say about it. I've read both sides of the argument over this book, and I can see the points both sides are making. The one thing I haven't been able to see is the one aspect of the book about which everyone else sees in it: its sense of humor. Both critics and defenders seemed to find the book uproariously funny. I missed the joke.

I'm not even going to try and summarize this incredibly (and needlessly) complex novel beyond the barest bones. The story involves Angie, who's sixteen, fat, and bi-curious. Her mother is dating a jerk, her best friend is both out of the closet and flamboyant, and the only guy she knows who treats her like a human being is so odd that, until we get some third-party confirmation, the reader may be left wondering if he's actually a figment of Angie's imagination. Angie is obsessed to the point of madness with dieting, which never works, but the attention that a classmate slowly starts paying her leads her to the first tentative steps towards believing that she's pretty the way she is. And that's when things start getting weird.

The central premise there is the book's strong point, to me at least—it's a book that does promote the idea that there's more to attractiveness than the physical, which is an especially important lesson in today's society (though like most other books that have that message, it never seems to take into account the idea that some guys really do actually find fat chicks hot; it takes the same tack of “well, I like you no matter what you look like” that everyone else does, which is highly annoying). Its problem is that while that does seem to be the main thrust of the book, it's sometimes hard to tell, because it gets buried under the weight of its own subplots, seemingly extraneous (if well-drawn) characters, and attempts at—veracity?—that just come off silly. (Maybe that's the humor I missed?)

In any case, as I said at the beginning of this, I can see both sides of the debate. Yes, high school kids actually do these things. (Well, most of them.) And this is nothing new; high school kids did these things when I was in high school, and that's long enough ago that what we did is probably considered very old hat by today's standards. So to contend that high school students should be sheltered from it is purest stupidity. But on the other side of the coin, I do think the book tries too hard and reaches too far into the absurd in its quest to either identify with its target audience or make them laugh (your call). But it's readable enough that the all-out absurdity in the final third of the novel acquires a certain weird charm. Or it may annoy you to death. Depends. Like everything else about this book. ***

[Cathleen Ash]

Angie's a typical student trying to get through school - but it's tough. Not because she's fat, but that's part of it, and not because her best friend Shelby is a lesbian, so that Angie, by default, is called "Lezzy Lard," but that's part of it too. It's not even because her mom, wearing too much makeup at home and dressing up every day now that Rudy is her new boyfriend, continues to make way too much food, all saurkraut and polish sausages and other nice fatty foods that Angie really would rather try to avoid. It's not even because Rudy, the boyfriend with the skeezy mustache, tells her to eat everything on her plate and then drops the bombshell: he and her mom are getting married and he'll be moving in this weekend. It's not any one of those things, but all of them make life tough for Angie.
It doesn't help that when Angie decides to skip lunch and hides behind the school near a stairwell, the most pretty, popular girl is there, anorexically complementing Angie on her decision to skip school. It doesn't help that in the mornings, in the school bathroom, as Angie puts on the makeup her mother won't let her wear, another girl is there - one who has taunted Angie forever - and who finally decides to show Angie a lesson - using her boyfriend, a knife, and a decision to show Angie what dick is really like. Nope. None of these things are the one thing that make it too tough for Angie, but all of them add up.
It helps that there's hope. Someone else has it worse. Angie’s other best Friend, Heather, has a

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an adult male, I am obviously not the primary target audience for this book. Never the less, I found it enjoyable and was impressed with the first 2/3 of the story. The characters are well drawn out and the premise was realistic and believable(until it wasn't...). The plot revolves around a high school girl who is struggling with her weight, family issues and tensions caused by the popular mean kids at school. The hero crash diets and binge eats, stresses over being an awkward outsider at school,and hangs out with her merry band of misfit friends. While nearly everyone in the book seems to have substance abuse issues, most of the story seems plausible, if not slightly over the top. There is "manstealing" and jealousy among the girls, some of it believable, some of it contrived. The males are all written as moronic neanderthals, with few redeeming qualities outside of some being "cute bad boys".
But for me, the story went off the rails with the bizarre, very out of place, gun stealing sub plot. It was completely unnecessary, unbelievable and served no purpose in the story. Not to mention it dominated "the ending" of the story, which wasted the author's strong buildup of several plotlines. This book is a quick read and mostly enjoyable. It just would have been better served to stick with what was working-dysfunctional teen tension dealt with in realistic terms.

[Tama · Rating 2 out of 5]

Winds up playing out the same as a coming of age movie. The main thing setting this apart is the portrait of Angie - a protagonist who is currently trying to slim down by not eating. She thinks of herself as fat when really she has a very normal body, she’s just not as skinny as the popular kids.

Someone on here posed the question - “Is this really what high school was like?” I mean 'Manstealing' passed by my suspension of disbelief. Was it supposed to be realism? The things that happened to Angie could happen to anyone, just an amplified series of events.. Her thoughts are as crass and abrupt as anybody’s without being one note.

The only time I couldn’t suspend the disbelief was that Pike turned out to be a nice guy. Surely some waster who doesn’t go to school and does drugs wouldn’t be so average and friendly. Like when Angie invites her to this party I’m like hell nah, you just met this person, they could be anyone. Embree could’ve played that up. Either having straight paranoia, or dumb trust with people, at least to begin with.

The fact it was published around 2005 was annoying coz I wound up picturing them as very modern people, but the whole thing is timeless, for now. The swish on the popular boys head’s would’ve been great but deprecating to their character in 2020.

It was interesting. Edit was poor.

[Aravis Mcbroom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite book because I can relate to the main character, Angie with a lot of her struggles with-in herself. Angie is a 16 year old girl who gets torumented by her peers because her best friend shelby in 1980's Loiuisana is gay. Also I have Angie's lvoefor nothing and " troll like" personality. And also many other things factor to why she gets abusued. All of her friends are "characters" andI can relate to them because all my friends are weird and excetntric too. Throughout the book the plot deals with self image ,sexuality, teen agnst, drugs, gun voilence, rape, and freedom. When she sticxks up for herself and for her friend she tells Mindy Overton to kill herself.Later in the book Mindy and her boyfriend Troy rape her. I liek this book because it reminds me of many friends iv'e had.And people I know and situartions they've been in or can relate to.

[Caitlin Trepp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the tone and first-person narrative of this book. It felt more real to me than the typical plus-size heroine stories. The issues were more complex. To me the tone and the plot of this book felt like The Outsiders but with girls. There was an incident in particular and also at the end of the book that I found really troubling due to the way it was presented. Even though the book is written from the perspective of teenage girls and I do think that teenage girls definitely have the maturity and the need to discuss these kinds of subject matter, ultimately it feels like this incident was produced in a very thoughtless way which felt irresponsible to me.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow!!! so good!! i dont normally like realistic fiction, but the title really got me to take a closer look! i didnt really think it would be that good, but i was deffinatly surprised! i could really connect with the main character, Angie. i know how she feels about the whole fat thing, and alot of her rpoblems are really relatable.
overall, a great book i would recomend to anyone, well, anyone who doesnt mind excessive sex, drugs, and swearing!

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not as cool as the cover looks, this is pretty much what I expected it to be (and pretty much wanted): A story about the fucked up lives of some angst-ridden high school girls who happen to be the definition of outsiders. Aside from the poor editing, this was well written and enjoyable at times, though most of the time totally awkward.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ambitious novel. The main character, a teen girl named Angie, begins participating with a varied, sometimes older, crowd. Angie's teen angst is set against an action-packed climax, including the police and gun-running. The working-class St. Louis suburban setting pits social and ethnic ideals versus reality.

[Tanika S · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't bad. Could've been better. But I finished it. So it couldn't have been that bad.

The main character was inconsistent. One minute she was awkward and passive. The next minute she was confident and brave, sticking up for herself. I wish she was more consistent and relatable. But nope.

[Lindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a weird story. And a chilling story. It could all happen. I am thankful that I didn't gorw up in the ghettos of St. Louis, MO. Or anywhere in MO for that matter. Spped freaks, skipping school, Busch Beer. Uhg!

[HumidFoodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book. Try to picture yourself, as a teenager (hard, I know) and think of all the things you thought and did then, but replace it with the wisdom, crassness and humour of adulthood. This is Michelle Embree. Must read for anyone.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This adult novel was a hit with me. The main character is 16, but dealing with just about everything in life. One of her best friends is a lesbian and her other friend has one breast. What conversations they have!

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, lots of typos. Never seen so many in a book! Second, an easy, quick read reminding me I'm happy I'm done with the hell of school. Weird coming-of-age story, the end kinda sucked. Was expecting a better ending. Overall a good read to add to my list.

[Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of weird and I wonder about my four star rating.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

teen lit.
but real.
quick read and surprisingly reminiscent of what being a teenager is really like when life is all too imperfect.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A- Interesting portrayal of a high school overweight girl and the problems with popularity, revenge, sex, and friendship--similar to Hairstyles….

[Megan]

I remember being kind of disturbed by this book. It had some really hilarious parts, though and overall was a pretty decent read.