Book Review: Diary of a Mad Fat Girl

I recently had the pleasure of reading Diary of a Mad Fat Girl for review for the BlogHer Book Club.

Cover pic from Amazon

 Diary of a Mad Fat Girl is set in Bugtussle, Mississippi with a likeable cast of characters. Graciela "Ace" Jones is a high school teacher with a bit of a temper and smart mouth.  Her two best friend teachers are Lilly and Chloe. Lilly is fired by the mean-spirited principal under suspicion of sleeping with a student. Ace and Chloe try to prove Lilly's innocence until Chloe's abusive husband becomes more volatile. So Ace sets off to ruin his reputation while saving Lilly's. All of this while trying to determine her feelings for a former boyfriend and keeping her beloved chiweenie dog, Buster Loo, in line. 

In short, I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun read, a quick read, and I found the characters real and enjoyable. Stephanie McAfee was born in Mississippi and now lives in Florida, so she gets it. She knows that there are so many stereotypes about the south because some of us are a stereotype of ourselves.

She touched on real issues like *wink, wink*ing at horrific educators because they are your Great Aunt Sue's cousin... or something, and domestic violence while keeping it real with Ace's chiweenie getting overly friendly at the dog park and Ace having fashion crisis when her thighs were too big. 


Parts were laugh out loud funny and cheer for the good guy victorious. An awesome book to take to the beach for a summer read.


Sarah's FULL disclaimer: (you know I can't give you any less than my 100% honest opinion!): I had a hard time liking Ace at first. She was VERY angry. About everything, it seemed. It seemed to settle down a bit and I saw her likeable qualities more. However, I found her language to be a bit coarse for what I would use in conversation. No expletives (that I remember) -- just some things that I wouldn't use in mixed company (and she didn't -- she was either talking to herself or her best friend). Not my cup of tea.

This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own. But you knew that.


If you would like to participate in other discussion about Diary of a Mad Fat Girl, head over to the BlogHer Book Club.