Good Luck With That – Kristan Higgins
I was fortunate to receive this novel as an Advance Reader Copy, in exchange for an objective review.
Emerson, Marley & Georgia are three kids who meet at a summer camp for obese children and they become lifelong friends. Flash forward to the present – Georgia & Marley share a two story home (Georgia rents from her close friend), and Emerson lives a couple of hours away. While Georgia and Marley have successful careers and a close relationship, Emerson has drifted away a bit, seemingly happy in her career, and a relationship of her own.
Then the two get a call, summoning them to Emerson’s death bed, where the are shocked to see that she’s become a very morbidly obese woman, who’s health issues and imminent death are all related to her size. She leaves them a letter to be read after her death, and within the letter is a list that the three girls had created as kids. And she challenges Georgia and Marley to fulfill each task on the list.
The story is told from the perspective of both surviving women, and through excerpts from the late Emerson’s journals, as they each reveal their struggles with obesity, wanting to be thin, family issues, fitting in, discrimination, acceptance and love.
I initially had a hard time getting involved in this story, because – like most women – I could totally see myself and my own struggles in these characters. As the story progresses, and the personalities of each character emerge, I found the book hard to put down, and shed more than a few tears at the heartbreak and then love found within its pages. A very realistic and yet heartwarming read!!
Tropical Delusions...... 