All Comments on 'Fat Shame'

I really enjoyed that. Thanks

VERY SWEET

Good, sweet story. It was well written, but I noted two or three cases of double verbs or such and a name change for Crystal in one spot (on page 1, I think). I’m often guilty of both of those myself since I edit my own work. In the end, I was glad to see Rob grow up and be willing to accept Sara for who she was rather than chasing the Miss Hardbodies that seemed to have been his type before. Very good ending which pushed it up to 4.5* for me, rounded up to 5. Great job.

I really loved this story. But I have to say, being a big girl like Sara, it bothered me that he kept seeing him self settle at first for a plus size girl. I'm glad he came to his senses at the end of the story and accepted the fact that he loved her no matter what. It was a wonderful story!

I feel conflicted about an author going all lit-crit on his own story, in fact I thought my using the Blaise Pascal quote as the story description might be too heavy-handed. Since it’s come up several times in comments now I’m going to do it anyway.

This story is about Rob’s heart telling him something his brain doesn’t want to hear. Rob has totally bought the societal narrative saying overweight people are unattractive losers, so his brain keeps coming up with false reasons to explain his reaction to Sara. At the end he gets self-aware enough to come out and say this. Rob judges women shallowly, notice how he quickly labels Crystal and Sara’s coworkers at the bakery (he’s still doing it to the latter at the end, showing that while he’s getting better he’s not lost all his bad habits). He calls himself out for judging a book by its cover early on, but he’s so caught in the trap of his own preconceptions that he keeps doing it. At the same time he’s afraid of others judging him; the “shame” here is Rob’s, he’s afraid that if people who know him see him with Sara the societal opinion about overweight people will rub off on him. He’s also afraid that his friends might force him to confront his feelings about Sara, and if his brain is bewildered by the way he finds her erotically attractive it’s just plain threatened by the fact Rob’s heart finds her a suitable object for love. It’s only when Sara confronts him with his behavior and breaks off the relationship (and his heart proceeds to make him absolutely miserable for losing her) that he can change.

The author will now retreat back to his cage and stop bothering the nice people.

You write well. Good character development and a sweet story. Great ending. Five stars and hope to see more romance from you.