Hungry Heart

Starred review from July 25, 2016
In this generous, entertaining memoir, novelist Weiner (Who Do You Love), known for her plus-size heroines, authentic voice, and hilarious one-liners, offers her fans and others a front-row seat to the drama of her life. Born to bookish Jewish parents (her father a physician, mother a part-time teacher), Weiner reads at the age of four and publishes her first poem in a children’s magazine at eight. Precocious, gifted, and overweight, she struggles through a suburban New England childhood and adolescence, followed by college at Princeton, where she is told she’s too heavy for crew team but gleans invaluable writing advice from such professors as Joyce Carol Oates and John McPhee. (Writers will be particularly interested in this section, and in the tale of her first published novel, Good in Bed, and its six-figure advance.) Her “fairy dust” story is not without heartache, however; weight issues plague her social life, her beloved but destructive father abandons the family (leaving her late-blooming lesbian mother to raise four kids); and after marriage and motherhood, she eventually weathers divorce and miscarriage. Still, Weiner doggedly pursues her dream of becoming
a writer who speaks to
women’s lives, insisting—and proving—that women’s stories matter, and not just those of the slim and beautiful. The book includes previously published essays, parenting tips, and funny Twitter feeds. Like her enormously popular commercial fiction, from its very first page this memoir will enthusiastically reach out to female readers and swiftly draw them close.

April 1, 2016

As the mother of the No. I New York Times best-selling author would say of life's ups and downs, "it's all material." Weiner now uses that material for essays dealing with such issues as sex, weight, money, her mom's newfound lesbianism, her estranged father's death, and her daughter's uttering of the word fat for the first time.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2016

The New York Times best-selling mastermind behind fictional characters such as Cannie Shapiro (Good in Bed) bares her soul in a series of essays about family, writing, and body image. Weiner's first journey into nonfiction, this aptly titled memoir chronicles her childhood and adult life with a dose of wit and cynicism. Like the protagonists of her novels, Weiner's voice is relatable and poignant as she shares the struggles that shaped the woman she is today. From her description of puberty (."..each part of my body decided to embark upon the journey to adulthood at a different time") to her heartbreaking relationship with her father, readers will clearly see parallels between Weiner's own life and those of her heroines. The hilarity of her family's antics and Weiner's own feistiness adds some much-needed flavor. VERDICT A smidge bitter at times, Weiner's story is not necessarily distinctive, but her notoriety as a novelist will have readers lining up to get a copy. Recommended for fans of the author's fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 3/7/16, as It's All Material.]--Chelsie Harris, San Diego Cty. Lib.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

A bestselling author reveals everything about her life.Novelist Weiner (Who Do You Love, 2015, etc.) gives readers an in-depth look into her life in these nonfiction essays, the subjects of which have provided much of the fodder for her popular books. Going as far back as when her grandparents met, the author provides an overly detailed timeline of her life. For those who want to know how and when Weiner began writing; what grade school and high school were like for an overweight introvert; why her mother came out as a lesbian and the effect that had on the author; her college life, including the classes she took; her ambitions during and after college; the boyfriends she had and the lovesickness she felt when they left her; how she felt about being a mother and how returning to work when her first daughter was very young affected her; the author's thoughts on food and weight gain and loss; how her books became so successful; and a host of other minutiae, look no further. The essays are honest, sometimes funny, and sometimes emotional, and they help to show what life can be like for a woman and/or a Jewish woman, but there's so much packed into the book that it becomes overwhelming. Weiner's ability to recall physical details about her 8-year-old classmates or the books she read starting at age 4 may seem impressive, but it's those same details that eventually bog readers down. For Weiner's many fans, the book will answer the question of "where does she find her writing material?" Readers of her novels and those who like knowing the intimate, personal lives of popular celebrities will find plenty to absorb in this fat volume. An exhaustive and exhausting autobiography of Weiner's life to date. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 15, 2016
A bestselling author reveals everything about her life.Novelist Weiner (Who Do You Love, 2015, etc.) gives readers an in-depth look into her life in these nonfiction essays, the subjects of which have provided much of the fodder for her popular books. Going as far back as when her grandparents met, the author provides an overly detailed timeline of her life. For those who want to know how and when Weiner began writing; what grade school and high school were like for an overweight introvert; why her mother came out as a lesbian and the effect that had on the author; her college life, including the classes she took; her ambitions during and after college; the boyfriends she had and the lovesickness she felt when they left her; how she felt about being a mother and how returning to work when her first daughter was very young affected her; the authors thoughts on food and weight gain and loss; how her books became so successful; and a host of other minutiae, look no further. The essays are honest, sometimes funny, and sometimes emotional, and they help to show what life can be like for a woman and/or a Jewish woman, but there's so much packed into the book that it becomes overwhelming. Weiner's ability to recall physical details about her 8-year-old classmates or the books she read starting at age 4 may seem impressive, but it's those same details that eventually bog readers down. For Weiners many fans, the book will answer the question of where does she find her writing material? Readers of her novels and those who like knowing the intimate, personal lives of popular celebrities will find plenty to absorb in this fat volume. An exhaustive and exhausting autobiography of Weiner's life to date.

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2016
Weiner lays her heart bare in this memoir, a chronologically structured collection of essays that follows her life from childhood to the present day. She explores her lifelong struggle to escape being Fat Jenny; the pain of losing her father (first, to divorce and then to a drug overdose after years of estrangement); her mother's coming-out; the struggles she faced as a new mom. She also muses about her unexpected turn as champion of women writers. Some readers may be surprised to learn that Weiner found her feminist voice as she struggled to fit in at Princeton, where she was taught creative writing by Toni Morrison and Joyce Carol Oates. This portion of the book is insightful and affecting and affirms exactly why Weiner is so popularshe is gifted in the ability to write honestly and easily. In one essay, she talks about how reading Nora Ephron is more like sitting down for coffee with a friend than listening to a capital-A Author deliver pronouncements from on high. The same can be said here, in spades.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Many of the themes in Weiner's memoir will be quite familiar to her legion of fans, because they shape her novels. This only adds to the pleasure of finding out more about Weiner and her life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)