Dietland by Sarai Walker

(hb; 2015)

From the inside flap

“Plum Kettle does her best not to be noticed, because when you’re fat, to be noticed is to be judged. Or mocked. Or worse. With her job answering fan mail for a popular teen girls’ magazine, she is biding her time until her weight-loss surgery. Only then can her true life begin.

“But when Plum notices she’s being followed by a mysterious woman in colorful tights and combat boots, she finds herself falling down a rabbit hole into the world of Calliope House, a community of women who live life on their own terms. Reluctant but intrigued, Plum agrees to a series of challenges that force her to deal with the real cost of becoming ‘beautiful.’ At the same time, a dangerous guerilla group begins to terrorize a world that mistreats women, and as Plum grapples with her personal struggles, she becomes entangled in a sinister plot. The consequences are explosive.”

Review

Dietland is a good, entertaining Fight Club-esque take on the beauty industry and the cultural norms that drive and derive from it. It is slightly gentler in its feminine tone and delivery than Fight, making Dietland its own distinctive novel, more than a sly, subversive knock-off of the aforementioned Chuck Palahniuk work─worth reading, this.

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Created by Marti Noxon, the resulting television show debuted on the AMC television channel on June 4, 2018. The first season ran for ten episodes, with a second season most likely to follow.

Joy Nash played Plum Kettle. Tamara Tunie played Julia Smith. Robin Weigert played Verena Baptist. Rowena King played Cheryl Crane-Murphy.

Adam Rothenberg played Dominic O’Shea. Erin Darke played Leeta Albridge. Ricardo Dávilla played Eladio. Julianna Margulies played Kitty Montgomery. Campbell Scott played Stanley Austen. Kelly Hu played Abra Austen.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

(pb; 2006)

From the back cover

“Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.”

Review

Sharp is a hard-to-set-down, tightly-penned crime thriller whose female-centric energy is dark, cruel and sometimes shocking. Eagle-eyed readers may spot the villain ─ or villains ─ early on, but for this reader it is not a criticism. This is an excellent page-turner, a bleak-twist read for a lazy afternoon.

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Created by Marti Noxon, the resulting eight-episode miniseries of the same name is scheduled to premiere on HBO on July 8, 2018. It was directed by miniseries creator Marti Noxon, from teleplays by various writers.

Amy Adams played Camille Preaker. Patricia Clarkson played Adora Crellin. Eliza Scanlen played Amma Crellin.  Henry Czerny played Alan Crellin.

Miguel Sandoval played Frank Curry. Barbara Eve Harris played Eileen Curry. Matt Craven played Vickery. Chris Messina played Det. Richard Willis.

Elizabeth Perkins played Jackie. April Brinson played Jodes. Violet Brinson played Kelsey. Taylor John Smith played John Keene.