Speed Shrinking

by Susan Shapiro

Book Overview

"Proust had a cookie. Susan Shapiro has a cupcake-and a really hilarious book." -Patricia Marx, author of Him, Her, Him Again, the End of Him ? In Susan Shapiro's laugh-out-loud funny fictional debut Speed Shrinking , Manhattan self-help author Julia Goodman thinks she's got her addictive personality under control. Then her beloved psychoanalyst moves away at the same time her husband takes off to L.A. and her best friend gets married and moves to...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312581564
• ISBN13: 9780312581565
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 311 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

I'm addicted to this book

The main character in Speed Shrinking is a best friend I want to have. She devours junk food to make herself feel better about her loneliness and then cries about for days. Though Julia is at times as dysfunctional, her unashamed and insightful honesty in her quest for the perfect therapist is inspirational. I could read this book over and over. It opened me into the world of designer psychotherapy and had me dreaming of flavorful bakery goodness. I'm addicted to this book.

gurus are essential!

Sue Shapiro's new book Speed Shrinking is a romp through the thickets of therapy. Her protagonist is unrelenting in her search for the answer to her addictions, which we see are chaining her to one substance after another. A hopeful, wise book, full of lessons for us all, especially her exhortation to "find the right people to walk beside you", and how to arrive at that elusive moment when you are not hungry for anything but balance, moderation, and well-being. It is a shout-out to gurus everywhere, and their valuable, ultimately indispensable contributions toward the health of those they guide. Sue's character Julia Goodman looks for the perfect shrink and in so doing becomes the perfect shrink for us all.

Get on the couch, laugh your way to mental health

Susan Shapiro's fiction debut is funny, fast-paced, and sweet as the cupcakes that grace its pages. I devoured it like a delicious dessert, but luckily it's calorie-free. A fabulous indulgence!

Love Love Love SPEED SHRINKING

Julia or "Goods" made me laugh every time she would ask what is usually deemed to be an inappropriate question. How much does someone weigh, how old are they, was their mother also an overfeeder or their father rare with praise. Susan Shapiro's energy just comes right off the page through Julia and forced me to stay up until 3am this morning just to find out if and how Julia made it back to her goal weight. Anyone who has had a shrink (or shrinks), an addiction, or the feeling that if I could just lose a few more pounds THEN life will good and I will be happy will love this book. It's smart, funny and provocative but also realistic in the sadness of losing people (or pillars) like Sarah when their lives just go off on an entirely different track, not because of a falling out or disagreement or having to adjust to unanticipated drastic changes. Loved the way Julia refused to actually acknowledge Arizona as Ness's new location. The same way a miffed ex-girlfriend would refer to her former flame's new girlfriend with the wrong moniker. Just one of many fantastic subtle touches in the book.

Cupcakes, Shrinks, Gurus and Madcap Manhattan Mania In One Delicious Romp

Speed Shrinking is a fun, cupcake-filled, search-for-a-shrink romp by noted memoirist Susan Shapiro, which also provides some sly looks at the business of book promotion, weight issues, father figures and very Manhattan mania. Self-help guru Julia Goodman should be at the top of her game, having conquered her many addictions through the help of Dr. Ness, her beloved therapist, found a hot husband, and written a bestselling book, Up in Smoke. But when her pregnant best friend leaves town, her husband is off to LA for work and her therapist, who, in many ways is both the hero and antihero of this offbeat love story, moves away, she feels alone, and turns to cupcakes for comfort. And shrinks, many, many shrinks. She sets off to find the perfect therapist, who'll give her exactly what she needs (tough love), one who's covered by her health insurance, in a hilarious, neurotic journey where she ponders whether a cigar is just a cigar, hires a nutritionists, has occasional cupcake binges, and questions the premises she's built her life on. When she learns that her therapist may have betrayed her, she wonders whether he's worth the guru status she's given him. Meanwhile, she's competing with her fellow authors and warding off rumors that she's pregnant because she's gained so much weight. This madcap journey will be appreciated by any woman who's ever worried about her weight, anyone who loves cupcakes, and anyone who's spent time on either side of a therapist's couch! Julia's wackiness has you rooting for her in her quest to get thin, and to finally get at the heart of her issues (though watching her breeze from one potential solution to another will give readers plenty of laughs even as it gives Julia a meltdown).