Product Description

Fat Girls and Lawn chairs is a collection of humorous short stories and essays about the author's Midwestern childhood and her life as a lesbian woman of size. Whether describing hitting her kid sister in the head with a rock when she was nine ("Actually, given my gift of aim, it was phenomenal shot") or the inevitable conflict with portable furniture ("no self-respecting fat girl ever really trusts a lawn chair") Cheryl deals with the everyday adventures of life with wry humor and a steadfast connection with her inner child. She covers a range of subjects in these articles: playing softball for the first time at the age of 48, learning to swim as a child (and learning the final swimming lesson from her mother as a near-adult,) the mechanics of familial communications, being the oldest child of a family of five, the death of her Great-Grandmother's treasured parakeet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #655776 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 270 pages

From Publishers Weekly
As is evident from this book's cover-featuring a cat in lime-green glasses and purple wig, posing with its tongue sticking out-Peck's debut collection of humorous personal essays and poems is nothing if not irreverent. Originally self-published for the benefit of her friends, family and cat, these warmhearted reminiscences cover everything from Peck's childhood (when she was driven to be the "first, fastest, loudest and best" and therefore hated by her peers and feared by her four younger siblings) to her experiences as a gay woman of size. In the title story, the 50-something Peck explains how she came to conclude that "no self-respecting fat girl ever really trusts a lawn chair," and in "Wounded in Action," the most hilarious and dramatic entry, she describes her misadventures on the softball field: "I gathered every fiber of my being-and there are many, many fibers in my being-and I pointed them all toward first base, and I leaned in that direction, hoping to add speed at a later date...." A few of her essays fall flat-such as "Does a bear...?" a tale of her inability to pee outside-but her many witticisms ("Women were never asked to fight in the war in Vietnam or any other war. But if they had been, girls would have won. Girls would have felt guilty for not winning it sooner, and girls would have restored all of the roads...") compensate for these low points. Cat lovers will appreciate the goofy narratives ostensibly told by Peck's cat, Babycakes, but the author's self-deprecating wit and ability to see the drama in everyday situations make this collection so inviting.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Peck's short essays are, for the most part, tongue-in-cheek and ironic. Some, however, are serious and even moving, such as the one sincerely noting the miracle of her niece's birth, and they relieve and point up her more usual mode of self-deprecation in pieces on, for instance, being so fat that she becomes imprisoned in lawn chairs and is a reverse role model of effort to others at the gym. She also ruefully recounts her adventures in softball, which forced her to run, an action the 46-year-old hadn't taken since 1962. More drifting than running, "with the grace and delicacy of perhaps a hippopotamus," toward first base in 94-degree weather, it occurred to her, when miraculously safe on base, that advancing to second was more likely via ambulance than on foot. Whether reading Peck on the lure of gardening (an occasion signaled by pet cat Babycakes' shedding each spring) or on building a boat with her father, most readers will find this enjoyable first book worth their attention. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
...through her marvelous story telling abilities (Cheryl) turns them into hilarious life episodes that entertain and enlighten. -- Teresa Terrill, Fiction Aficionado, 8/22/02

A masterful, captivating collection of life and death-although Cheryl wrote them down we've all lived them. -- Ranee Bryce, Girlchild 7/02/02

I laughed until I cried and realized how truly universal it is to grow up and to grow older. -- Cayce Wilson, Reader, 7/15/02

Customer Reviews

A Voice of Her Own
Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs has been compared to the writing of Erma Bombeck. It seems that publishers and publicists feel obliged, when pushing an author who is funny, to compare women to Erma Bombeck and men to Bill Bryson or Dave Barry. Sometimes they awkwardly compare a woman to Bill Bryson -- "a female Bill Bryson!" They never compare a funny male author to Erma Bombeck -- "a male Erma Bombeck!" But I digress.

Cheryl Peck has a voice that is all her own. These short pieces are not hysterically funny. They would not make a good stand-up routine. But they are very well-written. Peck turns seemingly mundane subjects such as growing tomatoes and her first chocolate malt into compelling essays. The pieces about her cat, Babycakes, wander precariously close to the edge of precious, but, to my mind, never go too far. The essay about not coming out to her father was thoughtful, and powerful in its understated style.

I especially love the story of how this book came to be. Friends of Peck convinced her to write down the amusing stories she told them and she finally did, and another friend helped her self-publish it as a book for her family and friends. And now here it is, doing quite well on Amazon.com and at my neighborhood bookstore and at the local library. Well done!

4.5 stars!
Peck writes an astonishingly hilarious book! I laughed outloud so many times while reading this book!

It is a rare find to read a series of mini-essays, in the form of an autobiography, written by an individual who is so comfortable in their own skin and accepts themselves and their life experiences the way Peck has. She holds nothing back - and is genuine in the process. The author certainly has a delightful sense of humor and the mere reading of her book reminds us that we all need to laugh at ourselves from time to time, especially if we want to be happy in our lives.

The style of prose is quite humorous and the imagery very vivid. I intend to have my students read chapters of her book and analyze the writing style - for it is an outstanding model for such a task.

Be forewarned, though, not every essay is as intriguing as the others. Regardless, the book is an excellent read.

What a hoot!
I've had this book for less than 24 hours and have read it laughing out loud, with tears in my eyes, and soaking it up like rich conversation with a dear old friend. I even read one story over the phone to my mother, another to my girlfriend, and still another to one of my sisters. Reading Peck's book left me wondering if she's been looking over my shoulder in my own life!? It'll be the give-away book of the year from me to my bestest of friends!