Fat Chance Paperback – October 7, 2014

What a great discovery Nick Spalding is! Spurred on by a friend to read this ode to healthy eating (after all the witty and cheeky observations are digested) I found his characters well developed and highly relatable to anyone who has struggled with weight or self esteem issues, which is pretty much everyone on the planet (well, those who are truthful anyway). The ending was perfect. Leaving the core of the story to be savored long after the last page has been read....now I have to run back to the Kindle store and buy up all of Mr. Spaldings other books. Thanks UK, for giving us another brilliant author to enjoy!

I really enjoyed this book. I'd call it a satire on weight loss gimmicks and reality shows. Greg and Zoe are a great couple and are hilarious in their efforts to lose weight and journal their progress. Yes it is unbelievable, over the top, and silly at times but the laugh out loud moments come often. Think about when your funny friend tells you a story of something absurd that happens at the supermarket. They'll embellish at the right parts and make something humorous into something hilarious. That's the way this book is written. A series of stories that are over-exaggerated for fun. The characters are likable and real and if you have battled with your weight and fitness and have the ability to laugh at yourself and at others laughing at themselves you may enjoy it. Not for the feint of heart though. Quite a bit of foul language, sex talk, and political incorrectness.

I loved this book. It was well written from both the husband and the wife's point of views. It was motivational and it had a light heartedness about it without losing the seriousness of the issue of obesity. It pointed out how quietly and quickly this can happen if we don't pay attention and the way people react to it including the feeling of the people it has happened to. I would highly recommend this book. Fat Chance

I have gotten to enjoy the Nick Salding diary approach to writing. Giving both views of a weight loss contest, with the experiences, highs and lows, and the exultation when you realize you have been successful ... i have been there and it is very well described here. Spalding is not heminway or one of the classic authors, but I have enjoyed the English view of such universal experiences. Just picked up two more Spalding novels on my Kindle, like a bit of quite pleasant palate cleanser between more weighty reading courses.

I bought this book for my daughter, but decided to read it first. I haven't read a Nick Spalding novel in quite some time, and was not disappointed with 'Fat Chance'. The tale is downright hilarious as both Zoe and Greg relate their individual narratives on how they went about losing weight for a chance to win 50k quid in a radio station promotion. Yes, it is irreverent and deflates the weight loss industry's many and varied useless products and diets. Definitely worth reading. The book helped me get over jet lag after a 32 hour flight back to the Antipodes.

Nick Spalding is hilarious, but this book took on a level of poignancy that his other writings haven't. These characters were just as relatable as Laura and Jamie Newman, but their situation takes them to self-reflections and truisms the Newmans didn't encounter. While the plot is basically a British couple's journey through "The Biggest Loser", regardless of the specific Biggest Loser scenarios being essentially re-enacted, the novel won't allow your attention to stray. My favorite quote, I can't post here because it is FAR from PC, but the one that is getting posted on my classroom wall is: "It's the small victories that count the most. They tend to add up to the big ones if you give them half a chance."

This was a really enjoyable book, I laughed out loud numerous times and loved the two main characters. You got the point of the struggle and embarrassment that the initially overweight couple was going through, and it was told in such a relatable, funny way, it made for a great read. Unfortunately the last quarter of the book gets a little preachy about the 'secret' to weight loss and exercise. This is a no brainer, and it was much more entertaining to get the same point across in the manner that the first three quarters of the book was written. It does come around to a better conclusion. So I was disappointed, but overall would still recommend the book.

It was funny but moreso at the beginning because after s while it became somewhat tiresome. It was like listening to a stand up comic going on and on.Also, the author did not do a great job differentiating between the male and female main characters; you could tell that it was the same (author's) voice. All in all it was o.k. light reading with no real character development. I am not sure if I would read this author again.