As I stand in the grocery store checkout line, I see the magazines, and the sniping over size plastered all over the covers. An 18 year old gets kudos for her perfect "bikini body." A model gets zapped for the temerity to wear a bikini with a stomach that has obviously had two or more children gestated beneath it. Who do they think cares about these games? It's certainly not any of us who are corralling kids and shelling out for frozen vegetables (ugh). I suppose the insecure single 25 year olds get a bit uncomfortable. Maybe they're the target market, since they have the time and money for those gym memberships.
Linda Grant is a novelist and journalist. She won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000 and the Lettre Ulysses Prize for Literary Reportage in 2006. She writes for the Guardian, Telegraph and Vogue. Her latest novel, The Clothes on Their Backs was shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize. For further information including upcoming literary festivals bookstore readings etc see her website at www.lindagrant.co.uk
The People on the Street (Winner of the Lettre Ulysses Prize for Literary Reportage 2006)
Still Here (Fiction 2002)
When I Lived in Modern Times (Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2000)
Remind Me Who I Am Again (Non-fiction 1998)
The Cast Iron Shore (Fiction 1996)
Sexing the Millenium (Non-Fiction 1993)
This blog believes
'A good handbag makes the outfit.'
'Only the rich can afford cheap shoes'
'The only thing worse than being skint is looking as if you're skint.'
'A new dress is a great help in all circumstances.' (Noel Streatfeild)
'The only true and lasting meaning of the struggle for life lies in the individual, in his modest peculiarities and his right to these peculiarities.' (Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate.)
3 comments:
Heh. For those of us who have never worn "single figures" since we got out of diapers, it's a little bit tough to empathize, I think.
I love that scene. Vanessa Williams gives good villain. She's really wicked, but you can't help but sympathize with her just a little bit.
What I like most about UB is that it really captures the love/hate relationship that so many of us have with that cruel mistress known as Fashion.
As I stand in the grocery store checkout line, I see the magazines, and the sniping over size plastered all over the covers. An 18 year old gets kudos for her perfect "bikini body." A model gets zapped for the temerity to wear a bikini with a stomach that has obviously had two or more children gestated beneath it. Who do they think cares about these games? It's certainly not any of us who are corralling kids and shelling out for frozen vegetables (ugh). I suppose the insecure single 25 year olds get a bit uncomfortable. Maybe they're the target market, since they have the time and money for those gym memberships.
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