Just as she’s starting to feel normal, Hurricane Val bears down on her. She buys nice clothes, redecorates her house and even has an abortive fling with a married man she meets at the gym. When she tops 300 pounds, she finally says, “Enough!” and starts a diet and exercise regimen that brings her down to normal proportions. Orphaned at 20, Addie lives alone in her parents’ home, painting watercolors for a greeting-card company. Then Mom is diagnosed with breast cancer, and Addie watches her monstrous body wither to a horrifying death.
Alone again, Addie leaves for college only to have her father die before she’s unpacked. When Val returns with braces and breasts from a summer visiting her father in California, Addie knows the end is near, although she’d never guess how deep Val’s betrayal will be. Val doesn’t care that Addie’s mom is obese, or that her father doesn’t have a real job she’s entranced by the idea of hot meals (Naomi Adler’s idea of dinner is Tab and Wheat Thins, topped off with a Salem Light), clean clothes and a regular bedtime. Fat and friendless as a child, she enjoys a few years’ respite from isolation when awkward, neglected Valerie Adler moves in across the street in the Chicago suburb of Pleasant Ridge. Weiner proves yet again that women can be their own worst enemies-and shows that women’s worst enemies can also be their best friends.Īddie Downs can’t catch a break.
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