Skipping a roller coaster

kw: book reviews, science fiction, eating, obesity

My son loves roller coasters, and will ride absolutely anything. I can tolerate riding a few of them, but I seldom enjoy the experience. After the three of us visited a park with nothing but coasters, each scarier than the last, I said to him, "Do you know how many [our last name]'s it takes to ride a roller coaster? One to ride and two to watch!" His favorite is the eXtreme at 6Flags Magic Mountain. After climbing the hill, the cars flip the strapped-in riders face down and drop two hundred feet straight down. Guess where my stomach would be. I suspect they have good drainage to a big lagoon nearby.

It didn't take me long once I began to read Thinner Than Thou, by Kit Reed, to realize that this book is an emotional roller coaster that is quite a bit beyond my capacity. I jumped ahead to the denouement, which didn't surprise me at all, and figured, "That's enough!"

Usually when I skip a book it is because of anger at the author's premise. Not this time. It's really a great book, but like great roller coasters everywhere, not one I could tolerate riding. By the second page, I found myself daydreaming in a very paranoid way what I would do if dragged into the prison farm of a "perfect body" religious cult. It bore too much resemblance to the RPF treatment a relative of mine endured, yet he is still a member of Scientology!!! It just hits too close to home. I'd rather sleep at night.