All About Vee Review and Contest!

The Review

Last night, on the final episode of America's Top Model, Whitney Cunningham won the final slot. They loved her. She was beautiful, she had energy and verve and that feminine mystique that women all want to have. Repeatedly, throughout the show, she was called the "Plus-size" model. She was a size 10. SIZE 10! That's NORMAL. But because she wasn't a stick thin manikin, she was considered plus sized and "full figured." Believe it or not, but there was a time in history when Whitney would have been considered too thin to be beautiful.

That's ridiculous. The Powers That Be – those connoisseurs of style that every woman looks to for approval – is essentially telling most women in the WORLD that they are fat, when in fact they are a normal HEALTHY size. Isn't it time we taught people not to live according to the molds in places like New York and Hollywood, and instead taught them just to be themselves, be healthy, and follow their dreams?

I'm pointing all this out as an introduction to my review of the book, All About Vee, by C. Leigh Purtill:

Veronica May, otherwise known as Vee (of the four Vees) has always wanted to act. She loves the stage: taking on new roles, learning lines, the energy from the audience, the feedback from the fellow actors. Vee loves acting, and she knows she is destined for great things. When it looks like Chester, Arizona no longer appreciates her, she decides to take a page from her mother's book, follow her friend Vivian, and move to Los Angeles, California to become a star!

Getting acting gigs is tough. You need a job that will pay the rent and the bills, oh, and will also pay for those head shots, acting classes, movement classes, audition classes, and seminars, but that will ALSO let you take time off at a moment's notice to go line up for an audition. And if you get the part, you still may need that job later when your part is done. (Hence the actors as waiters joke.) If you add on to that other issues that have to do more with the industry's desire for cookie cutter blockbuster actors, actresses, and movies, then you have a recipe for a highly neurotic society.

Veronica has it all planned out though. She has money from savings. She knows what parts she should lead with when she goes to auditions. She knows she is a good actress. She knows she has good eyes and hair. But this is Hollywood, and it's not knowing Shakespeare and Chekov that will get you the part, so much as whether you'll look good in front of the camera. Veronica is not a petite young woman. She is, in fact, closer to a size 18 than she is to a size zero. While Vee has always had a healthy self-esteem, it gets a serious beating as she struggles to adapt to the "business" and the Los Angeles landscape. How she figures out how to do that is the adventure.

I moved to Los Angeles when I was 29 years old, 11 years older than Veronica is when she moves to Hollywood, yet the story felt true – bringing back all sorts of memories. As much as I enjoyed reading All About Vee, I cried more than once reading it. I am not an actress, but I am a plus-sized woman living in a skinny town. This is being marketed as a young adult book, but the concepts are pretty universal, and a true reflection of how it is here, I think. I highly recommend it.

The Contest – Free Copy Autographed Copy of All About Vee

While I was reading All About Vee I got to thinking, remembering. I had friends who were actresses; beautiful, talented, funny, intelligent, witty women, who were also unique in looks.

One friend was a curvy size 12, a nice normal size. Marilyn Monroe was a size 12. My friend had wonderful blue eyes, black hair, high cheekbones, fair skin. She was told repeatedly how talented she was and then to lose weight. Maybe consider becoming blonde. She was on her feet 6 days a week working in a coffee shop or waiting tables and spending the rest of the time walking her dogs or going to acting and auditioning classes. When she sat still she slept. And she was careful to get all her vegetables and cut down on her fats. She was healthy. She gave it her all here – I think close to 10 years before moving back home. This city beat her down.

Another friend of mine was tall – 5 foot 11 inches or so. She never wore heels. She was striking. Clear grey eyes in a face of structured cheek bones, dark curly hair, pale olive skin, well-toned and athletic, health conscious (thin!). She also was constantly on the move. If she wasn't waiting tables, she was walking her dog, going to auditions, or following up on any number of ways to get acting gigs. I remember her working with a theater group. She rarely sat still. She also was told she was too big and to consider going blonde. She also gave it her all. After about 10 years, she decided it was time to move back home, as well.

I want this contest to help women like them as well as promote this book. So, here are the rules for the contest for a free autographed copy of All About Vee by C. Leigh Purtill:

Think about all the large male actors you see on your television every night or in the movies you watch. Count them. Quite a few, heh? Now, think about all the larger female actors you see on your telly or in the movies. Not so many. In fact, maybe 1 woman for every 10 men (did you know Jennifer Love Hewitt has been considered too big?!).

Okay, now choose one of those women who happen to be considered plus-size that you also admire. Why do you admire her? What do you like about her? What positive attributes do you want to emulate?

Now, leave a comment on the blog at this address: All About Vee http://puttputtproductions.com/blogetary/2008/05/15/all-about-vee-review-and-contest-for-free-autographed-copy/
with her name, a link to her website or webpage or imdb profile, and the reasons why you admire her by midnight (Pacific Time) May 20, 2008. Then I'll assign a number to each entry and choose a winner using a random number generator. Remember, just leaving a comment on the blog won't do it. It needs to be the name of a plus-size actress, with a link to her, and reasons why you like her.

I think Vee would very pleased if you did this…

Crossposted on Live Journal, MySpace and Blogetary.