At first glance, SUPER SIZE ME director Morgan Spurlock’s first book, DON’T EAT THIS BOOK: FAST FOOD AND THE SUPERSIZING OF AMERICA – now in paperback – reeks of the corpse of a dead horse that’s been beaten one too many times. And really, with any other pundit, this would be immensely grating, but Spurlock is so engagingly likable that you overlook that fact. Hell, he seems like a houseguest that you’re actually sad to see go.
A textbook-like extension of his celebrated, Oscar-nominated documentary, DON’T EAT THIS BOOK delves deeper into the McDonald’s conspiracy to make us fatter, with shockingly scary results – the anecdote from a cremator that burning human fat smells like a McDonald’s restaurant is particularly off-putting – but always mixed with Spurlock’s easily accessable, wonderfully self-deprecating banter that reminds you of that cool teacher in high school who made learning actually fun.
The only real problem with Spurlock’s writing is that at times, some of it feels like filler; one too many personal anecdotes from his (in)famous experiment reiterate the same point over and over again. You kind of want to scream, “Okay, I get it, McDonald’s made you not want to screw your vegetarian girlfriend!” Yes, these instances are very few and in-between, but highly noticeable and even skip-worthy.
In the end, though, the book does fulfill its agenda, like the film, and does a great job of making you question not only the McDonald’s food you put into your body, but your whole shitty diet in general. It sure as hell did for me. –Louis Fowler
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