5/26/2026
This disclaimer is: I’m giving Dear Fatty one star on Library Thing based on the audacity of someone who had a good voice, that had an interesting voice as Dawn French does and refused to read it. No Spoilers in this Review.
I am a demanding member of the public. If I’m listening to a celebrity autobiography and that celebrity is an actor and I know very well they have the ability to read their own biography and then they instead choose to have somebody else read it. I feel like they just don’t care enough. Why should I bother to read this book or buy it when they couldn’t be bothered to read it?
Maybe they even wrote it with a ghost writer? What I think Dawn French did was either wrote or dictated a bunch of notes and gave this to a ghost writer who then wrote the book. I don’t even know if Dawn French even read this book herself once. I’m not the only one who believes this book was written by a ghostwriter. I noticed in the reviews on Library Thing other people feel the same way.
As for the explanation at the beginning of the book is that it was too traumatic for Dawn French to read, I think she should get over that because if you are posting something for the whole world to read you really ought to be comfortable with it.
The book Dear Fatty is read by a voice actor named Liza Tarbuck. Unfortunately since I am an American the very voices that British people feel sound best sound extremely painful to me. I prefer a British accent that is genuine and unique and does not sound anything like the artificial Mid-Atlantic accent which I despise.
Therefore I did not actually listen to this book although I am reviewing it. I’m probably never going to listen to it unless I get really bored. Dear Fatty is available for listening for free on Spotify if you have a regular premium account. I do not wish to waste my Spotify hours listening to a phony sounding stuck up accent. However I would like to stress that I feel “Fatty” is an inappropriate and hurtful name.
I had to question myself. Why did did I even want to read this book in the first place? The reason is is because it’s supposed to be based on a letter to Jennifer Saunders who Dawn French refers to as “Fatty” but this is not clear unless you know the inside information about these two actresses.
I never enjoyed the show French and Saunders. The Vicar of Dibley starring Dawn French is a terrible show because it mocks religion, but also because it just isn’t funny. It’s like a modern day version of Saturday Night Live which as we all know is the height of unfunny comedy using bad writers and jokes that don’t land. Although historically Saturday Night Live with John Belushi was a fantastic program, but so much has changed since then.
Instead of watching The Vicar of Dibley I recommend that you watch a show called The Queen of Oz starring Catherine Tate. The concept is similar. An overweight middle-aged woman is appointed to a position that she is unfit for and hilarity ensues.
Jennifer Saunders reads her own autobiography in a charming way which I will probably review next.
Macy Makes Magic 