A self-help guru learns what's truly important when she gains thirty-five pounds days before a morning show appearance in this "laugh-out-loud delight" (Ian Frazier). Manhattan self-help author Julia Goodman thinks she's got her addictive personality under control. Then her beloved psychoanalyst moves away at the same time her husband takes off to L.A. and her best friend gets married and moves to Ohio. Feeling lonely and left out, Julia fills in the void with food, becomes a cupcake addict, and blimps out. Big problem—especially since she's about to go on national television to plug her hot new self-help book about how she conquered her sugar addiction. Navigating her insurance network, Julia desperately sees eight shrinks in eight days, speed-dating for Dr. Replacement—or any other new guru—to help shrink back her body and anxiety in time for her close-up . . . Praise for Speed Shrinking "Smart, fast . . . hilarious. . . . A caustic sendup of therapy . . . and the addicted-to-addiction culture we live in." — San Francisco Chronicle "Proust had a cookie. Susan Shapiro has a cupcake—and a really hilarious book." —Patricia Marx, author of Him, Her, Him Again, the End of Him "Shapiro's high-calorie, high-anxiety heroine is an appealing confection." — People "An original voice and energy that will resonate with anyone who's ever stared down a Twinkie." — Publishers Weekly