Speed Shrinking by Susan Shapiro
Cupcakes are a major plot point in the search-for-a-therapist new novel Speed Shrinking by my friend Susan Shapiro, whose protagonist Julia Goodman, after being safely off sugar (and alcohol and cigarettes), develops a cupcake addiction, or perhaps I should say a cupcake icing addiction. She's sworn off sugar, but cupcakes, specifically, Crumbs cupcakes, make her relapse in this humorous, over-the-top, sugar-filled, shrink-seeking romp.
I’ll have more about the inspiration behind Speed Shrinking soon, but here's a fun excerpt as she descends into cupcake madness in which you may recognize what I'm assuming is this very blog making a little changed-name cameo:
I know I’m in trouble when I crave cupcakes more than beefcake.
Thursday night, after Jake leaves a message he’ll be late so I shouldn’t wait up, instead of feeling sad, I’m elated. I check out the Web site for Crumbs cupcakes to see if they’re still open, all ready to relapse. Alas, the store closes at eight. But wait--many more entries pop up: Cupcake Crazy, Bite-Size Buttercups, Cheeks Cupcakery, Kickass Cupcaking, MiniCakeMomma, Confetti Cuties, and Let ‘Em Eat Little Cakes, which boasts “all cupcakes, all the time,” with recipes, confessions, four-color photographs, and “cupcake paraphernalia.” Oh my gosh. Here’s the beauty of the Internet. I’m not alone with my fetish. I’ve accidentally stumbled upon the underworld of cupcake porn.
Visiting the Beautiful Babycakes Blog, I see a picture of homemade banana cakes with cream cheese frosting, topped high with walnuts and chocolate chips that make my mouth water. I stroke the keyboard, biting my jaw as if I can eat what’s on the screen. The next one shows a swirl of coconut icing topped with yellow and white Peeps bunnies. In honor of Easter the deli across the street has decorated cupcakes in the window with pink and green frosting. Though it’s been more than a month since my last frenetic sugar fest at Jake’s sister’s kid’s party, I dial the deli, embarrassed to ask the Cuban guy on the night shift how many Easter cupcakes are left. I order all six, overtip, and devour the candy coating first, then the vanilla-flavored bottoms.
And guess what? Shaprio is serving cupcakes at some of her upcoming book events!
There's a reading tomorrow night (Tuesday) that's open to the public, and will have cupcakes, which I'll be reporting back on and will get the scoop about whether her other readings (listed here) will be cupcaketastic.
FREE SHRINKS ARE AWAY READING
w/Ian Frazier, Patty Marx, Jon Fast
Tuesday night August 4 at 7 pm
McNally Jackson Booksellers in Soho
52 Prince Street (at Mulberry Street)
wine & cupcake reception to follow
And in an interview at Editor Unleashed, Shapiro reveals that the cupcake addiction wasn't just a fictional one:
You’ve just written a novel after being known primarily as a nonfiction writer. What made you decide to turn to fiction?
My 2004 memoir Lighting Up chronicled my therapy with a brilliant addiction specialist who helped me quit cigarettes, alcohol, dope, gum and bread—until the only thing I had left to quit was him. I started to write a sequel about how I was giving him up when he quit me by moving away.
I was devastated. I didn’t relapse on tobacco or drugs but as a “substance shuffler,” I became hooked on sugar (particularly cupcake icing) and feared I’d bloat up to a balloon. He charged $200 a session but the shrinks on my new insurance network were only $25 a pop. Desperate to find my head doctor’s clone fast, I decided to see 8 shrinks in 8 days—instead of speed dating, speed shrinking. That’s how I got my title “Speed Shrinking.”
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