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A review by cassrockweiler
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.75
I stumbled onto this memoir after searching for "great memoirs". I am so happy that I found this one because it is one that truly made me think. Roxane is honest, open, and raw throughout this book.
At first glance you would think this would be a memoir about someone who has hated their body, learned to love it and is on the other side. That is what I thought going in. But this book is so much more, it is about unprocessed shame, family dysfunction, not fitting in, standing out, being looked at as unworthy. Roxane is a gifted writer and touches on so many different trials that people of size, and woman, go through.
Roxane does talk about her physical and mental battle with her weight. Her critique on the fat shaming and fat phobia that exists is horrific and daunting. It truly makes you take a step back and acknowledge how cruel we as a society can be. She talks about her body as a woman and how her size has impacted that. As an average looking woman I have never had felt that people were staring at me in a way that is out of disgust. But the way Roxane describes her encounters through life did resonate with me. It made me think of how people have made comments about my body or how people have felt the need/purpose/right to make comments on what I do or don't do with my body. This is the way the female body has been taken advantage of throughout time. Woman are looked at as things. Something that men have the right to judge, critique, and take without asking. Roxane talks openly about her sexual assault and how she used food to shield herself from unwanted attention, and yet still got it.
I also enjoyed her being open and honest about how we look at people who are not "average" or "thin". I never thought about airplane or doctors seats. I never knew that people could sit in desks or chairs and have bruises because they weren't made for someone that is heavier. This must have been a horrible feeling. To go through the world and know that at every turn we are telling you that we don't want you. It has made me think critically about how I interact or my own preconceived notions about someone, whether based on size, race, ethnicity, age, etc.
I applaud you Roxane for writing this book and the many feelings that it must have brought up. Thank you for sharing your experience with the world.
At first glance you would think this would be a memoir about someone who has hated their body, learned to love it and is on the other side. That is what I thought going in. But this book is so much more, it is about unprocessed shame, family dysfunction, not fitting in, standing out, being looked at as unworthy. Roxane is a gifted writer and touches on so many different trials that people of size, and woman, go through.
Roxane does talk about her physical and mental battle with her weight. Her critique on the fat shaming and fat phobia that exists is horrific and daunting. It truly makes you take a step back and acknowledge how cruel we as a society can be. She talks about her body as a woman and how her size has impacted that. As an average looking woman I have never had felt that people were staring at me in a way that is out of disgust. But the way Roxane describes her encounters through life did resonate with me. It made me think of how people have made comments about my body or how people have felt the need/purpose/right to make comments on what I do or don't do with my body. This is the way the female body has been taken advantage of throughout time. Woman are looked at as things. Something that men have the right to judge, critique, and take without asking. Roxane talks openly about her sexual assault and how she used food to shield herself from unwanted attention, and yet still got it.
I also enjoyed her being open and honest about how we look at people who are not "average" or "thin". I never thought about airplane or doctors seats. I never knew that people could sit in desks or chairs and have bruises because they weren't made for someone that is heavier. This must have been a horrible feeling. To go through the world and know that at every turn we are telling you that we don't want you. It has made me think critically about how I interact or my own preconceived notions about someone, whether based on size, race, ethnicity, age, etc.
I applaud you Roxane for writing this book and the many feelings that it must have brought up. Thank you for sharing your experience with the world.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia
Minor: Sexual assault