You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'
Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body by Megan Milks
18 reviews
becauseidontknow's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Graphic: Body shaming and Eating disorder
_autumn_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Alcohol
lbressel's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Medical content, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Excrement, Vomit, and Car accident
krys_kilz's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I absolutely loved the final section, the letter to Carrie. It felt almost like a collection of notes app rambles transformed into musing vignettes. My mind works in a very similar way when I am connecting observations and working through theory. It was drastically different from the rest of the novel, but I loved that sense of jolting. It felt refreshing.
I saw so much of myself in this book and I am incredibly grateful to Milks for creating this fantastical mirror that my young genderqueer self never had.
tw: eating disorders, body shaming, fatphobia
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Sexual assault, Car accident, and Dysphoria
Minor: Body horror and Bullying
demo's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
"If adolescence is a passageway, a twilight zone or liminal space, it's also the time when, like thick blobs of gummy dough, we get poured into shape and rise. It's a plastic time, a time of self-discovery and growth, and in some cases tremendous creativity. Teenagehood is that stage when you get to become who you are, or who you can be. Ah, there's the rub: How can you be who you are when—Margaret doesn't know how to finish this question." (p. 99)
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, and Outing
hothotheat's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Car accident
Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, and Vomit
seawarrior's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I also found the paranormal aspects of this book off-putting. They stick out like a sore thumb in what is otherwise a down-to-earth narrative about identity, which left me wondering if these events had really been experienced, or were simply imagined by a younger, unbalanced Margaret who was unable to face reality. The last letter in the book hints that this might be the case, but it's never made explicitly clear. Maybe this element of the story does not or won't bother other readers, but it kinda gets under my skin.
In my opinion, the strongest features of this book are how eating disorders, dissatisfaction with the self and the world it knows, growing up, misogyny, and transgender identity, were all approached and written as the intricate and perplexing experiences that they are. Too often it seems tempting for fiction writers to simplify how people, especially teenagers, endure these uncertainties and move towards healthy adulthood. Margaret's experiences with realizing she is queer and seeking treatment for her eating disorder are anything but simple, even her diagnosis cannot be specified and categorized simply. While at the treatment center she initially begins to self-destruct, but later gets to know other people who disrupt and enlighten her knowledge of how mental illness manifests, and what it means to grow into your own power.
I would recommend this book to others who are alright with reading a narrative that doesn't provide them with easy answers. The majority of the story takes place in a treatment center for adolescents with eating disorders, so we're mostly reading about the perspectives of young people who are very unhappy with themselves, and often self destructive. Please keep this in mind, as some of what they think and say may be triggering if you have an eating disorder or are in recovery from one.
Graphic: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Vomit, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Rape, Kidnapping, Murder, and Lesbophobia
suzyreadsbooks's review
5.0
Graphic: Eating disorder and Fatphobia
Moderate: Body shaming, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping