Reviews with content warning for Grief - 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad

5 reviews

withlivjones's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

A series of vignettes depicting moments in a fat girl’s life from her teens to her late twenties or so.

Let me preface this review by saying that this rating has nothing to do with the quality of the writing in this book. I love how Awad’s writing feels psychedelic, like a fever dream, I can only describe it as wading through something thick and fluid. And I also love how she creates complex, flawed characters, the tone of her writing is quite apathetic so there’s a little bit of disgust felt for each character, but at the same time you still feel some sympathy for Lizzie, our protagonist, because although she’s a pretty awful person, you can see how her complicated relationship with her mother and the way she was taken advantage of by older men as a teen has shaped her into the adult she is. A lot of her experiences are so relatable as a fat girl - not wanting to look in the mirror for fear of ruining how you think you look in the outfit you picked out; subconsciously scrutinising other people’s bodies because you’re so used to picking out the flaws in your own; feeling frustration and despair in a clothing store changing room; the hideousness of plus size fashion!!

So, the writing is definitely five stars. It’s a good book. But it’s not an enjoyable book. I felt a deep sense of discomfort and despair the whole time I was reading this book. It explores some difficult and potentially very triggering topics in a lot of detail. It’s message seems to be that if you’re fat and you’re not content with the way you look (or even if you’re thin and not content), you’re never going to live a fulfilling life, but at the same time if you don’t do anything about your weight people will look down on you and you’ll die of diabetes or heart failure - you can’t win! It’s depressing. Maybe I would have liked it more if there was more of a resolution at the end.

So overall, five stars for writing, two stars for personal enjoyment. I’m glad I read it, but I’m not going to be reaching for it again any time soon, nor would I recommend it to someone else.

Content Warnings

gellyreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This may be petty, but I feel like the main reason this isn’t a 5 for me is because (as far as my research lead me to believe) Awad isn’t fat. And some of these comments do ring very, very true to me as fat woman (especially one who has gone up and down in weight), but some of them just…don’t? I know this is a bit before my time, but the clothes and shopping descriptions when they happened threw me? And I know that’s what inspired her to write this, but… I don’t know. It just didn’t quite ring true. However, the chapter/story from Tom’s POV was devastating and one of my nightmares about a relationship. I found Biggest Fan to also be beautifully Awad, and the humor I would expect based on her other novels.

Content Warnings