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

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad

7 reviews

tealightfultomes's review

Reads like a teenager's diary, but written by a much older woman who vaguely remembers how it is to be a teen but has lost a lot of the details. Found it too cringey and honestly it was trying too hard.

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justreads93's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I don’t know if I liked this book or not. It felt more like a car crash I couldn’t look away from. I think the title is misleading, instead of 13 distinct ways of looking at Elizabeth the fat main character, all but two of the vignettes are told from her POV and all of the vignettes depict Elizabeth as a deeply unhappy and insecure person. I think if maybe we had the POV from her friend Mel, her mom, her dad, and maybe the nail lady we could have those more distinct “ways” of looking at a fat girl. I also feel like this story just ended and I feel like there’s a lot more of Elizabeth to explore but instead the book just ends.

As someone who was a fat teen and is now a fat woman I could really relate to Elizabeth’s struggles with low self esteem and body image but at points this got uncomfortable to keep reading. The way that fat people are constantly depicted as gross and disgusting just felt over the top at some points, like we get it Beth hates that she is fat and is reflecting that on others as well but Christ.

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senpai_no_lie's review

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reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

A series of short stories where just about every woman character is fat or struggling with their self-image regardless of their weight. No one is truly happy. I didn't enjoy reading this, but it wasn't bad. Just not really my type of story.

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paperbackparker's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I am so glad I read this book when I did. I would not have been able to appreciate the nuance and grey morality of the main character had I read it sooner. Such a great book!

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