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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
Oh my, I really enjoyed this book. Roxane Gay has a hooking writing style and she exemplifies bravery to share her story with the world. I plan to pick up more of her books, and she is becoming a new favorite author of mine.
3.5 stars rounded up. I already knew Gay's story from her other books and bio, but it's different and more immediate to read it in her own words. This story is heartbreaking on many levels, and it helped me understand not only Gay's personal experience but also that of obese people more broadly.
As other reviewers have noted, this book is rather repetitive, which I think it a deliberate stylistic choice, as it mirrors the cyclical nature of recovering from trauma. It certainly feels like Gay is processing everything that has happened to her through the act of writing. However, as a reader I couldn't help but wish for a little less repetition, and I found myself skimming certain parts because I had already read the exact same sentiments just a few pages before.
This is a small quibble, but I was frustrated with her critical attitude towards doctors and people who exercise and eat healthy just because, not to lose weight. These were pretty small portions of the book, thankfully — only a couple pages each — but I found them rather off-putting.
As other reviewers have noted, this book is rather repetitive, which I think it a deliberate stylistic choice, as it mirrors the cyclical nature of recovering from trauma. It certainly feels like Gay is processing everything that has happened to her through the act of writing. However, as a reader I couldn't help but wish for a little less repetition, and I found myself skimming certain parts because I had already read the exact same sentiments just a few pages before.
This is a small quibble, but I was frustrated with her critical attitude towards doctors and people who exercise and eat healthy just because, not to lose weight. These were pretty small portions of the book, thankfully — only a couple pages each — but I found them rather off-putting.
I shed a level of tears reading this book normally reserved for Isao Takahata films. Hunger is Roxane Gay's memoir of the aftermath of being gang-raped aged 12, and the myriad struggles that followed. Locating the traumatic event as the moment in which she was split into a 'before' and 'after', the author explores the immediate and long-term fallout with brutal and painful honesty. I don't normally feel compelled to go back and re-read whole chapters, but in this case I felt genuinely spoken to across every page.
Ready to be totally alone in not loving this. I felt her stories lacked details and specificity and connections. Many parts felt coy and indirect. When I read about the circumspect way she discussed her rape with her mother, I thought, that was how she was writing for us. Her repetition of words and phrases made me feel like she is telling us the story she tells herself. It's Gay's memoir, and she can tell her story however she wants, and is not obligated to spill every detail of her history, or work through every issue. As a reader though, I had a lot of questions and found it unsatisfying - not for gory or purient details but for the same honesty about her history that she generously gives regarding her thoughts of her body now.
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4/5stars
Incredibly real, raw memoir. Really enjoyed??? It but I feel like enjoyed is the wrong word here - I really APPRECIATE what she did in this memoir.
Incredibly real, raw memoir. Really enjoyed??? It but I feel like enjoyed is the wrong word here - I really APPRECIATE what she did in this memoir.
I definitely have mixed feelings about this book. Her story is very heartbreaking, and I really applaud her bravery in sharing it. However, I didn't feel like she touched on anything new or that I'd never heard before regarding her experience being overweight. I think writing this book was part of her healing journey, but I think because of that, the reflections or "lessons" that I have typically seen in a memoir are not really here. I did love the writing style and enjoyed the succinctness of the prose.