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ishouldbereading's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Cursing
bitterbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
choirqueer's review against another edition
5.0
Fabulous, Fantastic, and now one of my very Favorite books. This collection of writings by fat people includes a wide range of gender, race/ethnicity, and dis/ability representation. Each voice tells a story that needs to be heard, and I needed to hear each one. Highly highly recommend.
celine_reads_books's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
5.0
tulilipz's review against another edition
not to sound emo but i feel like this book has changed my life
renatasnacks's review against another edition
5.0
I LOVED this book and so wish that it had existed when I was an awkward, fat teen! There's such a great range of essays, poems, and art (in the digital ARC I had some of the art was still TK but what's in here is already great). I love how intersectional it is and how hopeful, helpful, and angry it is. Both affirming and eye-opening. I F-ing love it.
celadon's review against another edition
5.0
Every fat person has at least one memory of fatphobia. Of being left out, bullied, shamed, you name it. The first sentence in this book is: “Your body is perfect. Yes, yours. Exactly the way it is, right now in this second.” I didn’t know how much I needed to hear that until I did.
This is my second reading, the first was on audio and although some of the submissions were art, the messages penetrated better in that format. But honestly, it was great in both paper and audio, but if you’re like me and have a hard time internalizing positive messages, consider the one where someone is speaking to you.
From short yet sharp autobiographies to empowering monologues about being fabulously fat, this anthology has it all. The contributors showcase their poetry, art, stories, and lessons they’ve learned. My favorite edition the book is seeing the author photos of all these accomplished people. Eating sweets, or in a swimsuit, double chins glowing, arms free, thick thighs. It goes beyond saying “It gets better” and a pat on the back. It shows you what’s possible because they’ve done it. You can too.
Although I loved all of the contributions, I particularly loved S. Qiouyilu’s narrative: Fat, And. They talk about their relationship to their body through the lens of being Asian, and how changing a simple sentence structure from “for” to “and” led them to be their full self.
A Poem That’s About Nature and Fatness by Miguel M. Morales was also incredible. I don’t want to post the poem in my review like I usually would, firstly because you should just read the book, but also because it has a thematic element I want to be fully appreciated. It made me laugh, and smile, but also just recognize the truth of what Morales was conveying.
In the entry To All The Pizzas I’ve Loved Before, Laina Spencer talks about her experience as a fat aroace reader (did I mention this anthology is super queer? It is.). She tells us books she read that validated her fat existence–that I instantly added to my TBR–and about the ones that still need to be written. Since Spencer is an aspiring writer I hope I’ll see a book of her’s in the future.
Like many of the books I review, I cannot impress how incredible it is to see the representation of diverse identities. Not only does this book have a bounty of fat creators to look into with all their divine knowledge, it even has a section in the back with clothing suggestions for fat bods! How amazing is that? With anthologies, I leave more entries that were great at the bottom of my review, but I truly thought every story was invaluable, so check into all of them! I want to see more normalization of fat bodies. It is so culturally acceptable to exclude/degrade fat people and the more often books like this are published, the more that can change.
This is my second reading, the first was on audio and although some of the submissions were art, the messages penetrated better in that format. But honestly, it was great in both paper and audio, but if you’re like me and have a hard time internalizing positive messages, consider the one where someone is speaking to you.
From short yet sharp autobiographies to empowering monologues about being fabulously fat, this anthology has it all. The contributors showcase their poetry, art, stories, and lessons they’ve learned. My favorite edition the book is seeing the author photos of all these accomplished people. Eating sweets, or in a swimsuit, double chins glowing, arms free, thick thighs. It goes beyond saying “It gets better” and a pat on the back. It shows you what’s possible because they’ve done it. You can too.
Although I loved all of the contributions, I particularly loved S. Qiouyilu’s narrative: Fat, And. They talk about their relationship to their body through the lens of being Asian, and how changing a simple sentence structure from “for” to “and” led them to be their full self.
A Poem That’s About Nature and Fatness by Miguel M. Morales was also incredible. I don’t want to post the poem in my review like I usually would, firstly because you should just read the book, but also because it has a thematic element I want to be fully appreciated. It made me laugh, and smile, but also just recognize the truth of what Morales was conveying.
In the entry To All The Pizzas I’ve Loved Before, Laina Spencer talks about her experience as a fat aroace reader (did I mention this anthology is super queer? It is.). She tells us books she read that validated her fat existence–that I instantly added to my TBR–and about the ones that still need to be written. Since Spencer is an aspiring writer I hope I’ll see a book of her’s in the future.
Like many of the books I review, I cannot impress how incredible it is to see the representation of diverse identities. Not only does this book have a bounty of fat creators to look into with all their divine knowledge, it even has a section in the back with clothing suggestions for fat bods! How amazing is that? With anthologies, I leave more entries that were great at the bottom of my review, but I truly thought every story was invaluable, so check into all of them! I want to see more normalization of fat bodies. It is so culturally acceptable to exclude/degrade fat people and the more often books like this are published, the more that can change.
xangemthelibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
Like a couple of other NF books I've read this year, this one feels like a book I can skip around in or use for reference. My favorite story was probably "For the Love of Ursula's Revenge Body" by Julie Murphy.
The graphic design of this book is really nice and eye catching. It does feel a little bit like it was designed in Canva? Idk. Also, if this was a paperback, you'd definitely be able to convince me this is a really thick magazine. All the different articles and the art just makes it feel like that.
The graphic design of this book is really nice and eye catching. It does feel a little bit like it was designed in Canva? Idk. Also, if this was a paperback, you'd definitely be able to convince me this is a really thick magazine. All the different articles and the art just makes it feel like that.
rdoose's review against another edition
4.0
Like most collections, some pieces were better than others, but overall I think this is a powerful book that I hope many teens get their hands on. However, there were a couple of things that I wish the editor had excluded: each contributor had a bio after their piece, and one contributor included that they can be found "baking things that are bad for them." Another piece told readers to watch their sodium intake. I wish that in both cases the editor had called in these contributors and asked them to change their content. The reality is that a large portion of this book's readership likely struggles with disordered eating, so the moralizing of food as good or bad, or directives of what to eat or not eat, is triggering and takes away the effect of the book being a completely safe space. Other than those two instances, however, I think this is a very affirming book that will hopefully save teens some years of hating their bodies or even themselves.
jamielit's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
3.5
This book is definitely for teens, though I still got some good stuff out of it. I'm sure if I were the audience, I would rate this book higher.