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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
Wholesome account on the author's journey to understand body positivity.
It shows how her negative vision of her body shifted to a more gentle and loving one thanks to representation of diverse bodies in magazines, and how her eating disorders not only affected her health but her creative process too.
It shows how her negative vision of her body shifted to a more gentle and loving one thanks to representation of diverse bodies in magazines, and how her eating disorders not only affected her health but her creative process too.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
I like the idea of Embrace Your Size as a concept. Billed as a story of hara's own body positivity, the story on cover and synopsis-level seems to be about learning to embrace yourself at any size. Because it is the author's own story, I completely understand the initial statements in the beginning of the book saying that, as a plus-sized artist and author, hara can only really speak to her own perspective on body positivity, and that her story doesn't really speak to all sizes and types, but that she hoped it would resonate with people regardless of shape and size.
That said, I found the story to be very, very focused on eating disorders specifically, moreso than body positivity. The beginning of the story centered on hara's eating disorder, continued into her own struggles to pick up plus-sized fashion magazines, and though it did briefly center on body positivity and how great it was once she'd found it, it delved right back into interviews that focused on eating disorders. I'm not at all implying or even stating that eating disordered commentary cannot be part of a conversation on body positivity. I'm saying that I wish the synopsis had better covered the fact that this was what the bulk of the book was about, because I think that this appears, at surface level, to be a story on loving oneself, but instead seems to be a person who comes to terms with her own body reluctantly, after years of hating herself. Those are two very, very different stories that both deserve to be told, but one may be triggering to readers in a very different way.
When it does come to the body positive sections of the story, I found that the bulk of them did include pretty dated references -- movie reviews that were for films over 10-15 years old, television shows that have been on the air for over a decade and a half, and artists that are either no longer plus-sized, or have made pretty harmful comments around body positivity and body neutrality. While the messages may have rang true at one point, or may hold up despite the people saying them changing their statements now, unfortunately there's a lot of difficulty in really taking these statements in.
I really, really love what Embrace Your Size is trying to be. I love the illustrations, I love the art, I love that hara now feels much more at home in her size, and I love the recommendations for Japanese plus-size fashion magazines I'm definitely checking out. But I feel like for a "body positive" book, the story left me feeling surprisingly not very positive about my own body... and also wondering if the author truly embraces body positivity, or felt that this was a message she could sell to an audience.
(Edit to add: I actually probably would have rated this story higher if it hadn't been packaged as a body positivity book, with a body positivity cover and a body positivity synopsis. Had the author been transparent that it was an eating disorder memoir, and that it's how she ultimately came to love her body, I think it would've been more in line with what the story was, and I would've felt like I hadn't picked up a book and gotten something entirely different. Like I said, there's ROOM IN THE WORLD FOR THIS STORY! It's just not the story that it's packaged as, and I think it's upsetting because the world needs both the story that the cover sells and the story this book actually is, but unfortunately, we only get one of those things sold as the other). (I think there is also nothing wrong with sharing about an eating disorder in a body positivity book. I think it's when that is the primary content of the book, with a dose of body pos content, it needs to be mentioned as such, and the audience needs a little bit more insight that's what they're getting going in, rather than to think it's about Embracing Your Size and be met with a story of how the author has, historically and even recently, not actually embraced her size).
That said, I found the story to be very, very focused on eating disorders specifically, moreso than body positivity. The beginning of the story centered on hara's eating disorder, continued into her own struggles to pick up plus-sized fashion magazines, and though it did briefly center on body positivity and how great it was once she'd found it, it delved right back into interviews that focused on eating disorders. I'm not at all implying or even stating that eating disordered commentary cannot be part of a conversation on body positivity. I'm saying that I wish the synopsis had better covered the fact that this was what the bulk of the book was about, because I think that this appears, at surface level, to be a story on loving oneself, but instead seems to be a person who comes to terms with her own body reluctantly, after years of hating herself. Those are two very, very different stories that both deserve to be told, but one may be triggering to readers in a very different way.
When it does come to the body positive sections of the story, I found that the bulk of them did include pretty dated references -- movie reviews that were for films over 10-15 years old, television shows that have been on the air for over a decade and a half, and artists that are either no longer plus-sized, or have made pretty harmful comments around body positivity and body neutrality. While the messages may have rang true at one point, or may hold up despite the people saying them changing their statements now, unfortunately there's a lot of difficulty in really taking these statements in.
I really, really love what Embrace Your Size is trying to be. I love the illustrations, I love the art, I love that hara now feels much more at home in her size, and I love the recommendations for Japanese plus-size fashion magazines I'm definitely checking out. But I feel like for a "body positive" book, the story left me feeling surprisingly not very positive about my own body... and also wondering if the author truly embraces body positivity, or felt that this was a message she could sell to an audience.
(Edit to add: I actually probably would have rated this story higher if it hadn't been packaged as a body positivity book, with a body positivity cover and a body positivity synopsis. Had the author been transparent that it was an eating disorder memoir, and that it's how she ultimately came to love her body, I think it would've been more in line with what the story was, and I would've felt like I hadn't picked up a book and gotten something entirely different. Like I said, there's ROOM IN THE WORLD FOR THIS STORY! It's just not the story that it's packaged as, and I think it's upsetting because the world needs both the story that the cover sells and the story this book actually is, but unfortunately, we only get one of those things sold as the other). (I think there is also nothing wrong with sharing about an eating disorder in a body positivity book. I think it's when that is the primary content of the book, with a dose of body pos content, it needs to be mentioned as such, and the audience needs a little bit more insight that's what they're getting going in, rather than to think it's about Embracing Your Size and be met with a story of how the author has, historically and even recently, not actually embraced her size).
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Despite the redundant writing and the excess repetition of stories from the author's life, the graphic novel reminded me about the kindness I must give others when looking at them. My mother suffered from an illness that, due to medication, caused her to gain 60 pounds. Her negative perspective on the matter was contagious and lead me to binge eat to gain muscle instead of fat. Like the author, my weight fluctuated but with 16 lbs more or less. Her journey to focus on letting herself be happy in her body, and changing her size mindset, was inspiring.
I also enjoyed her retelling of "I Feel Pretty" and "Hairspray." I feel as though the purpose of the reviews was to suggest media that promotes body positivity for the readers. I've already seen both, so I followed along quite nicely. However, the "I Feel Pretty" review wasn't polished enough to deliver the message with a full impact. Along a similar vein, having those two movie reviews felt like a little distraction from our protagonists story. It was pleasant to have a break from the repetitiveness, but a little more integration could have improved the cohesion of the story.
I'm happy her YA graphic novel exists. A lot more young people (and definately older audiences) need to read this, or at least be aware of what is mentioned in this book.
I also enjoyed her retelling of "I Feel Pretty" and "Hairspray." I feel as though the purpose of the reviews was to suggest media that promotes body positivity for the readers. I've already seen both, so I followed along quite nicely. However, the "I Feel Pretty" review wasn't polished enough to deliver the message with a full impact. Along a similar vein, having those two movie reviews felt like a little distraction from our protagonists story. It was pleasant to have a break from the repetitiveness, but a little more integration could have improved the cohesion of the story.
I'm happy her YA graphic novel exists. A lot more young people (and definately older audiences) need to read this, or at least be aware of what is mentioned in this book.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
inspiring
reflective
I love the overall message. However, it felt very repetitive. It seems the book was simply a collection of already released comics. It would have been nice if they were edited so the storyline could flow easier.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
I have not been interested in manga mostly because the artwork did not appeal to me. This one did, and I loved it! This young Japanese woman's journey echoed mine so much, and I felt for her and her realization that her Japan has been behind some parts of the world in Fat Acceptance, now called Body Positivity. Like her, I found community online, only my sources were the internet pre-www, the email bulletin boards while hers were social media. This would be a great book to hand to a young person struggling with accepting themselves as they are, plus her characters are so cute!
Content warning: eating disorder with quite graphic descriptions
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced