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Reviews
The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man's Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America by Tommy Tomlinson
mbpartlow's review
5.0
This book resonated with me on so many different levels. In part because the author is a writer who has worked very hard to perfect his craft, and he knows how to tell a story and make it interesting. I think this would be of interest to anyone struggling against herself/himself. Sure, he's talking about his weight loss "journey," but the lessons he has learned apply to the battles everyone faces every day. This is how memoir should be written. Glad I got my book group to read it, so we could discuss it afterward.
frannielaveeya's review
4.0
A few months ago, Michael Hobbes wrote a lengthy article for The Huffington Post titled, "Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong." It was an interesting perspective on the lack of compassion that is often bestowed upon those that are obese. Quite simply, there's nothing a doctor or any other person could say to a morbidly obese person that they haven't already thought about themselves. So much of this book reminded me of that article. Tommy Tomlinson is a talented journalist and writer - and brutally vulnerable in his memoir about life in a 400+ pound body + all that he has missed out on in his life because of his size. No amount of outwardly criticism toward him could compete against his own self-flagellation, and he communicates that with poignancy, tenderness and a lot of humor. I found myself really rooting for him as he committed to changing his life forever by slowly and consistently changing his habits and losing weight, one pound at a time. His honesty is refreshing and you can't help but cheer for him and thank him for sharing his story.
seekatyread's review
3.0
Not sure what I was expecting, honestly, but it didn't capture my interest too quickly. It does have a nice ending, and pretty honest and realistic depictions of what goes through the mind of someone who is extremely overweight in an already overweight society.
shasha_56's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.0
kpierce94010's review
5.0
I thought Tomlinson did a great job of integrating both a narrow view of his own personal struggles with the overall challenges that people who lose weight face (for example, the New York Times piece, based on a research study that showed that almost all The Biggest Loser contestants had re-gained most of the weight they had lost). Very quick read.
wandering_canuck's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Though it feels awkward to rate what is tantamount to the author's weight loss journal, I will for the sake of transparency. This is Tomlinson's memoir about what it feels like to live as a morbidly obese person in a world that just isn't built for morbidly obese bodies. Full disclosure, I lived in a super morbidly obese body for much of my adult life, souch of what the author wrote resonated with my experience. Unlike the author, I was able to eschew most of my unwanted pounds and experienced the body dysmorphia that comes when losing half of yourself. (newsflash: it's surreal, and not always pleasantly so.) Though Tomlinson as a person is likeable, I found his prose to be flat and quite one note.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Addiction, Fatphobia, Bullying, and Body shaming
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Infertility and Medical content
cathyatratedreads's review
5.0
It took me six months to get around to reading this memoir of one man’s struggles with his weight —about 450 pounds of it — mainly because I knew it would strike home with me, and I wasn’t in a place for the striking, or perhaps I wasn’t ready for the kind of striking it would provide. But when I read it, I was ready, and it was just right.
I found this book to be absolutely real, Tomlinson’s voice candid and forthright about his weaknesses and battles but also revealing as he does make slow progress, both in his thinking and in his health. He does what he sets out to do: he loses weight, very slowly but steadily, and he changes his thoughts and thus his behavior. It’s inspirational but not in a typical diet-story way. There are no magic fixes; there is no “big reveal” of a huge weight loss. Not even after two years. It’s slow and steady, and the best way to lose weight and keep it off in the long term. But that makes it all the more readable and relatable — and helpful for others who feel inclined to follow in some way in his footsteps. A fine book and one I’ll want to return to.
* I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com:
https://ratedreads.com/elephant-in-room-nonfiction-book-review/
I found this book to be absolutely real, Tomlinson’s voice candid and forthright about his weaknesses and battles but also revealing as he does make slow progress, both in his thinking and in his health. He does what he sets out to do: he loses weight, very slowly but steadily, and he changes his thoughts and thus his behavior. It’s inspirational but not in a typical diet-story way. There are no magic fixes; there is no “big reveal” of a huge weight loss. Not even after two years. It’s slow and steady, and the best way to lose weight and keep it off in the long term. But that makes it all the more readable and relatable — and helpful for others who feel inclined to follow in some way in his footsteps. A fine book and one I’ll want to return to.
* I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com:
https://ratedreads.com/elephant-in-room-nonfiction-book-review/
tommyhousworth's review
4.0
A well-told story of a man on a quest to overcome, or accept, the severe weight challenges that have dogged him his whole life. Because Tomlinson is a gifted journalist, he manages to tell this story with clarity, objectivity, and a capable awareness of which details matter to the reader, and what can get left on the editing room floor.
This may or may not be a spoiler, but here goes: This is not the story of a man who miraculously discovers how to unearth his thinner, healthier self so we spend the last act of the book reveling in his newfound svelteness. He makes doggedly determined, small steps toward a better life, with a hell of a lot of detours along the way. He maxes out at well over 400 lbs, struggles with the inner demons of not being worthy of love, of embarrassment at taking a seat at a ballgame or on an airplane. He speaks honestly about how food has been a balm for him, a safe haven when fear or uncertainty crept in or reassurance was needed. I believe his story will help many understand the issue of 'food addiction' in a way they maybe had not before.
His story is not one of neglect or abuse. He has a loving family, a wife he can't believe looked twice at him, much less wanted to spend her life with him, and he is very confident in his capabilities as a writer and observer of the human condition.
Tomlinson is from the south, and much of the story takes place in Georgia and surrounding states, so it's familiar terrain for me as a reader. Along the way, he shares insights on music, sports, race, and other topics he's had the opportunity to specialize in as a journalist, mostly as a pathway to tell the story of where he was at a particular time in his career/life in conjunction with his health issues (obesity, cancer, etc).
It's a quick and easy read, but that's not to say it's not well-written. It is, in fact, because it is so well-written that it moves along at such an unobstructed, brisk pace.
For anyone who has struggled to lose 10, 20, 100, or 200 lbs; or for anyone who has looked at a heavy person and said "why don't they lose weight?", this book is a worthwhile read. It shows there are no easy answers, other than showing up, and not letting discouragement win the day. It also reminds us that there's a lot of misinformation and cruelty out there, and we would do well to humanize those we objectify. Tomlinson does a marvelous job at this, evoking empathy without ever falling into self-pity.
This may or may not be a spoiler, but here goes: This is not the story of a man who miraculously discovers how to unearth his thinner, healthier self so we spend the last act of the book reveling in his newfound svelteness. He makes doggedly determined, small steps toward a better life, with a hell of a lot of detours along the way. He maxes out at well over 400 lbs, struggles with the inner demons of not being worthy of love, of embarrassment at taking a seat at a ballgame or on an airplane. He speaks honestly about how food has been a balm for him, a safe haven when fear or uncertainty crept in or reassurance was needed. I believe his story will help many understand the issue of 'food addiction' in a way they maybe had not before.
His story is not one of neglect or abuse. He has a loving family, a wife he can't believe looked twice at him, much less wanted to spend her life with him, and he is very confident in his capabilities as a writer and observer of the human condition.
Tomlinson is from the south, and much of the story takes place in Georgia and surrounding states, so it's familiar terrain for me as a reader. Along the way, he shares insights on music, sports, race, and other topics he's had the opportunity to specialize in as a journalist, mostly as a pathway to tell the story of where he was at a particular time in his career/life in conjunction with his health issues (obesity, cancer, etc).
It's a quick and easy read, but that's not to say it's not well-written. It is, in fact, because it is so well-written that it moves along at such an unobstructed, brisk pace.
For anyone who has struggled to lose 10, 20, 100, or 200 lbs; or for anyone who has looked at a heavy person and said "why don't they lose weight?", this book is a worthwhile read. It shows there are no easy answers, other than showing up, and not letting discouragement win the day. It also reminds us that there's a lot of misinformation and cruelty out there, and we would do well to humanize those we objectify. Tomlinson does a marvelous job at this, evoking empathy without ever falling into self-pity.
gayle_carr's review
5.0
Thank you to the author for such a candid story about weight loss, being heavy, and the emotional struggle associated with this. I’m sure this wasn’t easy—being overweight isn’t easy to begin with, but the author shares his innermost thoughts with brutal honesty. Thank you for the inside story for what most of us only visualize on the outside.