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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
This book took me a little longer to get through than most bc I kept having to put it down. Books that grapple with sexual assault are always hard for me to read. But Roxanne Gay’s writing is so raw and honest and vulnerable. I hope one day that I can create something that is filled with such blunt honesty about how I feel and move through the world. I took screenshots of many pages of this books because the words struck me, but one quote that I continue to come back to is
“There is an anxiety in being yourself, though. There is the haunting question of ‘What if?’ always lingering. What if who I am will never be enough?What if I will never be enough for someone?”
“There is an anxiety in being yourself, though. There is the haunting question of ‘What if?’ always lingering. What if who I am will never be enough?What if I will never be enough for someone?”
challenging
emotional
reflective
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This is one of my favorite memoirs I have come across to date. I appreciated how open Roxanne was with her story, and I enjoyed listening to both her internal thoughts and external experiences. As a fat person, it was both relieving and eye-opening to hear my own thoughts about being fat reflected in another person's words. This book felt very raw and progressed in a logical and interesting way. I will be thinking about this novel for a while.
This book. I like Roxane's writing because it's very accessible, and I mean that in the most complimentary of ways. She writes like she's having a conversation with you. That's hard to do.
Roxane writes about a vicious circle she created to protect herself that now is difficult to break. After a horrific gang-rape when she was twelve (twelve!) by the boy she thought she loved and who she thought loved her and his friends, she ate to hide her body, her girl self, her shame. What she discovered is although her weight gain did give her an armor of a sort, it also made her more visible to people, but not in a kind way. Most people are severely cruel to fat people, and the world is not built for people of size.
Reading this book, which goes very quickly despite its length, was heart-wrenching, funny, hopeful, and devastatingly rendered.
Roxane writes about a vicious circle she created to protect herself that now is difficult to break. After a horrific gang-rape when she was twelve (twelve!) by the boy she thought she loved and who she thought loved her and his friends, she ate to hide her body, her girl self, her shame. What she discovered is although her weight gain did give her an armor of a sort, it also made her more visible to people, but not in a kind way. Most people are severely cruel to fat people, and the world is not built for people of size.
Reading this book, which goes very quickly despite its length, was heart-wrenching, funny, hopeful, and devastatingly rendered.
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Rape
A gutsy and sometimes brutal memoir. I almost felt guilty reading this account of Roxane Gay’s struggle with weight and sexual assault, like eavesdropping on a very private conversation. I’m assuming that what she had in mind. Beautiful words by a beautiful (and brave) woman. At times, she moved me to tears.
This is a stunning memoir. Dr. Gay got super vulnerable. I admire her strength and confidence even more
reflective
sad
fast-paced
fast-paced