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A review by celadon
The (Other) F Word: A Celebration of the Fat and Fierce by Angie Manfredi
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.