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A review by therealkathryn
Big Girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
3.0
I read this because it was chosen for One Book One Watertown (MA).
There are a lot of very evocative descriptions - I enjoyed reading those about Harlem and how it changed. The descriptions of the food that Malaya ate though seemed clearly intended to evoke disgust. We don't get much of a sense of her other than her need to eat her feelings. Her parents don't seem to know what to do with her or each other or really much of anything. And the constant fat shaming commentary is exhausting. It makes it clear that this self-loathing is generational and appears that is all Malaya's Ma-Mere and mother can talk about.
What's frustrating is all of the anti-fat rhetoric is completely unexamined. There is little to suggest that being fat isn't really terrible and a huge moral failing. If you must read this book, check out Sabrina Strings' Fearing the Black Body or the Maintenance Phase podcast or one of Aubrey Gordon's books.
There are a lot of very evocative descriptions - I enjoyed reading those about Harlem and how it changed. The descriptions of the food that Malaya ate though seemed clearly intended to evoke disgust. We don't get much of a sense of her other than her need to eat her feelings. Her parents don't seem to know what to do with her or each other or really much of anything. And the constant fat shaming commentary is exhausting. It makes it clear that this self-loathing is generational and appears that is all Malaya's Ma-Mere and mother can talk about.
What's frustrating is all of the anti-fat rhetoric is completely unexamined. There is little to suggest that being fat isn't really terrible and a huge moral failing. If you must read this book, check out Sabrina Strings' Fearing the Black Body or the Maintenance Phase podcast or one of Aubrey Gordon's books.