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A review by oceanvuongfan
Big Girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
4.0
Big Girl follows the story of Malaya Clondon growing up in 1990s Harlem, NY. She’s an artistic, inquisitive eight-year old who finds herself developing an emotional dependency on food early in life.
By the time Malaya is eight, she is diagnosed as obese. Her mother, Nyela, attempts to help both herself and her daughter by enrolling them in Weight Watcher’s programs, eating “diet foods,” and attending cardio classes. However, none of Nyela’s “solutions” work to mitigate Malaya’s weight gain. It isn’t until Malaya experiences the trauma of losing her father that she decides to try and take control of her health on her own terms.
This book explores what it means to struggle with appearances/bodies that don’t align with society’s expectations of how one should/should not look. Sullivan pushes against narratives of respectability and desirability politics through Malaya’s coming-of-age journey in her relationship with food. Despite how her appearance doesn’t fit conventional norms of what is considered desirable, Malaya deserves just as much respect and dignity as anyone else, which she does not receive throughout this book. Instead, she’s made to feel inadequate by her peers, taken advantage of by neighborhood boys, and condescended against by doctors.
I appreciate the overall messaging of this book. But I always worry about the fine line between body positivity and suffering from detrimental health consequences. On one hand, yes, we should be able to love ourselves as we are without changing ourselves for the sake of adhering to society’s beauty/thinness standards. But, on the other hand, in loving ourselves, that means taking care of our bodies in ways that sustain our health—not destroy it.
As young people come of age, it’s important that “trendy diet culture” aka misinformation is replaced by accurate information on healthy eating and exercise. It’s also critical we cultivate empathy towards all people of all experiences because we never know what others around us are going through.
This narrative of a young Black girl learning about her body, learning about who and how she loves, and learning about what it means to be a Black woman in America in the 90s is telling of a young generation coming of age now in 2023.
By the time Malaya is eight, she is diagnosed as obese. Her mother, Nyela, attempts to help both herself and her daughter by enrolling them in Weight Watcher’s programs, eating “diet foods,” and attending cardio classes. However, none of Nyela’s “solutions” work to mitigate Malaya’s weight gain. It isn’t until Malaya experiences the trauma of losing her father that she decides to try and take control of her health on her own terms.
This book explores what it means to struggle with appearances/bodies that don’t align with society’s expectations of how one should/should not look. Sullivan pushes against narratives of respectability and desirability politics through Malaya’s coming-of-age journey in her relationship with food. Despite how her appearance doesn’t fit conventional norms of what is considered desirable, Malaya deserves just as much respect and dignity as anyone else, which she does not receive throughout this book. Instead, she’s made to feel inadequate by her peers, taken advantage of by neighborhood boys, and condescended against by doctors.
I appreciate the overall messaging of this book. But I always worry about the fine line between body positivity and suffering from detrimental health consequences. On one hand, yes, we should be able to love ourselves as we are without changing ourselves for the sake of adhering to society’s beauty/thinness standards. But, on the other hand, in loving ourselves, that means taking care of our bodies in ways that sustain our health—not destroy it.
As young people come of age, it’s important that “trendy diet culture” aka misinformation is replaced by accurate information on healthy eating and exercise. It’s also critical we cultivate empathy towards all people of all experiences because we never know what others around us are going through.
This narrative of a young Black girl learning about her body, learning about who and how she loves, and learning about what it means to be a Black woman in America in the 90s is telling of a young generation coming of age now in 2023.