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A review by charliauthor
Girl, Ultra-Processed by Amara Sage
Did not finish book. Stopped at 78%.
While I understand the premise of this book and the point it is trying to make, unfortunately this did not mesh with me in the way that I would have hoped.
From the first pages I was completely unimpressed and annoyed by main character Saffron who in short was very depressing. As I’ve said I understand that dealing with her body image and stressing about body positivity in the wake of such a online social media climate is the point of this and therefore would be very relatable to some, but for me it was too negative and depressing and basically just not any fun.
Despite her reasoning for doing so, I could not get behind saffron‘s catfishing of others, her jealousy of her friends who at the start were only trying to be nice to her. Her insecurities basically annoyed me more than they allowed me to feel sorry for her because they almost felt self-inflicted?
Other than the ridiculous ex who treated her terribly and the truly nameless strangers that treated her shit on the app, Saffron’s image of herself was purely based on everything she had been consuming and had there been more emphasis on her wanting to change this consumption earlier in the book then 60% I may have felt more positive about it.
I stopped reading at 78% when I found myself skimming to see if it was going to get any more positive. I didn’t like the representation on her mother, didn’t like the internal conflict. I didn’t like the constant self-deprecation and again to use the word depressing, but it was just so extremely negative that I just didn’t want tocontinue.
I understand as I said above that these feelings can be relatable to many people who are dealing with body images and I can only imagine what that is like for girls struggling but for myself who only wants to engage with things that are positive and don’t make me feel terrible about myself, this was not the right content for that. Some great quotes on social commentary and the effects of social media which i respect but i just wasnt enjoying it and i read to have fun and this just made me sad.
Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the arc. All opinions on my own
From the first pages I was completely unimpressed and annoyed by main character Saffron who in short was very depressing. As I’ve said I understand that dealing with her body image and stressing about body positivity in the wake of such a online social media climate is the point of this and therefore would be very relatable to some, but for me it was too negative and depressing and basically just not any fun.
Despite her reasoning for doing so, I could not get behind saffron‘s catfishing of others, her jealousy of her friends who at the start were only trying to be nice to her. Her insecurities basically annoyed me more than they allowed me to feel sorry for her because they almost felt self-inflicted?
Other than the ridiculous ex who treated her terribly and the truly nameless strangers that treated her shit on the app, Saffron’s image of herself was purely based on everything she had been consuming and had there been more emphasis on her wanting to change this consumption earlier in the book then 60% I may have felt more positive about it.
I stopped reading at 78% when I found myself skimming to see if it was going to get any more positive. I didn’t like the representation on her mother, didn’t like the internal conflict. I didn’t like the constant self-deprecation and again to use the word depressing, but it was just so extremely negative that I just didn’t want tocontinue.
I understand as I said above that these feelings can be relatable to many people who are dealing with body images and I can only imagine what that is like for girls struggling but for myself who only wants to engage with things that are positive and don’t make me feel terrible about myself, this was not the right content for that. Some great quotes on social commentary and the effects of social media which i respect but i just wasnt enjoying it and i read to have fun and this just made me sad.
Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the arc. All opinions on my own