A review by embot77
Embrace Your Size by Hara

hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.75

Despite the redundant writing and the excess repetition of stories from the author's life, the graphic novel reminded me about the kindness I must give others when looking at them. My mother suffered from an illness that, due to medication, caused her to gain 60 pounds. Her negative perspective on the matter was contagious and lead me to binge eat to gain muscle instead of fat. Like the author, my weight fluctuated but with 16 lbs more or less. Her journey to focus on letting herself be happy in her body, and changing her size mindset, was inspiring. 

I also enjoyed her retelling of "I Feel Pretty" and "Hairspray." I feel as though the purpose of the reviews was to suggest media that promotes body positivity for the readers. I've already seen both, so I followed along quite nicely. However, the "I Feel Pretty" review wasn't polished enough to deliver the message with a full impact. Along a similar vein, having those two movie reviews felt like a little distraction from our protagonists story. It was pleasant to have a break from the repetitiveness, but a little more integration could have improved the cohesion of the story.

I'm happy her YA graphic novel exists. A lot more young people (and definately older audiences) need to read this, or at least be aware of what is mentioned in this book.