A review by maxenporter
Piglet by Lottie Hazell

challenging emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

While parts of Piglet were sweet, I can’t help but notice the bad taste this book left in my mouth. Some parts of the book felt egregiously fatphobic. I disagreed with a lot of the sentiment that equates a binge eating disorder with greed and rightful shame. The titular character Piglet is striped of her agency because no one in the story even uses her given name, save for one brief mention at the tail end of the story. Instead, all the characters call her Piglet, a childhood nickname from her parents and a direct reference to her lifelong disordered eating habits. There were also a few stylistic choices with the writing that I found distracting, like Hazell’s use of mid sentence commas rather than using “and,” but to each their own. It was more distracting than it was a major issue. But my biggest issue with this story, dear reader, is that Piglet suffers from being the victim of an idiot plot. Yes, every person in the book makes the worst choices possible at every possible turn, faces no repercussions for their actions, and continues to make bad choices. Everyone in this book is an idiot, and it was infuriating. By the wedding, I was ready to DNF the book, but stuck around for the last 30 pages which attempted to, and failed at, redeeming any of the characters.

I think Lottie Hazell is a great, technically sophisticated writer and I can’t wait to see what she does in the future. I hope her future works continue to develop in breadth and depth, and that she’s able to approach hard topics with more tact in the future.
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