13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad

I've had times where I can't stand how I look (in fact, I pretty much always wished I looked differently), but it hasn't kept me from having real sexual relationships or a career or, frankly, being able to get laid when I want. My own story doesn't include being dumb, struggling with school or being socially isolated. I'm sick of stories only talking about the women who hate how they look and all the ways being fat fucks up their lives. There are equally a TON of big girls who have fabulous lives, loves and careers. I am well aware that there are some overweight ladies who have a LOT of self esteem issues and self hate. She's portrayed as being so desperate for male attention that she doesn't care how badly she's treated and is generally pathetic. She's also socially awkward, a poor educational achiever and had terrible self esteem. And I just couldn't handle how stereotypical this damn book was. I quit about halfway through it because I just couldn't take it any more.Īs a big girl, I feel invested in how people portray overweight women in the media. I really, really, really disliked this book. As caustically funny as it is heartbreaking, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl introduces a vital new voice in fiction.

But no matter how much she loses, will she ever see herself as anything other than a fat girl? In her brilliant, hilarious, and at times shocking debut, Mona Awad simultaneously skewers the body image-obsessed culture that tells women they have no value outside their physical appearance, and delivers a tender and moving depiction of a lovably difficult young woman whose life is hijacked by her struggle to conform. She grows up and gets thin, navigating double-edged validation from her mother, her friends, her husband, her reflection in the mirror.

With punishing drive, she counts almonds consumed, miles logged, pounds dropped. She starts dating guys online, but she's afraid to send pictures, even when her skinny friend China does her makeup: she knows no one would want her if they could really see her. Mississauga), Lizzie has never liked the way she looks-even though her best friend Mel says she's the pretty one.

A darkly funny, deeply resonant, and exquisitely written literary debut, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl is the story of one woman's journey from fat adolescence to an ex-fat adulthood, as she seeks love and acceptance from everyone except herself.Growing up in the suburban hell of Misery Saga (a.k.a.

13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad