I was very excited to read this book and see myself represented in the essays. Unfortunately, that didn't happen for me. The author really downplayed the way that white, obese women exist in this world. Black women of course face more challenges on every single front, but that doesn't mean that fatphobia doesn't touch the lives of and deeply affect white men and women as well. The author does a really great job of exploring the intersectionality of fatphobia and anti-blackness, but fails to recognize the experiences of anyone who is not like herself. Of course, we can only write from our own knowledge, but the description, title, and marketing for this book didn't really match the material inside. This book is not about being plus size. It is a woman's social commentary and manifesto about existing in the world as a curvy black woman. I applaud her for this work, but think it could have either been more inclusive or packaged differently. The essays are very well written (though perhaps not as deep as one would hope), with the exception of highly repetitive language.

I think this would be a really good book for someone who is newer to fat liberation, or who hasn't thought a lot about these things yet. Especially the intersectionality of fatphobia and how a lot of it is rooted in white supremacy. It's a good look at a few pop-culture items that are either popular or extremely relevant to the topic.

I think the analysis is strong in some areas and not as much in others. I wish it went deeper at times, and explored experiences of different people (namely larger fat people more personally than analysing Hunger). Otherwise, I think the ideas are good, and it's an interesting and important read, especially for people new to fat liberation.

For others, it reads a little less polished than some of the other big books on this topic. It doesn't have the same spark and humor that LIndy West has or the same depth and emotion that Roxane Gay does. It touches on some of the same things that you see in Anti-Diet, but at a less deep level. Most of the chapters are a summary of something and then not enough information about what it means or how the author feels.

The best part about this, though, is that it is very economical with words. You get a very good primer of Fat Liberation in less than 100 pages with good recommendations for media to take a look at either for the first time or with a different eye. I am excited to se something longer and more in depth and perhaps a little more finished than this book from the author, as I love her perspective and voice and taste in media! I wish this was less like a book report or college thesis and more like a true fleshed out memoir.

This was a big disappointment. The essays and critiques in this volume are written at about the level of your average high schooler. Mekdela offers little context and less analysis in her takes on pop-culture, making it inaccessible and not very useful for readers who haven't consumed the same media that she has. Her writing reads more like a repetitive TikTok script than serious commentary, and there were numerous many contradictions over the course of the book.

I started to read this book with high expectations. A book about women like me. Dealing with being zaftig. A Rubenesque model in the wrong century. But no. We have a pleasingly plump woman who can barely fit into the plus size category. I was offended by her downgrading of fat white women. Fat is judged by fat not color. Fat is the last thing it is OK to make fun of, every show has the fat loser friend.

Thank you, NetGalley. They can't all be winners.

Truthfully, I was looking really forward to this book-- as I grew up in the early 2000s when stick thin figures and diets were all over. I was really looking into this, and seeing how this has affected our culture today.

However, I have been truly let down. Mekdela is a talented author, but I felt that she strayed from the topic of body weight. The majority of the book is recaps of movies, books, topics that she's come across, with a little small blurb about how she felt about it. Oftentimes-- it focused deeply on racial and LGBT issues-- which are important in pop culture too, but the topic of this memoir was supposed to be weight.

Easily, I felt like Mekdela picked some of the most obscure references to cover--while ignoring huge mainstream topics like the Kardashians and their plethora of issues revolving body image or how one of the most popular television shows of all time had a really offensive use of a fat suit. I think the idea of actors wearing body suits could be positive, but is often poorly done-- so I thought it could definitely be a topic worth reading on.

Deep down, I would skip this book. It reads like a college essay, and not like a nonfiction book that's worth purchasing.

Thank you Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

It was interesting to get another perspective on the pervasiveness of fat phobia in millennium culture. However I expected more personal lived experience and not quite so much popular culture. There was also a lot about race and sexuality which while interesting and important I thought sometimes didn’t quite always connect to the main topic at hand.

I had thought the book would be more of a memoir than a study of a particular era through her personal lens. I would have liked more of her own life and experience. think it misleading to call it a memoir in the title and I may have had a more positive reading experience if my initial expectations weren’t misled so.

that said, she writes well, and I’m a fan of any fan of Roxanne Gay! I’d recommend this as a collection of essays broadly bur not exclusively covering the theme of fat phobia but would caveat that it’s not a memoir!

Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. This is a short collection of essays about the pervasive and stigmatizing effect of fatphobia, with illustrations from popular shows and movies and the author's own life experiences providing the context.
Mekdela talks about how not conforming to a standard size as determined by society(not taking into consideration marginalized groups and the factors that uniquely affect their bodies) is considered an affront even today. It's a struggle to get clothes that fit, comfortable furniture and even medical treatment because weight is deemed the root cause. The shallow standards for beauty as upheld in several movies is pointed out as are the attempts to project a more inclusive image. An interesting and thought provoking read. #netgalley #mekdela #plussize #goodreads#getlitsy #tea_sipping_bookworm #thestorygraph #memoir #fatphobia #bookqueen #bookstagram #greatreads

Thank you NetGalley for the review copy!
I enjoyed this memoir about varied topics and the focus on being plus sized.

a disjointed but otherwise thoughtful essay collection. more Black women should have the opportunity to publish books like this: a collection of their thoughts. reminded me of something that David Brooks might right: a series of opinions and reviews according to their whim. again, the room for improvement here is that the essays are loosely connected by broad social forces. several times sentences would benefit from further examples & deeper analysis to substantiate the claims. notable quotation / last line of book: “as we work to dismantle fatphobia, we must center fat Black and Indigenous women and non-binary people at the larger end of the plus sizes; we must also dismantle capitalism and colonialism, or we will never succeed.”

The subject of this memoir immediately captured my interest, especially as someone who spent my formative years in the 90s and 2000s. While I enjoyed reading the book overall, it did read more like a college essay rather than a published nonfiction book. I also felt like while the premise was promising, sometimes the pop culture examples given didn't always feel relevant. Overall, I think I would have enjoyed this more if it was longer and if it felt more synthesized and cohesive.

Thanks to Netgalley and Mekdela for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Most essays encouraging and uplifting. Some, though, really had little to do with the purported topic.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

➫ 3.5 Stars

I ran to request this on Netgalley and audibly squealed when I saw I was automatically approved for this (my deepest thanks and gratitude to Mekdela & Netgalley for the ARC). This memoir started off really strong and, above all else, I will always applaud any author that takes on the topic of fatphobia & how inherent it is in society.

There were a couple of things I thought the author did very well:
⭑ Addressing how fatphobia is synonymous with anti-blackness
⭑ Offering support to any person, regardless of race, size, or gender
⭑ Referencing data & academic articles to illustrate how toxic the idea of "thin" over "healthy" is

But there were also a number of things I found the author did rather poorly:
⭑ There were multiple essays that had next-to-nothing or absolutely nothing to do with being plus-sized, despite the memoir's title. For instance, there was an essay that addressed how the south is used as a scapegoat for America's racism (which, don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about and agreed with), but it had nothing to do with being plus-sized aside from a throw-away line about Southern comfort food.
⭑ The majority of pop culture examples that Mekdela used were very niche, even by plus-size standards. With the exception of Drop Dead Diva and Shallow Hal, all of the examples she names don't even center around fatphobia, but are rather used as a subplot or not mentioned at all (i.e., what, if anything, does Bend It Like Beckham have to do with fatphobia??).

Overall, I think it would have been more interesting if Mekdela would have used more prominent examples of fatphobia in mainstream pop culture, and would have additionally benefited from being able to find more research on the topic.

Just to name a few examples I wish were mentioned:
⭑ Monica (& Courteney Cox's fat-suit) in Friends
⭑ America Ferrera's abysmal treatment in Hollywood with both Ugly Betty and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, as well as how she was stereotyped
⭑ How fat characters are treated as laughing-stock characters and un-desirable (e.g., Rebel Wilson as "Fat Amy" in Pitch Perfect)
⭑ The concept of The Duff, and how the actress used in the movie was straight-sized and beautiful (what kind of effect is this having on actresses put into these roles?).
⭑ How Lizzo is treated; not only does she constantly show herself eating healthy and going to the gym, we know she has insane breath control- yet Hollywood and social media seems set on tearing her apart simply because of her weight.

Overall, I did really enjoy reading this, and would recommend this to anyone looking to better educate themselves on being plus-sized.

This was a quick read about the body positive movement from the 90s to today.
While I feel like Mekdela did an okay job, it just didn’t move me the way I was expecting.
I liked some of the references but I feel like maybe some more prominent examples could have been given of the fat phobia plus size women face in the every day.

3.5 *

This short collection of essays is about the pervasive and stigmatizing effect of fatphobia, with illustrations from popular shows and movies and the author's own life experiences providing the context.
She talks about how not conforming to a standard size as determined by society(not taking into consideration marginalized groups and the factors that uniquely affect their bodies) is considered an affront even today. It's a struggle to get clothes that fit, comfortable furniture and even medical treatment because weight is deemed the root cause. The shallow standards for beauty as upheld in several movies is pointed out as are the attempts to project a more inclusive image. I particularly liked the references from Hunger by Roxane Gay, a memoir I really found relatable.
On the downside, too many topics seem to have been included which dilutes the main one and more of the author's own thoughts had been included, given the description of the book as a memoir.

Thanks to Netgalley for this digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

"Plus-Size: A Memoir of Pop Culture, Fatphobia, and Social Change" by Mekdela is a compelling and thought-provoking analysis of societal and cultural attitudes towards body size. Drawing from personal experiences and critical analyses of various media platforms, Mekdela delves deep into the profound impact of fatphobia on individual self-perception and societal norms. She meticulously uncovers the intersectionality of fatphobia with race, class, and gender, providing a lens into the systemic biases that pervade our society. Her candid and informative critique reflects her unique perspective as a plus-size Ethiopian-American woman.

The brilliance of this memoir lies in its potent combination of personal narratives and academic discourse. Mekdela expertly interweaves her life experiences with thoughtful criticism of pop culture, comprehensively exploring the body positivity movement and the potential for social change. Her poignant discussions about reality TV shows, medical misconceptions about obesity, and racial disparities in body image perceptions are especially impactful. A fast yet enlightening read, this book calls for empathy and understanding while advocating for systemic change. A compelling read that deserves a full five stars. Thanks to Netgalley and Mekdela for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Simple put: wow. This collection of essays is engaging, funny, thought-provoking, charming, witty, and deep. The book is well organized as it dives in to deep discussions of racism, fatphobia, ableism, sexism, classism, and more. Balancing the heavier discussions are lighthearted reviews and analysis of various media forms the author has experienced. Any 90s kid will remember much of the same stories. A great read for someone who doesn’t understand why liberation and recognition is important for all bodies. Delightful every step of the way, I look forward to seeing what else Mekdela writes in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC!

Mekdela explores the intersectionality of bodypositvity and also fatphobia through the lens of her own experiences and pop culture which was very compelling. This was a very fast read that I couldn't put down and painted a heartbreaking picture of how racism, fatphobia misogyny and ableism seep into all aspects of our capalistic society.

Their pop culture references and comparisons were very interesting but also informative. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from the author!

Plus Size: A Memoir of Pop Culture, Fatphobia, and Social Change by Mekdela was a book I didn’t know I needed to read.

As a woman who grew up in America, I have spent my entire life aware of my body. The media’s fixation and objectification of the female form, aided in my personal dissatisfaction. Hearing Mekdela’s journey and seeing things through her eyes, validated my experiences.

I loved the way Mekdela wrote this book. Coming in at under 100 pages, each chapter is short but powerful. Television, film, and music are primarily used to highly society’s role is how we value or devalue human life.

Special thanks to Book Baby and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I've been hoodwinked!! I was truly excited to read this book and hear the author's viewpoint of living as a plus-sized woman of color in today's harsh society. Unfortunately, the title of the book is very misleading and actually focuses very little on body size and everything that goes along with it. And the little bit she does speak of being overweight, she blames on society, living in a white man's world, poverty, our health care system and colonialism. While I agree that those things can and often do play a role in obesity, there was absolutely ZERO accountability for a person's own role in the situation. I did like the 90's references; 1 star for those. 1 star for being vulnerable in the writing. That's the best I can offer.

Truthfully, I was looking really forward to this book-- as I grew up in the 90's and the early 2000s when stick thin figures and diets were all the rage in pop culture. I was really looking into this, and seeing how this has affected our culture today.

However, I have been truly let down. Mekdela is a talented author, but I felt that she strayed from the topic of body weight. The majority of the book is recaps of movies, books, topics that she's come across, with a little small blurb about how she felt about it. Oftentimes-- it focused deeply on racial and LGBT issues-- which are important in pop culture too, but the topic was on weight.

Easily, I felt like Mekdela picked some of the most obscure references to cover--while ignoring huge mainstream topics like the Kardashians and their plethora of issues revolving body image or how one of the most popular television shows of all time had a really offensive use of a fat suit. I think the idea of actors wearing body suits could be positive, but is often poorly done-- so I thought it could definitely be a topic worth reading on.

Deep down, I would skip this book. It reads like a college essay, and not like a nonfiction book that's worth purchasing.

Thank you Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.