FAT: The story of My Life With My Body
One could not hope for a more engrossing, intelligent and bracingly honest memoir on this problematic subject. I ate it up. --Phillip LopateAs I was whisking my way through Jean Braithwaite's extraordinary memoir, I started writing down all of the reasons I admired it and found it such a joy to read. Here's but a short section of a long list: brilliant, profound, honest, funny, deeply moving, artistic triumph . . . and so on. This is one of the best memoirs I have ever read. --Robert WhitakerReading this wrenching (yet beautifully restrained) memoir, I experienced that rare shock of literary recognition Jean Braithwaite says things, publically, I was sure only I had thought in the privacy of my own mind. Anyone who has cringed when complimented for losing weight, anyone who can t help but hear the implicit critique (Was I really that bad before? Do you actually think I m a better person, now?) will be profoundly moved by this book. Though her experiences with her body many seem more extreme than many people s, Braithwaite s story can help readers understand their own experiences we all want to be considered desirable, and we all live in a culture that corrodes and corrupts that want. Braithwaite s intimately personal story contains a compelling argument: collectively, we seriously misunderstand weight loss and gain, and the error in the way we perceive what a healthful body should look like has devastating consequences. For all of us. --Erin Stalcup