Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body

While I admire Ms. Gay's attempt to share her journey with the reader, the book comes across as shallow and lacking genuine depth. Yes she told of the event that led to her lifelong battle but where is the inner work? Perhaps I missed it because I stopped reading. Ms. Gay if you haven't done so please consider therapy. Please fight for the 12 year old girl who so desperately needs healing. From what I read the 12 year old is not only traumatized from the actual event but she now carries the guilt of being too small to fight off her attackers. She is literally carrying the weight of that guilt. Please free her Ms. Gay and at the same time stop protecting the violators' identities!

Beautiful, powerful, full of honesty and grace - this is such an important book that I think it should be assigned to students in high school/college. I'm very grateful for Roxane Gay and her courage.

There was no real point to this book. Just excuses and justifications to explain how poor decisions contributed to negative events of her life. It was quite contradictory throughout, not wanting to be judged for her weight, which she admits she hates at times, yet hates everyone based on the preconceived opinions she thinks they have about her. The entire book repeated most of the same stories over and over with no real conclusion.

This is not a memoir. It is a cyclical rant in which Ms. Gay refuses to reveal her true feelings or the events of her life.

It went pretty well in the beginning, but then she lost the thread of her story and began jumping back and forth in time, hinting at important events in her life like she was at a dinner party. Listen, if you are going to write a memoir, tell us about your life. And please, make up names for everyone, not just Christopher. I could not keep her boyfriends (or the random dude she lived with) straight, because there were no names! I finally gave up when she referred to a 'traumatic event' or some such with one of her boyfriends-- I think the nice one--that lead to a hard time in their relationship. Vague?
Obtuse? Listen, a word of advice for any writer: Don't write a memoir if you don't want people to know what happened in your past. Just sayin'.

If you want to read a memoir, read something by Augusten Burroughs.

Self-absorbed, myopic, wallowing purporting to be meaningful to more than an audience of one. She was sexually assaulted by peers as a 12 year old,felt betrayed,got fat to protect herself from the world, and uses the book to somehow justify this response to trauma, and as a statement that fat lives matter,and deliver the big reveal that women are judged by their appearance. Lesson learned: the self repair approach to life altering trauma might not be the best Iife choice---although not dealing with your stuff can be turned into a career.

I got this from the library the other day and couldn't put it down and also because I thought there would be some insight offered eventually. I am grateful for those other one star reviews I just read that confirmed what I was beginning to suspect while reading her vague and non substantial recollections. She was began joining chat rooms as a safe way of connecting with men but then on the next page she's running away with these strangers with no explanation as to how or when that became non threatening. She was a phone sex operator and while I have never been one personally I can speculate that these gentlemen callers were less than gentlemanly sounding when they were sharing their perverted fantasies (ok maybe they are just all lonely, what do I know?) I wanted to like this book and had high hopes in the beginning. Boring, non-reflective, not particulary well written. I'm sorry, she was dealt a very shitty hand early in life and I hope she someday finds the peace she deserves.

This book started out great but I had to force myself through it. I thought I would relate to her story because I have been a victim of physical & sexual abuse but her story drifted a lot. I wouldn't waste your money on this book.

I heard such good things about this book but was truly disappointed in it. Although she did experience true trauma, it would have been inspiring if she overcame it and didn't continue to see herself as a victim. Throughout the book the incident of trauma was always her excuse for obesity. Also, she believes there should be more effort put forth by society to make life easier for those that are extremely overweight and I personally disagree. Despite these things it was well written and insightful. Eye opening to struggles I was unaware of.

Remarkably honest and candid
Roxane Gay’s memoir HUNGER is about the author’s experience with her “wildly undisciplined body” and the color of her skin. She was a sheltered black girl, a daughter of well educated parents; Catholics who emigrated from Haiti to the US. At the age of 12, Roxane was gang-raped by Christopher, a boy she loved, and a group of his white friends. She was screaming, fighting and praying; believing that God would save her, but it didn’t happen. “I no longer believe in God because surely if there were a God, he would have saved me from Christopher and those boys, who raped me in the woods (Page 48.) Being terrified of men, Roxane started to date women. Simultaneously, she was swollen with desire, wanting men despite the fact that men had hurt her so badly. Roxane ate a lot and felt ravenous even when not hungry. She went from size 8 to size 42 and weighed 600 lb. Roxane murmured “I did not deserve to be desired; I did not deserve to be loved. I need to tell you what happened to my body, a terrible thing that could happen to any girl. I don’t want to carry all the secrets I have carried and I do not want pity. I am one woman who has experienced something countless women have experienced. I am a victim who survived.”
I had been a captive in Nazi camps from the age of fifteen to eighteen. Being deprived of basic human rights for so long, I am able to empathize with Roxane’s suffering. She was traumatized when being raped at the age of 12. I was traumatized at the age of 13 when my father was murdered by the German invaders of Poland. Roxane had a desperate need to be touched; I was deprived of a human touch for three years. Roxane believes that by sharing her life story, some people can become appropriately horrified by how much suffering is caused by sexual violence, how far reaching the repercussions can be. I wrote my memoir From a Name to a Number hoping that many people will become horrified by how much of endless emotional and physical abuse I had been subjected to during the Holocaust, the systematic murder of European Jews.
Roxane expected God to rescue her from the rapists. I expected God to stop Hitler and his cohorts from murdering six million Jews and many other innocent people.
Today, Roxane writes (P.296) “I travel to places where my blackness is unremarkable, where I don’t feel like I have to constantly defend my right to breath, to be.” Till this very day, I am often looking out for a German guard with his dog (German shepherds incited to hurt prisoners) to be behind my back. Fortunately, I am free and glad to be in this blessed country, the United States of America.

HUNGER is remarkably honest and candid, sharply personal. It is heartbreaking and powerful. It reveals Roxane’s mental and physical pain, her hunger for intimacy and her resiliency. She is now, a successful author of fiction and non-fiction loaded with introspection and wit. She also teaches writing at Eastern Illinois University. Roxane deserves a lot of credit for her accomplishment despite all the obstacles, on her path. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but rising every time we fall” - Nelson Mandela.

This is not a memoir. It is a cyclical rant in which Ms. Gay refuses to reveal her true feelings or the events of her life.

It went pretty well in the beginning, but then she lost the thread of her story and began jumping back and forth in time, hinting at important events in her life like she was at a dinner party. Listen, if you are going to write a memoir, tell us about your life. And please, make up names for everyone, not just Christopher. I could not keep her boyfriends (or the random dude she lived with) straight, because there were no names! I finally gave up when she referred to a 'traumatic event' or some such with one of her boyfriends-- I think the nice one--that lead to a hard time in their relationship. Vague?
Obtuse? Listen, a word of advice for any writer: Don't write a memoir if you don't want people to know what happened in your past. Just sayin'.

If you want to read a memoir, read something by Augusten Burroughs.

Self-absorbed, myopic, wallowing purporting to be meaningful to more than an audience of one. She was sexually assaulted by peers as a 12 year old,felt betrayed,got fat to protect herself from the world, and uses the book to somehow justify this response to trauma, and as a statement that fat lives matter,and deliver the big reveal that women are judged by their appearance. Lesson learned: the self repair approach to life altering trauma might not be the best Iife choice---although not dealing with your stuff can be turned into a career.

I got this from the library the other day and couldn't put it down and also because I thought there would be some insight offered eventually. I am grateful for those other one star reviews I just read that confirmed what I was beginning to suspect while reading her vague and non substantial recollections. She was began joining chat rooms as a safe way of connecting with men but then on the next page she's running away with these strangers with no explanation as to how or when that became non threatening. She was a phone sex operator and while I have never been one personally I can speculate that these gentlemen callers were less than gentlemanly sounding when they were sharing their perverted fantasies (ok maybe they are just all lonely, what do I know?) I wanted to like this book and had high hopes in the beginning. Boring, non-reflective, not particulary well written. I'm sorry, she was dealt a very shitty hand early in life and I hope she someday finds the peace she deserves.

This book started out great but I had to force myself through it. I thought I would relate to her story because I have been a victim of physical & sexual abuse but her story drifted a lot. I wouldn't waste your money on this book.

I heard such good things about this book but was truly disappointed in it. Although she did experience true trauma, it would have been inspiring if she overcame it and didn't continue to see herself as a victim. Throughout the book the incident of trauma was always her excuse for obesity. Also, she believes there should be more effort put forth by society to make life easier for those that are extremely overweight and I personally disagree. Despite these things it was well written and insightful. Eye opening to struggles I was unaware of.

Remarkably honest and candid
Roxane Gay’s memoir HUNGER is about the author’s experience with her “wildly undisciplined body” and the color of her skin. She was a sheltered black girl, a daughter of well educated parents; Catholics who emigrated from Haiti to the US. At the age of 12, Roxane was gang-raped by Christopher, a boy she loved, and a group of his white friends. She was screaming, fighting and praying; believing that God would save her, but it didn’t happen. “I no longer believe in God because surely if there were a God, he would have saved me from Christopher and those boys, who raped me in the woods (Page 48.) Being terrified of men, Roxane started to date women. Simultaneously, she was swollen with desire, wanting men despite the fact that men had hurt her so badly. Roxane ate a lot and felt ravenous even when not hungry. She went from size 8 to size 42 and weighed 600 lb. Roxane murmured “I did not deserve to be desired; I did not deserve to be loved. I need to tell you what happened to my body, a terrible thing that could happen to any girl. I don’t want to carry all the secrets I have carried and I do not want pity. I am one woman who has experienced something countless women have experienced. I am a victim who survived.”
I had been a captive in Nazi camps from the age of fifteen to eighteen. Being deprived of basic human rights for so long, I am able to empathize with Roxane’s suffering. She was traumatized when being raped at the age of 12. I was traumatized at the age of 13 when my father was murdered by the German invaders of Poland. Roxane had a desperate need to be touched; I was deprived of a human touch for three years. Roxane believes that by sharing her life story, some people can become appropriately horrified by how much suffering is caused by sexual violence, how far reaching the repercussions can be. I wrote my memoir From a Name to a Number hoping that many people will become horrified by how much of endless emotional and physical abuse I had been subjected to during the Holocaust, the systematic murder of European Jews.
Roxane expected God to rescue her from the rapists. I expected God to stop Hitler and his cohorts from murdering six million Jews and many other innocent people.
Today, Roxane writes (P.296) “I travel to places where my blackness is unremarkable, where I don’t feel like I have to constantly defend my right to breath, to be.” Till this very day, I am often looking out for a German guard with his dog (German shepherds incited to hurt prisoners) to be behind my back. Fortunately, I am free and glad to be in this blessed country, the United States of America.

HUNGER is remarkably honest and candid, sharply personal. It is heartbreaking and powerful. It reveals Roxane’s mental and physical pain, her hunger for intimacy and her resiliency. She is now, a successful author of fiction and non-fiction loaded with introspection and wit. She also teaches writing at Eastern Illinois University. Roxane deserves a lot of credit for her accomplishment despite all the obstacles, on her path. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but rising every time we fall” - Nelson Mandela.

This book should come with a warning for readers with similar issues. I had to stop reading halfway through. It brought back very bad memories and I was actually feeling suicidal. It's also repetitive. I mistakenly thought it would bring inspiration. My bad.

Props to the author for her raw vulnerability and transparency. She had a horrific event happen to her at age 12, a gang rape, which was obviously very traumatic and heartbreaking. The book, however, was 300 pages of self loathing, whining, and really a true insight into a victim’s mentality. I’m not one to write negative reviews, but this book praises insecurity and not taking ownership over your emotions or circumstances. She describes herself as being “hyper-self conscious” and incredibly insecure; both are incredibly accurate. Honestly, it got pretty whiny at times and the “woe is me, the whole world hates me and my fat body” stance got old. And she definitely fit shames— no doubt there at all, see chapters 47 and 48. We are all in charge of our own happiness. Bad things happen to everyone and life isn’t fair, but you CHOOSE your reactions to unfortunate circumstances in life, and your attitude and your emotions thereafter. I hope she finds peace and learns to take better care of herself both physically and mentally.

I am going to start with a few disclosures. The first is I am a Roxane Gay fan. I was introduced to her work about 2 years ago with Bad Feminist and have read all the books she has published.

The second disclosure is I am a fat guy, who got skinny for a bit, but then got fat again after being diagnosed with heart disease which tampered my exercise habits. I disclose that because a lot of what she writes in this book, I can completely identify with- the self hatred, the ad telling you one is not great unless they are skinny, the constant struggle knowing you are fat and the desire to want to stop being fat are all there.

This is not an easy book. My dad asked me this weekend how the book was, as he wants to read it too, and I had a hard time recommending it. It was difficult to recommend not because of the writing, as the writing is incredible, but rather because of the content within the book.

Gay opens the book in the second chapter with the notion- this is not going to end with a picture of her standing next to oversized jeans and everything is happy now that she got skinny. This is definitely not that book.

What this book is, is a very raw and emotional look at the life of a fat women (her words not mine) both internally and externally. This book looks at trauma, at internalized hurt, at self abuse, at physical abuse, at want, at conflict, at sexuality, and lays it all out there. It is almost journal like in that you are getting her inner dialog and secret story laid out there and I was so appreciative of her willingness to write this that I wrote to her on Twitter.

For those with trigger warnings, she does talk about rape and being abused. Part of her story was being gang raped by her then boyfriend and his friends in the woods. As stated earlier, this is a raw book, so it goes into detail. I actually put the book down after reading those chapters as I needed a small breather. She will also keep coming back to this story and others as she talks about why she started eating the way she did.

I cannot begin to state how amazing this book is. I could identify with so much of this book. It was also a pain filled book with deep psychological hurts and healings. This is why I pause when recommending this book a bit. Be prepared.

I gave this one 5 stars.

Roxane Gay can tell her story however she wants and in the best way that serves her. For me, though, I read maybe the first half of this in one sitting and then it took me over a week to finish the rest because it got very circular and repetitive--much like reading someone's diary or journal. (I know this because when I look back at my old journals, I am always struck by how often I circle around the same issue(s) until I decide to take some sort of action.)

A few things stuck out to me while reading this:

1. She mentions that she gained weight specifically to make herself invisible after her weight, and she also briefly mentions anorexic women and how they make themselves smaller and how she has a morbid fascination and even envy of those women. However, she doesn't ever seem to make the explicit connection that she is doing the same thing as those women--that they are using the same weapon (f00d) in different ways (deprivation vs. excess).

2. She gained weight because of her trauma (getting raped when she was 12), which makes this, really, a glimpse into someone who suffers from PTSD and has chosen food and overeating to deal with that trauma yet has, in some ways, caused herself more suffering because of how she treats her trauma. (She explicitly talks about the ways her weight gain has limited her AND how she limits herself in other ways because of her weight gain.) This is not unusual for sufferers of PTSD.

3. She constantly refers to her body as a cage. This is NOT a narrative about someone who has gotten better. This is a narrative of someone who is dealing. I mention that because if you like a happier or more hopeful ending, then this memoir does not deliver on that front. At one point, she says, "I am as healed as I am going to be" and given that her body is a cage and the book is mostly written in present tense and it is still raw and painful--though she clearly states that she is in a better place than she used to be because she is making better choices about how she treats herself--I found this unbearably sad. That is in large part because...

4. She mentions therapy one time, and it's something she does because her high school or college counselor makes her and she is not honest during the process. Obviously, though this is a personal account, only Gay knows how personal it is. She could very well have revisited therapy or something else after that. However, it's not mentioned. Therefore, I feel it imperative to say that if you read this memoir and you relate to it--especially the parts about not deserving good things or not deserving to be treated well by people or obsessing about your body/weight and mistreating yourself--and you think that one day you'll figure out how to treat yourself better or whatever, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO IT ALONE. There is therapy and there are support groups and some of these things are free or available on a sliding scale. And I'm not talking about losing weight. I am talking about loving yourself and allowing yourself to be loved.

5. This is not a memoir about overcoming. This is a memoir about being in survival mode, right now. I related to a lot of this, and I'm glad I read it. There's a definitely a place for this type of memoir, though (or because, honestly) it is different from most.

I did not enjoy this book and based on the high ratings I am in the minority. I also found myself skimming through the last 3/4 of the book for the fact that I tired quickly of reading the same thing over and over again.
I'm sorry for the circumstances that seemingly propelled the author into using food as her safety net and wish her well in her ongoing recovery. I just did not enjoy reading her story which seemed to hold everyone but herself responsible for her eating disorder.

“I often tell my students that fiction is about desire in one way or another. The older I get, the more I understand that life is generally the pursuit of desires. We want and want and oh how we want. We hunger.”

This is a book about hunger—but not the kind of hunger that first comes to mind when you learn that it's a book about being overweight. It's about hunger for many things: escape, solace, acceptance, safety, understanding.

Roxane Gay is one of the most brilliant, sharp, witty and insightful writers of our time. In this deeply personal memoir, she candidly tells the story of her body, and what it's like to live in a world that doesn't create space (neither physical nor emotional) for people with bodies like hers.

As Roxane writes in her opening chapter, this isn't your typical motivational memoir about triumph, and as someone who loathes those kinds of books, for that I am grateful. I wouldn't expect anything else from Roxane, whom I've long admired for her brazen realness and no-bullshit personality. Roxane lays bare the traumatic event that marked a turning point in her life, and the "after" that followed—during which she turned to eating as a means of coping in various ways.

While Hunger is very much Roxane's story about her own body, there's a universality to it: she has a way with words that cuts to the core of what it means to be human. We each hunger in our own ways.

It's impossible for me to put into words how much I adore Roxane Gay, and how grateful I am for her powerful, beautiful writing. Hunger is a memoir that shouldn't be missed.

This was recommended in a magazine. I feel bad for what happened to this lady, but the writing was just terrible. The story was jumping all over the place with no rhyme or reason. She has a habit of saying things like "I don't know why I did it. But I do." What? Then she went on a rant about Ina Garten and how she has a wonderful life and then at the end of her rant she explains that Ina is ok with being "plump." How insulting to Ina. I ended up finishing it because I waited over 2 months to borrow it from the library but I feel like I wasted my time.

I had high hopes for this book. I thought it would be an illuminating look at what it is truly like to be obese in our fat-prejudiced society. Instead, it's a long, repetitive apologia of the author's victim mentality. Gay talks about her "unruly body," as if it exists as a thing apart from herself. Although she experienced a horrific sexual assault as a child, she takes no responsibility for her own recovery from that trauma. She is cognizant and mature enough to recognize this event has been influential on the development of her psyche, but then doesn't appear to be proactive enough to get professional help to heal from the damage. Instead, she appears to nurse it, along with every other perceived slight she has ever experienced.

In this respect, I found the book to be dishonest. There is no real self examination, no real divulging of private thoughts and feelings. Gay comes across as having a chip on her shoulder, blaming others and society for the difficulties she has experienced in life. Her voice is completely devoid of the recognition that, while she has indeed experienced horrific violence and hurt at the hands of others, as an adult now only she and she alone can take responsibility for her recovery. She comes across as a professional victim, taking responsibility for nothing in her life--not her weight, not the vicissitudes of her various relationships, not her own mental well-being. This is a shame, because Gay is clearly intelligent, and can write. She could have an interesting perspective to offer her audience, if only she chose to be honest.

A mental health professional once told me those with narcissistic personality disorder have difficulty seeking out help for their emotional and interpersonal issues, because they find it very uncomfortable if not impossible to engage in honest self examination. This could be Gay's problem. Because she cannot do the work required to examine herself and heal from the past trauma she claims is the root of her obesity, the author is doomed to remain obese. And to the truly critical reader, her book definitely lacks a sincere and candid voice.

I can not answer because the book never arrived?. I’m actually very happy that you reminded me. I’m not sure who I should contact - could you please point me in the right direction?
Thank you.

I expected the reading of Hunger to be difficult because I've spent my whole life dealing with weight issues, and their accompanying self-image problems.  I was right.  Within the first few chapters, I'd broken down in tears several times because what she was saying touched painful places within me.  I would nod, and cry, and think "I'm not alone!" and feel somehow stronger because of it.
And then she'd talk about other experiences that I failed to relate to, and I listened from a distance, appreciating her honesty, but not connecting in any meaningful way.  Gay and I come at our shared problems via very different routes.  I have never been raped as she was, but I come from a genetic background of self-medication and severe weight issues.  (My biological grandmother ended her life as a shut-in due to her weight.  A distant ancestor, who was known in his youth as "The Wolf," became "The Fat" as he grew old.) but we've ended up in the same place, and that is the significant, even central fact of both of our lives.

What is universal here is the pain we can suffer at the hands of other people.  Like Gay, I've been abused my whole life because of my weight.  I've been called names, shoved, spit on, laughed at, punched, blamed for everything that's wrong in the world, and more.  Unlike Gay, who is still young enough that these things can hurt her, at my age I have ceased to care what anyone else thinks of me.  

Most of the time.

And that's why her story felt so devastating to me, I think.  It should be painful to any human being with an ounce of empathy, even if they've never been the object of prejudice.  It's all well and good for me to tell myself that bullies are sad, fearful people, but that doesn't always translate, you know?  It's all well and good to say, I'm past concerns about how I move through this life, but I'm not.  I have to plan ahead for social gatherings, especially now as age and injury have closed down my world even further. 

As Gay points out, and I know well, the world is full of people who are anxious to tell you how to fix these problems.  "Just lose weight!" they say.  (Oh my gosh, why didn't I THINK of that?  How silly of me!)  "Just eat less!"  (Thanks, but I have spent so much time starving myself that there was a time when I could gain weight on a 600 calorie per day diet.  You live on 600 calories for a while and tell me how that feels.)  This is like telling someone with depression to just cheer up, or someone with a broken leg to just walk it off.  If there really was an easy fix... well if there was we might not all be thin because there'd be no real stigma attached to something that could be changed the way we change our clothes.  We might be able to be who we are instead of who we are told we should be.

And that's one of the most critical issues within Gay's book, the control that is so often exerted over women and their bodies.  I've known for most of my life that fat men don't come in for half the abuse that fat women do.  But in a world where women's bodies remain commodities to be traded in, everyone thinks they have something to say about how women look, about the space they take up in this world.  This is at the core of Hunger, and it makes Gay's story both uglier and more pertinent.  You don't have to be a fat woman to have a total stranger tell you your body is somehow wrong or bad, you just have to be female, and minding your own damn business.

I hope that readers will understand what it is Gay is saying here, not just about being fat in a world that values only thinness, but about being female in a world that values us as objects, not people.  Hunger isn't just about Roxane Gay.  It's not just about being fat.  It's not just about being different or challenging society's expectations.  It is about being female in a world where everything you are is public property, and where you are expected to take up as little space as possible.

And now I feel very sad and angry again, and am going to stop writing.  Read this book.  Believe it.

You must read HUNGER by Roxane Gay.

It is not a simple book to extol, although I come away wanting to do just that. Gay ensures that someone like me comes away vehemently conscious of the privilege of their body, of what it is to move around the world in a body that conforms far more closely to societally accepted standards than hers does. I run the risk of sounding condescending or patronizing when I only deeply want to express how profoundly this book affected me: how it moved me and educated me. I came away humbled, and violently furious on her behalf. But it's not about me. It’s only about me in that I, and people who are shaped like myself, have a responsibility to make our world a kinder, more conscious and inclusive place. We must elevate the voices and narratives of people with marginalized and misunderstood bodies. That is our responsibility…that, and to listen.

I want to call this book excellent, heartbreaking, brilliant, clear, brave, unflinching and devastating. All of that is true, but it’s incomplete, so let me just say: You must read HUNGER by Roxane Gay.

Early on in the book, she writes: "What you need to know is that my life is split in two, cleaved not so neatly. There is the before and the after. Before I gained weight. After I gained weight. Before I was raped. After I was raped."

It seems a disservice to paraphrase, but that's the nature of a review. Roxane Gay was assaulted horrifically by a boy she knew and many she didn't at age 12. She began gaining weight to reclaim her body, and to transform it into something that would protect her from men, make her feel less desirable to their passions and, therefore, less vulnerable. Her trauma informs the book, because the book is about body, her body, and she and her body were changed by that trauma.

"I want to be understood," she says. She writes of surviving, but also of occupying the space of victimhood. She confronts that space. The consequences of that assault are deep and far-reaching. She took control of her body, but in some ways, perhaps, lost control of it that day. She is working to reclaim it.

People make assumptions about her weight. They perceive themselves superior to her because of it. I don't think anyone could look at her and know the truth. They talk of her health as if they know what's really plaguing her. They talk of the accommodations she needs in the space she occupies as if those accommodations are a personal affront to them, instead of the reality she has to live within. It's not that she's too big, but that our standards of womanhood and personhood are too narrow.

"My body is a cage," she writes, "but this is my cage and there are moments where I take pride in it."

You must read HUNGER by Roxane Gay. I want to live in a world where more people have read HUNGER by Roxane Gay. We need to be more conscious of what we carry and what others carry, and what we can do to other people. Gay is a prominent figure and has been tremendously forthcoming and brave to share so much of how she became who she is. We need to know that prominent activists, writers and scholars can carry this with them. We need to understand how trauma can endure. We need to understand how people can endure beyond it.

"But I am a lucky girl. I think most of my sad stories are behind me. There are things I will no longer tolerate. [...] These sad stories will always weigh on me, though that burden lessens the more I realize who I am and what I am worth."

This is a narrative of body, trauma, identity, becoming, belonging, creation. It reads like it needed to be written. And it needs to be read.

Reviewed by Maya Gittelman

I finished this book in one day. There are so many passages in this book that really resonated with me. I feel as though the author was able to articulate clearly what so many overweight women struggle with on a daily basis. Highly recommend!

This memoir was recommended to me, and when I picked it up I knew nothing about Roxane Gay. I read that Roxane, born 28 October 1974, is the daughter of prosperous Haitian immigrants to the USA. She is 6’3” (190.5 centimetres) tall, and at her heaviest weighed 577 pounds (261.7 kilograms). Who is this woman, and why is her story important?

I found this memoir is both about being fat, and how our experiences (particularly traumatic experiences) can shape our lives. Roxane Gay was raped as a twelve-year old. She did not tell anyone and responded by eating: ‘I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe.’ While I understand that response, my heart ached for the twelve-year old girl who thought that she needed to punish herself, who thought that by being fat (and therefore less attractive) she’d be less visible and therefore safe.

There’s no weight loss success story here. Success takes a different form as Ms Gay writes about her experiences, about her body and what has happened to it, and how she views it. Alongside the personal journey, Ms Gay writes about perceptions of women, about what is seen as attractive and desirable.

‘Why do we view the boundaries people create for themselves as challenges ?’

I agree with much of what Ms Gay writes about the various forms hunger can take and the unrealistic expectations placed on so many women. Women are frequently criticised for their looks, their weight and their shape. It’s logical to conclude that a woman’s body is her own responsibility. But what does that responsibility entail? I need to think more about that. I need to think about my own response to weight issues, about what is healthy.

Ms Gay writes that: ‘Writing this book is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done .’

I can believe that. This kind of self-analysis is incredibly difficult and confronting. For me, this book is a starting point, an invitation to think. Some hunger can never really be satisfied.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

The personal narrative begins in a captivating way until halfway thru, you soon hear a constant whining that is almost unbearable to endure. The author has an axe to grind for every challenge in her life. She complains and blames her situation on social "injustice ". No respect? It's cause I'm fat! People touch me? It because they don't respect my space. Others don't see my feminimity? It's because society doesn't respect black women and on and on and on.

I picked this up after reading an article by Roxane Gay about the "concern trolling" often directed at her. Concern Trolling is just the way some folks hide their disdain of one's weight by disguising it as something said out of love and concern, when in actuality that advice is not helpful or needed. As Gay indicates here, another person's weight is not another person's business or an open invitation for comments and advice.

This book is a short read but remember it will have many difficult moments and sometimes utter heartbreak. Gay warns us from the get go that there will be no great uplift or inspiration at the end, but there's also not really an end at all. The problems she has in the beginning are mostly still there at the last page, which really is why I think the book is interesting. We've all read a book or two (or ten) about weight before. Some are written by slightly heavy people, and some by heavier people. But they all end in one of two ways: weight loss success or a feeling of body approval despite no weight loss. Gay ends her book with neither, which looks to have frustrated some readers. I get that sense we have that memoirs can only be written by life's victors.* That is simply what we're all used to, but there is something very honest and new about this kind of life story. It's not inspirational, but it's real. It's relatable even if you don't quite have the same magnitude of experience (like having someone put "ugliest woman in the world" to your picture online.) It's a book written by and for those of us who still haven't quite figured it all out.

Gay doesn't give every detail of her own gang rape, but she gives us enough to understand its severity (you might say she didn't go all-out on this section, but if we're going to go there, I'd say she actually didn't go all-out on happier feelings in the "before" section either; it was still pretty morose.). Still, even though she handles the section gingerly, if you have experienced similar trauma, you should probably give some thought to whether reading this will be a good thing for you. There will be several times when she talks about this and how she still feels about it now or deals with it now that will make you think, "oh, that's not healthy." Which I have no doubt she knows. But in order to accomplish what she wanted with this book, she couldn't always paint herself in a good light or pretend that she handles everything well just because some time has passed since the assault. Gay is, like the rest of us, entitled to feel her own feelings and have her own hang ups.

*btw, just because this isn't a weight loss success story please understand this is not to say Gay is not victorious in the million ways that truly count in life, like being a good person & friend, having a career that makes a difference, etc.

I have only recently become aware of Roxane Gay from reading other bloggers gush about her, and from following her on Twitter. The praise is well deserved. I have read many memoirs in my life, but none have been as brutally honest, and moving, as Hunger.

What I Liked:
Honesty Without Self-Pity:

As the author describes her evolution from happy-go-lucky child to scarred young woman, we can see exactly why she has an insatiable need for safety and comfort. She achieves this with food. In her narrative, she never whines or makes excuses. She knows what she does is destructive. But I can completely empathize with what has happened to her, and how she deals with it. Anyone who reads this and thinks Ms. Gay's issue with food is about will-power or self-control is an ignoramus.

Perspective:

Rarely have I read a more true account of how an individual is treated as an overweight person in America. From snickers, stares, and unwanted advice, to out and out hostility, people are awful to those who are fat! There is almost always an assumption that the fat person is lazy, or doesn't consume a healthy diet. Plus, some men seem genuinely offended that the fat person hasn't gone out of their way to be sexually appealing to them. Even doctors approach to "helping" patients who are fat shows how weight is considered the worst of offenses.

The author also shows how very overweight people have unique mobility issues that many don't realize. While not equating her size with a disability, she certainly can understand how inaccessible many places are for anyone with challenges.

Issues of Sexual Assault:

The author also does discuss, at length, the sexual assault she survived as a child. What happened to her, and how she felt about herself as a result, is at the heart of this book. It was dealt with frankly, and contains all the surrounding emotions of guilt and what-ifs that a survivor feels. This was a necessary portion of the memoir, but if you have a trigger for sexual assault, I would skip this book.

Sexuality:

The author, who is bisexual, discusses her sexuality and how all of her relationships with men and women have been affected by her rape, and its aftermath. I appreciated how honest and open she was about showing all aspects of her life.

I was broken and then I broke some more, and I am not yet healed but I have started believing I will be.”
-Roxane Gay

Roxanne Gay opened up her soul and bared it for all of us to see.

Her Memoir tells the story of her emotional, physical and psychological struggles which stemmed from her being gang raped at the age of 12. She explores how this violent attack affected how she felt about herself, her body and her worth as a human being. She ate to fill a void that could never be filled. She shared how one cruel evil act shaped her life and how she learned to care for herself. She shares her difficulties traveling, clothing shopping and with past relationships.

How incredibly brave she is for telling her story and putting it all on the table. I can only imagine how difficult this memoir must have been for her to write. To share not only your past but your inner thoughts, how you view yourself and you you feel that you are viewed by the world.

This book is brutally honest and incredibly raw. I found her writing to be beautiful and heartfelt. I am a fast reader but this took me some time to get through as the subject matter is so substantial. I have never read a book by Roxanne Gay. I will be reading one soon. Her writing is powerful and eloquent.

This memoir may be difficult for some to read especially if they have sexual assault in their past. This is not a light happy go lucky memoir. This is a life laid bare for the whole world to see. A very brave soul to be so open.

4.5 stars. This is a difficult, painful, excruciating read. But it is also a necessary, revealing, and enlightening read. Gay bares herself, turns her pen toward her own vulnerabilities with a raw and brutal honesty, admitting to things she finds humiliating and shameful, sharing how the most brutal event of her life has shaped her and continues to shape her. Her writing, as always, is clean and sharp and evocative. There is less of her humor here, as the subject is not funny. She does not pull punches and does not attempt to lighten the mood when she discusses the indignities her body subjects her to. She never claims her body is not her responsibility, and she never claims to love her body the way it is or that she does not wish to lose weight. But she also does not spend the entire book berating her body or ignoring that some of what she let her body become was caused by trauma in childhood. I fear many women reading this will see themselves in Gay and hear themselves in her narrative, in her hopes and fears. Especially in her relationship with her body. And it is a sad thing that so many have combative relationships with their own flesh, that many women battle their bodies (whether because of trauma inflicted or because of societal norms or in an effort to control some aspect of their lives). This book leaves me feeling a little battered and emotionally bruised, but better for having read it. Gay's introspective examination, sometimes unflinching and sometimes rightfully flinching, is well worth any reader's time.

What makes Hunger so important is the way it furthers the conversation surrounding obesity, body positivity, and our society’s expectations when it comes to what a woman’s body should look like. Roxane Gay is open, honest, and vulnerable in a way that demands to be heard. This book isn’t a pity party in any way; however, it does lend a more personal account to the issues behind obesity.

Gay was horrifically gang raped in the woods near her home when she was just twelve years old. Afterwards, she never told anyone what happened – not her parents, siblings, or friends. Instead, she turned to food to bury her pain, and also to change the way she looked – to become unattractive to men.

Eating was Gay’s attempt at self-preservation. But while she tried to do everything she could to survive with her pain, society was doing everything it could to make her feel shame instead. Our society’s beauty standards when it comes to a woman’s ideal body are not only unhealthy, but often times, unrealistic as well. Images in magazines and on billboards seem to only feature women that are too thin – hip and collar bones that stick out, hollowed cheeks, and legs that look more like arms. It’s disheartening, and as a mother, it enrages me.

Books like Hunger continue to keep the body image conversations in the forefront of people’s minds. It challenges us to reevaluate what we accept at “normal” in society and demands that we do better for the young girls that are growing up to be the next generation of women. Gay’s vulnerability also demands that we pay attention to survivors of violence and/or rape so that we can give them a safe place to step forward so they don’t have to live a life mired in shame and guilt. This is the very least we owe our fellow humans – a safe place to speak and be heard and then supported and helped.

I had to take a few moment to process my feelings after reading this book. I have been talking about this book to everyone that I have talked to since I started it a few days ago - that should be the first indication that this book IS different.

It is the best book that I have read in a long time that affected me so strongly, but was SO HARD to read. It was the easiest book to read at times, but it was the MOST DIFFICULT to read at times. It was such a positive book, but it was such a NEGATIVE book. It is a book that ALL women should read, all feminists should read, all young women should read, anyone who cares about people should read, or everyone should just read this book!

Please don't get me wrong - I have read many books and many that I have loved. This book I love AND hate, but it will stay with me, move me, and make me think very deeply to process it all for a long time. There is something of EVERY woman in this book and the writer touched on a few hot buttons for me - sexual assault, body image, belonging, isolation, and the female experience.

This is a DEFINITE recommend. Please read this book! Thank you Roxane Gay for speaking to me, about me, and for me.

'Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body' is devastating, both as a personal memoir and as a critique of social attitudes towards overweight women. She traces her struggle with fat to time when, at age 12, she was gang raped by a boy she thought she was in love with and a group of his friends. Gay believes she started packing on weight as a defense mechanism, an effort to make her unattractive to the opposite sex, but when the epithet "slut" continued to be thrown at her, she asked her parents to her enroll in a private school. Here, she hoped that she could create a new identity, and she did: the Fat Girl. Thus began years of moving from one place to another, one relationship to another, in hopes of finding acceptance and--contradictorily--invisibility. As a six-foot tall black lesbian feminist who weighed over 575 pounds, this hasn't been an easy quest, and it still continues. In addition to her personal story, Gay explores social biases and pressure against obesity (especially for women), from reality shows like "The Biggest Loser," "Extreme Weight Loss," and "My 600-lb. Life," to celebrity endorsements of weight loss regimens like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, to the reactions of strangers, ranging from stares of disgust to mocking insults. As someone who has struggled with weight for most of my life, I empathized with her claim that a fat person is never able to relax in public, to remove herself from her body and the feeling (or awareness?) that others are constantly seeing and judging her. I, too, have had those moments of self-hatred, of not daring to share the arm rest on a plane, of being self-conscious about what was in my grocery cart or on my plate in a restaurant. Ultimately, Gay comes to no conclusions. Hers is not a happy before-and-after weight loss story, nor is it a journey towards fat acceptance. If anything, it seeks to expose our society's focus on body image and the damage that can be done when we can't see the person because we allow ourselves to be blinded by the surface. And it chronicles Gay's own continuing efforts to rely on her strengths and positive qualities to give her a measure of confidence, despite what others see.

“My father believes hunger is in the mind. I know differently. I know that hunger is in the mind and the body and the heart and the soul.”

Hunger is a raw, real, scorching work. Roxane Gay is a masterful writer, and she invites readers into the depths of her soul with grace—angry, honest, welcoming grace.

In the book, Roxane focuses on two things: her experiences as a person who is/has been super-morbidly obese and the circumstances that led her to become so. She tells us of a childhood destroyed by sexual violence and her journey to become safe from future harm by making her body large, strong, and undesirable. She talks about the shame and confusion her weight gain caused in her family and the debilitating pressure of her secret pain.

“As a woman, as a fat woman, I am not supposed to take up space. And yet, as a feminist, I am encouraged to believe I can take up space. I live in a contradictory space where I should try to take up space but not too much of it, and not in the wrong way, where the wrong way is any way where my body is concerned.”

Then she talks about the conflicting feelings she has about her body; as a feminist, she believes many things about self-acceptance, body positivity, and beauty standards. But as a human being in this world, she also wants to conform to those beauty standards (at least to a degree). This is a juxtaposition I think about a lot myself, although as an athletic white woman, I certainly have significant privilege when it comes to the way society sees my body.

I listened to this one as an audiobook, and Roxane herself read the narration, which I find always adds so much to memoirs. In the end, I couldn’t give this book anything other than 5/5 stars because of its honesty, its vulnerability, and the impactful writing that hit me right in the gut.

I’ll start by saying this book is not for everyone. Some people will find it to be too graphic in terms of the sexual assault, and the detailed descriptions of obesity. I’ve heard some people say that it even felt like Ms. Gay was whining a bit and sounded too much like a victim.

Here’s the thing… She is a victim. And she’s quite aware of that. She’s also a survivor. And she talks about how she can be both at the same time. In fact, duplicity is a huge theme in this book. She contradicts herself incessantly, and seems aware that she does.

For example, she talks about how the sexual assault that was committed on her at such a young age made her essentially hate her body and she, therefore, become extremely obese as a way of “hiding.” But she also realizes that to hide at several hundred pounds seems completely incongruent.

I think this book is an important one. I think there are so many important messages here. Society definitely commits fat shaming, as the author calls it. We discriminate based on size all the time. So to hear what it’s like to live in her body was fascinating and eye-opening. I grew up with an obese mother and have a lot of experience in this regard, and yet the rawness of Ms. Gay’s honesty was often times shocking. But as I said, important.

Not an easy read, nor a fun one, but an important one. I’m glad she had the guts to write this book and I hope many people read it and take from it not only one woman’s story, but the bigger message that goes along with it.

I got this book from the library. I thought it would be a revealing read about actual hunger and how she was dealing with it. Instead, it was so repetitive that I threw it down after about 30 pages or so. "I eat so much to protect myself" is the gist of it, which may be actually correct, but she goes on and on and on saying the same thing over and over again, so much so that it began to seem like it was a mantra that she was telling herself, rather than being the actual truth of the matter.

There was nothing compelling in there.

I don’t have as much to say about this book as I’d like. In part, that’s because it so smartly written that I don’t think I can add much to what the author has already said. And in part, I think it’s because I’ve been fortunate enough to hear the author speak twice, so this was mostly what I expected. Roxane Gay’s writing is impeccable. Reading her writing is like listening to an extremely intelligent friend tell you their life story. She comes across as personable and natural without becoming too casual for her serious subject matter. She has the same gravitas she has in person.

As you’ll know from the synopsis, she does share a trauma she experienced as a child. Knowing this is what kept me from picking this book up for so long. This section was as heartbreaking as I expected. However, despite being shared in some detail, it wasn’t a graphic scene. In general, I think the author eased the reader into both her trauma and the cruel way she’s treated as a fat woman. Short chapters, each building on the information in the chapter before, allow the reader to acclimate. They also give the story depth, allowing greater exploration of the book’s themes.

Something that I think I would have gotten out of this book, had I not already gotten it from hearing her speak, is a realization of all the little and not so little indignities that fat people suffer just moving through the world. I’d like to note that she refers to herself as fat and in the book mentions that it bothers her when people pretend that’s not the reality, so I hope you’ll understand my adopting the same matter-of-fact tone here. These are some of the main things that stuck with me from her work. They are just a few of the important points she makes in this brilliant memoir, which I would love to make everyone read. I think it would be hard to come away from it without at least a little more empathy for others.

4.5 stars for brutally honesty, heart wrenching moments, ugly truths, awareness, self confrontations and one brave soul.
Wow, Sh*t and WOW. That was really all I could mutter out while reading this. This girl was changed, scared for life. She held this secret, found a way to deal with it and while saving herself she was also destroying herself. To me it was a heartbreaking story, I wanted healing, like a magical wand waving to make it go away. Magic isn't real, this real life horror happened to a young girl and festered inside her.
What an eye opening tale. I thought I understand the plight of being fat in our society, but I really didn't. She says that, the bigger you are the more invisible you become. Wow, I wanted that not to be true, I wanted us/me to be more as humans but I've thought some of these thoughts, I've made judgmental comments and thought I was being nice. I felt shame. I think I will always remember her pain. I hope her story makes me be a better person in the future.
I wish she would name him, he does not deserve to walk without this weight on his shoulders.

I started this book on my night off. I don't often read on my off days because I read so much at work it makes it impossible to feel like I'm getting away from books. I knew though that this one would be something I would want to read at home. Gay's writing is so strong and she's so very truthful and this book was no different. She inspires me. Her heartbreaks and her survivor story though she says she likes victim better because that's what she was is so touching. Her ability to take the blame for her own body but also realizing outside sources played a huge part and working to better herself amazed me. As a fat girl struggling to claim that monicker for myself and accept myself I understand where she comes from. I understand the burden and the judgement for being fat and I want to move past it while also loving myself. I love her books. I love her words. I love how open she is and honest. I will hold this book close to my heart because we aren't perfect people but we still deserve love. I struggled through my own survival story to try and say I deserved better. This book will forever mean so much to me.

Roxane takes us, extremely courageously with walls down, through her life. To say Roxane's life has been difficult and traumatic would be a gross understatement. Yet, she has the courage to speak her truth and lay her secret bare in a way that I've never read before, and I've read many memoirs.

A lot of us make the presumption of why people are fat; why they choose to live this way. We make our own judgements and some of us view those people as "less than." People openly stare but believe that it's okay because, we assume, they did it to themselves.

Please know this book is about SO much more than that. It is a book that I wish I could make everyone read. It's a rare day when I finish a book and wish I could know that person. This is one of those books.

This memoir from Roxane Gay is a powerful and emotional read about what it's like for the author to go through the world and take up space as a medically-obese black woman. She is uncompromising and unflinching about her own trauma: from the gang-rape at age 12 that initially led her to start overeating to the daily difficulties and humiliations of her size that many readers will have never had to personally consider. It's a difficult and not particularly empowering book, and I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone remotely sensitive to these topics, but Gay has truly used her pain to fuel some great writing here. Although short in pages, it packs quite a punch.

I really wanted this to be a book which could absorb me into the words on each page but it didn't. The author wrote about the subject of her body in such a repetitive way saying basically the same things throughout the entire book. The subject was pounded upon ad nauseam. I found myself saying..."I got the message already" and lets move on.

Revealing, honest, courageous. The level of her candor was uncomfortable. As I read I was constantly challenged about my feelings, reactions, and fears. She evoked wide thought about relationships of all kinds, introspection about my place among the people I affect, pity and some anger. I could not help comparing her issues with those created by addiction and trauma generally. Mostly, I was left with how culture, particularly ours (and particularly as it relates to our being sexual creatures) distorts, bends, contorts and confuses. This is a very valuable work. Our city library selected it for the book everyone should read. It is a good selection. I would love to sit and talk with this author, question her, listen, learn and think, but I would be afraid of her and offending her. An odd contradiction of feelings and that is what this book evoked.

As reviewed on Inside 254 podcast: Roxane Gay’s memoir Hunger is the book she had to write but didn’t want to write. In her introduction, she tells readers how hard it was to write the story of being sexually assaulted and using fat to build armor on her body to protect her from men. Her memoir loops memories together as she tells the story of her “unruly body” and the violence enacted to it by those boys in the woods and the society that scorned her for daring to protect herself when she didn’t have vocabulary to tell anyone what had been done to her. I took Roxane along with me on a car ride. Listening to her share her story felt intimate and painful. Roxane does not like hugs, so I would not hug her if I ever met her. But I would thank her for laying bare the pain of sexual assault and moving through this misogynistic world in a fat female body.

It took me 2 days- Part 1 and Part 2. I just glanced over not knowing anything of this woman but somehow having a knowing that I should read this. I skimmed my finger over my audible wishlist and yet my gaze and my index finger kept landing upon this Title. I believe their is divine intervention in the ways thing seem to pop out as if it was meant for only you. This book was reflects a woman's story an untold story and I commend you and uplift the inner child of you that was BRAVE to write this. Many are in the shadows and you placed a light upon this true story. Not a Lifetime Movie but a lifetime of many people's movie. Not exact but always a reflection of the shadows that is within. God Bless you and know that you are beautiful and even in brokenness there is light. Blessings on your future that is bright and the light that was there even in the darkest hours.

Roxane Gay may be a great writer and that's probably why she chose to write this memoir and then thought it was worth being published. The content could be basically resumed with the sentence"dear diary, I'm fat". Apart from the first chapters, which I genuinely enjoyed, the rest of the book is all about how she feels about her body. And I've got the impression she doesn't know where to stand: she wants to lose weight, but she can't find the inner strenght to do it. She wants to love herself despite of her body, but she envies other people bodies. She hates feeling invisible and she hates being the center of the attention. She doesn't want to be discriminated for her weight but she wants people around her to think about how difficult life is for her, even when she doesn't tell them. She even complains about the doctors who tell her she should lose weight.
I'm very sorry for what happened to her and I think that nobody has the right to judge anybody about how they deal with pain, but this work feels incomplete and messy to me, like reading the diary of an adolescent girl

Although I respect Ms. Gay as a accomplished writer, this can't be her best work. Here is my summary of Hunger: She was raped as a child and continues to be mistreated for being fat and black. I can sympathize but the second half of the book is basically that she has no intention of changing her behavior even though she loathes being hugely overweight. Food is her crack. the book is somewhat redundant until 288 where it gets raw and emotionally honest. That part is the most powerful of the entire book. However, its not enough to be a great memoir. She is too enmeshed with one experience of being raped at 12 and being fat. She isn't going to change. How she secured a book deal out of this is beyond my comprehension. Save your money and time.

This book captures so many thoughts, comments and discussion points of what living in a woman's body is. It is haunting and beautiful. It will make you wonder why you cannot have the same insightful and frank conversation with the world. This book brought me clarity on how I view my body versus how I should view it.

I have such respect for Ms. Gay. She is a prolific writer and great voice especially for WOC. I also grieve for her rape at the age of 12. My main observation is one that seems glossed over for most of the book - why was the pre-rape Gay so low in self esteem and seemingly apathetic with her attacker? Something was gnawing at her before the attack. In the book, she does not go into much of detail about anything of significance and is quite repetitive. I give 2 stars out of respect.

I am so grateful to the author for writing this. Weight is subject one does not see written about too often, unless it's a new health study or a celebration. "Hunger" is a body, a life living.
The structure of the book is nuanced. The first third of the book deals with (mostly) the author's physical body and damage from early days, the middle moves into how her body of size interacts in society, relationships and how her body impacts with others, back into herself. The form stays true to the content in that it's all about scale and showing the body in different lights.
The book is comprised of 88 chapters throughout 306 pages. The chapters are short, sweet, lyrical. They are bursts of energy, they lack endurance. Again, form mimics content.
In memoir, the stereotype is that an author is trying to bend truth to make their life slow like a novel. Narcissism is often connotated. However, in talking about her own life, Roxane Gay is also contributing to contributions on diverse bodies, feminism, race, sexuality, mental health, stable relationships, and so much more that is relevant to anyone alive at any age. Reading this was a privilege, one I hope anyone reading this experiences in their life so we can talk about it.

I just finished Roxane Gay's memoir and I am in tears. Full disclosure- I am highly sensitive and deeply empathetic. Yet I was both delighted and struck by the author's economy of words which so richly expressed her truth. A truth about her body and her life that was in turns brutal, heartrending, exhausting, debilitating, uncomfortably humiliating, emotionally self-mutilating, lonely and sad.
A truth which dared to name a Hunger that has absolutely nothing to do with food. It's been a very long time since I had to put a book down and walk away so I could sit with what it brought up for me. That is what true art and masterpieces do right? They make you feel things... They pull things out that you think are safely tucked away.
I identified with so much of what she shared and the way she shared it. The stark simplicity of how she expressed her memoir invites the reader, or at least this one, to bring their own experience to its comprehension so that they are almost reading about themselves. Or maybe that was just me. Her twisted tortured journey from a brutalized young girl to the stoic teenager, then a wild, young woman living with shame and putrid secrecy was gripping. All of the ways she and so many of us women continue to punish ourselves, making choices based on bottomless feelings of unworthiness and insecurities. Eating and eating and eating to put on layers of fat and protection. Eating and eating and eating to try to fill the bottomless void of Hunger for love, tenderness, kindness, worthiness, happiness and so much more that feels hopelessly unattainable.
She writes about losing herself in her twenties and starting to find her way, professionally at least in her thirties. And finally one of THE things she feared the most, passing out while home alone and fracturing her ankle so extremely, it required realignment, surgery and a 10 day hospital stay. Here in facing her worst fears she starts to realize just how loved and connected she is to the people in her life. Roxane is about 10 years younger than me and to see her write about some of the healing and resolutions she's come to so far is a triumph. It's not a happy ending wrapped up in a neat little bow. Its messy, but it's real progress and it's real hope.

This was a good read. The feelings, experiences, expectations etc around a person's shape and size are incredibly complex, and Roxane was able to discuss, and unpack, a lot of these in a clear, interesting and insightful way. I found myself shouting "Yes" as I read this, and it seems very much that despite everybody's unique history and circumstances, there is a commonality I could recognize and experiences that we shared, regardless of geography, age or anything else.

"Hunger" by Roxane Gay is a woman's story of her life, and why and how it developed as it did. Without feeling sorry for herself, but recognizing her faults and those of others, she provides a powerful narrative of how sexual violence, and a legacy of hiding it, can damage both individuals and families. Her words are powerful and thought-provoking, and will hopefully result in more discussion of these topics and increased protections for individuals from sexual violence of all varieties.

Reading this book gives me a lot to think about. It's about an obese women coming to terms with her body. I can relate to how she feels. Even though I'm not overweight I'm actually considered small, even though that's not how I see myself. I still have the same feelings of trying to not be seen. Not wanting men to look at me with lust in there eyes. Having dealt with my own personal issues, I can fully understand her thinking. Overall this is a good book for all to read, no matter what size you are. You can pull something from this book.

Roxane Gay shares her honest account of a violent sexual attack and her resulting lifelong struggle with weight as a way to deal with he struggles she had in dealing with the attack. The writing is raw and authentic, but at times the writing feels repetitive and lacks structure. Gay's experiences an a morbidly obese person in our culture are frustrating and at times overwhelming. This book brings a new level of empathy for the struggles of the morbidly obese.

Many books I have read touched me as a shared experience but none so much as Hunger. There are things I have never told anyone, thirteen years of counseling never cracked that shell. I am feeling very cracked right now and will find some measure of healing in this fat body of mine. This is a memoir written in bold frank language that should be shared over and over again until the silence no longer exists because it is no longer needed.
Thank you to Dr Gay for writings this.

A memoir in very short chapters. This is a memoir of the body, of Roxane Gay's body. Medically referred to as super morbidly obese. She writes of the incident that happened when she was twelve that started her journey to build a fortress of a body, one that would keep her safe. It has and it hasn't. In reality nothing much can protect us from misogyny, from racism, from sexism, from fatism, from our own destructive inclinations and habits. I applaud Gay for her feminism, for her awareness of the pain of others. I have felt many of the same pains she has because of my own body, my own femaleness, my own sexuality. She grew up with a loving family, with the privilege of middle class money, with superior education, and yet she is subjected to unspeakable hate that none of her family, money, or education can stop. Every person who is fat or loves a fat person should be required to read this book, to read every word, to think about what it means to be a fat person in today's world.

I really appreciate Roxane Gay's unique take on an all too common story: a life, a body that evolved as a result of trauma. But it's her story, and as such, should not be looked at as something that applies to everyone. However, if you have suffered trauma, I think you will find many of her observations and revelations helpful. She laid it *all* out there, and that took a lot of courage. I hope to be able to write the autobiography of my body as well, for it has a story to share. Thanks for the inspiration. Well done.

This book was absolutely life changing. I know I have looked down on people who could be classified as overweight but reading this memoir made me realize the error of my ways. Many things determine your body type including trauma, society and genetics. The way that Roxane presented this story was not as a victim so much as a woman whose voice needed to heard. I hope many others have the chance to read this book and support her fantastic message.

This is a must-read. Roxane Gay's writing is superb and emotive, and she has a unique perspective. It's not often that I *feel* so much from a book, but she runs her readers through a wide spectrum of emotions; at turns, she is devastated, humiliated, triumphant, defeated, defiant, proud, angry, and, all too often, ashamed. She talks about how intensely guarded she is in the book, but she is utterly vulnerable in her writing. I listened to this as an audiobook and Roxane does an excellent reading.

If not sure which reviews to believe, trust me, go with the one-stars. This book was just the worst. It was so poorly written - childish and repetitive - and it seemed that she scribbled out a rough draft and no one ever went back and edited it. Very rarely do I give up on a book, so I kept trying, but finally threw in the towel. Just don't bother.

An excruciatingly honest book which took great courage to write. If you have ever been fat, you'll recognize the feelings and situations described here. If you haven't--and you are a decent human being--this book will change the way you look at people who struggle with weight. Roxane Gay is at her best when writing in essay format, and this book is basically a series of short essays, poured out from the heart and soul, about the experience of living in her body. I'm so glad I read this book. Thank you, Ms. Gay, for putting it out there.

Roxane tells the story of her life in way that makes aware the harsh realities of society in how we view women in their appearance.
This book deals with so many issues that many women have experienced in their lives particularly body image but Roxane brings to life her experiences with insecurities, trauma and dealing with her body and food issues while all tying it into societal expectations.

Ms. Gay has written a searing memoir about her struggles with weight, and why she put it on in the first place. This memoir took real courage to write, and I honor her for that. She is self-revealing and honest about her own strengths and failings, two of the most important attributes of memoir writers. She deserves a big dose of respect. I wish I could meet her and shake her hand, then sit down and talk about writing.

I had wanted to read this since hearing an interview with the author on NPR about a year ago. What a thoughtful, difficult, and important book! Written uniquely as a series of essays, the author speaks her truth and owns all the duplicity that goes along with that. While the graphic, unapologetic authenticity here may be too much for some; I couldn't turn away until the final words.

Roxane Gay’s struggles and trauma were an easy read for me, because (and this is affirmation for her) we are all uncomfortable in our bodies, with our hungers.

I struggled to finish this book because I understood all too well the various pains and discomforts, humiliations, wishes, despair and hope in regard to living in one’s body. But I also read it in one sitting. Your mileage may vary.

This is a very important book, for many reasons. Roxane Gay brings to light many aspects of American culture in this book that are ..well...awful. Her personal experience brings a sharp focus on how America treats people who are overweight and obese, how America treats women, black women, young black women and how we allow terrible things to happen to good people. And then we blame them for that. This is not an easy read. However, it is a very IMPORTANT and VITAL read. Colleges should require this for reading for all students. High school seniors should read this book. Roxane Gay has the courage and the voice to give words to her experience in a way that helps build empathy and understanding. I hope to see Roxane Gay writing for many years to come. And coming to visit Columbus, Ohio sometime soon too.

This was a quick read. The writing in this book is clear and straightforward. The first, approximately, half of the book does sometimes feels repetitive. I found myself thinking, “yes, yes, you’ve said this several times already” at various points. I think the second half of the book was stronger as it covered more topics related to Ms. Gay’s struggle with her weight.

I have such mixed feelings about the content, though. What happened to Ms. Gay as a child is horrible, and it’s completely understandable how such an act could scar her emotionally for years afterward. Eating to make herself bigger so she could feel safer is foreseeable outgrowth of that.

However, Ms. Gay is now an adult and clearly understands that she has an unhealthy attitude towards food and her body and is doing nothing to correct that. I’m sympathetic--to a point--with her struggles to find decent clothes, traveling, and other things that normal sized people take for granted, but there is way to mitigate some of those problems that she refuses to take.

She uses the excuse that unhealthy ways of losing weight fail--fad diets (which she has tried), overly restrictive diets, “The Biggest Loser” TV show, etc--are not generally successful long term and claims that “weight loss is a challenge that the medical establishment has not yet overcome.” This is not strictly true. I find it frustrating when people try to lose weight in an unhealthy manner, and when it doesn’t work, claim “nothing works”. For people with certain medical problems, weight loss can be difficult, but for the majority of overweight people, eating a healthy diet and not consuming too many calories is the great “secret” to weight loss.

Ms. Gay also makes outrageous statements like claiming that strangers who give her encouragement at the gym are “rarely about genuine encouragement or kindness”; their comments are “an expression of fear of unruly bodies”. What? This is paranoid thinking. She says that when she declines to give someone a hug at a public appearance--which is totally her right (I’m not criticizing that)--and she sees the resulting disappointment on that person’s face, it’s because, “a hug with [her] is the necessary currency for their attention.” Yeah, or that person just really likes your writing and wants a hug… She complains that people don’t want to sit next to her on an airplane because they don’t want to “hav[e] any part of [her] obese body touching theirs.” I’ve got news for Ms. Gay: I don’t want to someone touching me for an entire plane ride, regardless of their weight. It’s an intrusion on my personal space.

It’s comments like the above that make it hard for me to sympathize with where she is now. I realize that these attitudes are caused, in part, by her unhappiness with her body but those attitudes are not examined at all in the writing.

Finally some of the radical feminist assertions in the book were a turn off. There weren’t too many of these, but for example, she claims that women are told they “should be seen and not heard”; this is simply not representative of the general US culture (although it may be true is some localized areas, religions, or sub-cultures). She claims that she “[grew] up in a culture that is generally toxic to women.” Again, if this is meant to be about US culture generally, it is false.

In summary, it was brave of Ms. Gay to share her life experiences with her childhood trauma and her subsequent struggle with weight. And although she has taken a hard look at some aspects of her struggle, she also seems blind to others.

On the positive side this book is well written with some interesting remarks on both the personal side and how our society reacts to - considers - obesity, including extreme obesity.

I think the author had serious issues before the awful rape which she blames for her many subsequent problems and I think the author is incredibly self-absorbed. After a while, it gets tiresome.

A very brave book about all the author has dealt with since being gang raped at age 12. She coped by eating and eating and eating, to make herself unattractive, in an attempt to thwart ever enduring such a thing again. I know this book was very difficult for her and I hope it will help with her healing. It gave me several new perspectives on what many people are dealing with every day.

This book made me sad, angry and furious. For every woman who has been abused and told she was worthless. Roxane Gay has shared so much that every woman I know can relate to. Her story is devastating and yet she still carries hope. What happened could have, did, destroy her life, for a time. And yet what a gift she gives, allowing us to witness her story.

I would read anything Roxane Gay writes and even though Bad Feminist is still my favorite, Hunger is tremendous. I don't quite have the right words to describe my feelings about this memoir. It was difficult to read in terms of content, but I wouldn't let myself turn away. I feel lucky to be alive in a time that Roxane Gay is writing.

Honest writing about her life and the world we live in. The book gives one account of living in a society that does not accept fat people, whether we believe that or not. I am truly amazed at Gay’s ability to thrive and I am in awe of her brilliance. This is my first book of hers that I read and know I want to read more.

This is an unforgettable book. I just now finished reading it, and I am left somewhat speechless. This book is a tribute to decency and strength in the face of terrible cruelty, and it is a tribute to learning to take care of ourselves. The writer speaks with more courage than I can imagine having.

This book is so raw, so powerful, so emotional, and so disturbing that it felt like Roxane Gay reached into my own head and wrote everything I have ever thought about my own experiences with being fat. She blew this topic wide open and put voice to so many thoughts and fears in such an eloquent and beautiful way that I found myself crying in the first 20 minutes of reading. I was crying tears of joy at having my own experiences laid out in front of me and crying tears of sadness that so many fat people experience. Thank you for such an open and honest book.

This book was recommended to me by my sister. She said, "I got a glimpse inside of a very wounded, damaged soul--I wanted to hug her and kick her at the same time!" Ms. Gay does not like hugs. Through much of the book, I felt as if I were being dragged through a pity party of a self-indulged hunger that could never be satisfied. Like her sense of worthlessness. Of not deserving any better. Of denial. Of jealousy. Invisibility. And shame. The tone shifts toward the end. She's no longer young, in her 40s and an accomplished writer. She flies first class to speaking engagements. Her family is privy to her dark adolescent secret and still love her. She devotes a slim chapter toying with the idea of stalking her former lover who caused her descent into ruin. Her sensitivity to the hearing impaired brings a new reality to the bodies of others. Her last sentences are powerful: "Here I am, finally freeing myself to be vulnerable and terribly human. Here I am, reveling in that freedom." How I wish that that realization had come much earlier. But of course, that wasn't the kind of book she had set out to write.

I love Gay's narrative voice. There's such a marvelous blend of wit, sharp insight, rigorous focus, humor, and warmth. I always find a sense of urgency even when Gay is merely talking (so to speak) calmly. This book is certainly no exception. It's compelling, captivating, and thought provoking. I'm definitely glad to have read it.

An absolutely incredible read. Would recommend to everyone. She exposes her innermost in a beautiful way, and I found myself highlighting several passages because they were so profound and relate able. You don't have to be overweight to experience anxiety and shame like she does. Reading this memoir had me exploring my own insecurities and their sources, and I felt incredibly comforted knowing I was not alone. This read encouraged a great deal of self reflection on my part. I read this book for my book club and I can't wait to discuss it with them.

It takes a great writer like Roxane to spin a memoir into a compelling story that sometimes reads like a novel. You feel for the protagonist as though from the inside. Thus, she was kind to lay herself bare in these pages and honestly convey what she was feeling as she experienced all of these different things. Good book!

As I was reading, I got the impression that I was reading something more like poetry than straight prose. The chapters are very short and connect in a non-direct way. It seems to float between different topics, sometimes telling a story directly and sometimes drifting more into musings that read more almost like poetry to me.

This has got to be the most honest and in-your-face realism when it comes to self esteem and body image that I have ever read. Very gripping, I couldn't put it down. I related to most everything Roxane wrote about because I too have been overweight all of my life. Anyone who has body image issues regardless of weight can identify.

Such an open, honest memoir about the event in her teenage life that led to her years of eating and hiding her body., and never telling anyone. Bravo to Roxane for the openness with which she shares the ups and downs. It takes much courage.
I am so sorry she had to go through this alone.

Some people said that they didn't like this book because some of the same things were said over and over again. I think that is because they NEED to be said over and over again! I related to so many things that Roxanne Gay said in this book even though my story is not as tragic as her story and very different. Some of the feelings that she expressed I think can be found in all of us at some point. Quite simply, I loved reading this book!

What raw and beautiful courage it took to tell this story. This resonates. I thought of this book day and night as I read. Thank you Roxane Gay for giving voice to those of us who haven’t yet found the guts to speak our struggles.

Roxane Gay is not always a "likable" woman and that's not the point. She is always an engaging, interesting, and honest writer. Hunger is raw and in parts hard to read because of the truths it exposes about how we as humans treat each other. She also delves into how we treat ourselves. It's impossible to read Hunger and stop thinking about it once you finish.

Very interesting insight into the life of an overweight woman who seemingly has it all together career wise but hasn't been able to deal with her emotional and eating issues. I really liked Gay's openness and honesty and found it very interesting reading about how her weight affects her life and society's reaction to her.

A brave memoir of abuse, assault, condemnation, self-destruction and love. Any woman can relate. I hope that baring all in this book and repeating her story countless times on book tour, is Roxane Gay's ticket to moving on. She is a very talented and generous woman.

I had hoped for a book with insight into how an horrific assault changed the life of the author, and ,also, how she overcame the trauma, worked on healing, and moved forward in her life in a healthy, aware manner. Instead, this book is a sad account of an horrific assault that the author not only allowed to define her entire life, but who then complains about how poorly she is treated in the world as a woman of size in a body (577 lbs) which she created and maintains to protect herself. She suffers from bad health, mobility difficulties, and rude comments from strangers - and then is angry about a situation she herself created and perpetuates. Therapy would have helped her understand the effect the assault had on her, and given her strategies to heal and life a healthy, aware life. She chose to avoid that, and continue to binge and be furious at being fat shamed And the repetitive writing style is not engaging. It's distressing to see such a talented person make choices that keep her stuck.

I liked it, as memoirs go, but I found some of the writing a bit stunted. That is, there were awkward places (not the content, the actual writing) and it didn’t always flow for me. But she’s an interesting woman with an interesting history to tell.

I don’t have the words available yet to review this book properly. It is raw and parts of it touch on parts of me that are raw. I (en)courage anyone who needs a deep examination of self and lifelong challenge to read it.

As a fat woman, I related so much to Roxane's kind words. Seeing her read a few chapters on June 16 at the University of Michigan gave me a much greater appreciation for this woman. My ticket came with a signed copy of the book and I finished it in the matter of a view days.

Raw, honest, heart-breaking, thought-provoking. This memoir changed me and the way I see myself and the world.

A compelling story, but the author constantly judges others, while criticizing others for judging her. Doesn’t want to be noticed, but is insulted if overlooked. opinionated, but offended if questioned.
The author attributes every interaction in her professional and personal life to her physical appearance. Literally NO sense of humor - this woman takes herself entirely too seriously.

I devoured this book. My first from Roxane gay, and most certainly not my last. The prose is decadent yet simple. Hypnotizing until the end. So personal yet so relatable story. Ps: bring tissues. I'm still crying. Absolutely brilliant.

I found this book incredibly readable and relatable. Weight seems to be the last socially acceptable form of prejudice and intolerance, and for all of those Thirteen Reasons Why folks who preach about not knowing what's really going on in people's lives, why do we make these assumptions for those that struggle with weight? What I'm trying to say is that everybody hurts and heals in different ways. Ours is not to judge but to just be there for each other.

The vulnerability and clarity of gay's writing is breathtaking. Reading this book is like watching your most beloved person dangle advice the crocodile so you can be saved. It is thrilling, terrifying and so kind to all her readers. The specificity of the writing somehow creates an experience of connection and being known.

Roxanne Gay holds nothing back in this memoir, using blunt, raw prose to tell her story--a life of extreme eating, and hunger for validation--after her sexual trauma at age 12. I loved the short chapters at first, then they seemed to get repetitive. Still, a great read.

Beautiful to understand the day in and day out thoughts of Roxane's life. I hope with her she can find the inner peace she Is seeking and the achievement of comfort she desires to have living in her body.

Gay explores so many difficult topics in this memoir. She is vulnerable and raw and honest and candid. It forced me to do some would searching on my own, and reminded me to reach out to my loved ones, especially those who may try to sink into themselves. Love love love this book.

Love, love, love, love, love. This was amazing. God. It was funny and serious and irreverent and heartfelt, graphic and circumspect and just generally killer. A book about trauma, about being an embodied person, about living our lives in this world, the world where we'll both never be skinny and never be enthusiastically body positive, where everything's fatter and messier and more painful and more interesting than that. I LOVE THIS BOOK. Also, the audiobook is great, the author reads it herself.

Gay offers one of the most insightful and honest accounts of what navigating the world in a larger body is like. She details the stigma she's experienced related to weight, race, and sexual assault. The subject matter is heavy and hard to read for that reason, but Gay makes it easier by keeping each chapter very brief. She peppers in humor as well. A very worthwhile read.

In straightforward, basic prose Gay shares her traumatic story as a 12 year old rape victim. In response to this violation, Gay has struggled throughout the remainder of her life to be truly known and loved by her family and friends.

I would have given up if the same happened to me as happened to the author. Instead she has become successful. But she has problems and heartaches. She goes on. I think I would get revenge on the boy. She hasn't.

i can't stop rereading chapter 41, pages 148-149. i can't stop thinking about all the pain and hope and ideas and very funny jokes throughout what is definitely already the #1 book of 2017. a very quick read that will last and linger in your mind forever.

I feel so grateful that this book exists. It's not light or breezy, but it is true. Everything she shared either resonated with familiarity, or expanded my view of the world.

This must've been incredibly difficult to write, but I'm so glad she did.

I identify with so much of this work. It is great to have others understand what fat hatred does to women, even those who are not fat. I was hoping that someone would have shared how 12 steps had helped them recover from self hatred with or without weight loss. But it looks like Ms Gay is on her way, and I am glad.

My heart goes out to Roxane and any women who has been raped. Myself included. That being said this book was frustrating on so many levels. I cannot say anything other then its a waste of time and money offering nothing but excuses and blame for being morbidy obese. I wanted so much to be on Roxane's side here but as someone who has been through horrific abuse I have worked to get past it. I choose to work out and watch my weight. It's a choice. Working in Hollywood I have been through massive body shaming for being "normal' size at 5'6 and 140 pounds. I understand her frustration at society's insane pressure on women bodies and have been an activist in terms of empowering women. This book has nothing to do with taking control of your body and life and everything to do with pointing the finger at everyone else. I do not think that we should accommodate morbidly obese people because it is a CHOICE... not something you have to live with. 90% of her issues can be solved with healthy eating, a trauma specialist and working out. To say otherwise is wrong and irresponsible.

I wasn't jazzed about the mom sequitirs and sometimes it felt meandering but I assume it's because a lot of the memoir's taken from a series of articles. The memoir is extremely affecting a powerful, though.

I really loved her raw honesty. I think it is so courageous for her to be able to be so honest about her experience and her internal struggles. I found her easy to identify with. Her voice is an important one in helping others to understand her experience and to be able to examine their own internalized body issues and shame.

For anyone who has felt out of place in their own body, this is a very relatable book. My only gripe is it can be a little repetitive and sometimes reads like it's very obviously a bunch of separate pieces joined together

Book: Hunger: A Memoir of My Body
Author: Roxane Gay
Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars

So, 2017 has been somewhat of a negative book year for me, so why not end it with a somewhat of a negative review. Okay, it’s not all bad. I did actually give this one a three star, so it’s going really going to be too harsh....Another Our Shared Shelf book....Okay, here we go....

Starting out, I really was into this book. I loved Roxane’s writing and how she really seemed to get it. She was real, down to earth, and not trying to preach to me. She has been through a really horrible event and was for a long time afraid to say anything. She felt ashamed by her body and tried to hide away from it. I think we all know what happened to her and really can’t blame her for trying to make her body unappealing. She struggles with body image and I don’t know, just seems like a really great and strong woman to know.

Her writing is simple and to the point. I found myself flying through parts of this book and really getting into. Starting out, I thought that this was going to be a five star book. That’s just how much I was into it. Then, it changed. About halfway through, I began to lose interest, which is not a good thing.

I guess, the more I read, the more it seemed like Roxane was blaming the world for her problems. She got into Yale, which there are many people who would kill to get the chance to go to school there. However, she was mad because her parents wouldn’t let her go to NYU. Then, she runs away from Yale. Um....Yeah....Again, does she realize how many people really want to go there? Yeah...I know life is hard, but grow up!

Then, we get into seats size and how everyone is watching her....Um...Okay...She isn’t the only person in the world who struggles with their body. She seems to think she is and how no one understands, but whatever....I hated how she just seemed to reject herself. To me, this is no longer the strong woman at the start of the book. This is a whiner who blames everyone else for their problems.

At the end, she started in on how small towns didn’t accept her and how she didn’t feel like she was at home until she got into the city. She claimed that small towns couldn’t accept her because she was black. Race card???? Really???? Come on....I am from a small town and never once have we shamed someone because of race.

I don’t know, but after the first half of the book, it just seemed like Roxane was just complaining about how hard everything is. We kind of lost the memoir structure of the book and went right into Roxane’s complaining. This was not a memoir, but a book of anger and I’m sorry, but no. It just came across that she was blaming society for not being able to give her everything she wants.

The only reason this even got a three star rating was because I really enjoyed the first half....Oh, well, off to the next one.

I appreciate the strength it took to write this memoir of what it's like to live in a world that values thinness so highly when you are not thin. So many of the thoughts Roxane Gay shared, I have had but not been able to express so clearly. Glad to have read this book.

Unreal. The goal of a memoir is to take you inside someone's mind and story and Hunger does exactly that. Painful, heartbreaking, raw, real, Roxane doesn't hold back in telling her story and you will emerge from reading it with a deeper sense of empathy for all people.

I loved this book. Roxann was so vulnerable and honest. I loved her story and it really was such a good read. She has a very interesting perspective on being overweight and it's conversations like hers that are hard to hear sometimes, but are so important.

I really wanted to love this memoir. Who can't relate to somebody who has struggled? I was so excited...until I read the first 30 pages; they all read very repetitively.

Sadly, I am returning this book for a refund. I still, however, think it's very brave of the author to share a very sacred part of herself with an audience. I just wish I could connect more with her writing style and story.

Everyone should read this book. Such an unsentimental - and I use this word with reverence- walk through the long lasting effects of rape. Such a flat, honest expression of the experience of being in a body built as armor. I am in awe of the journey she's carried me through.

This is a very transparent look at life inside an “unruly body.” Roxane describes a life defining moment and traces its consequences through the next thirty years. Very raw, but at time slipped into a self-indulgent tirade.

On the positive side this book is well written with some interesting remarks on both the personal side and how our society reacts to - considers - obesity, including extreme obesity.

I think the author had serious issues before the awful rape which she blames for her many subsequent problems and I think the author is incredibly self-absorbed. After a while, it gets tiresome.

Book: Hunger: A Memoir of My Body
Author: Roxane Gay
Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars

So, 2017 has been somewhat of a negative book year for me, so why not end it with a somewhat of a negative review. Okay, it’s not all bad. I did actually give this one a three star, so it’s going really going to be too harsh....Another Our Shared Shelf book....Okay, here we go....

Starting out, I really was into this book. I loved Roxane’s writing and how she really seemed to get it. She was real, down to earth, and not trying to preach to me. She has been through a really horrible event and was for a long time afraid to say anything. She felt ashamed by her body and tried to hide away from it. I think we all know what happened to her and really can’t blame her for trying to make her body unappealing. She struggles with body image and I don’t know, just seems like a really great and strong woman to know.

Her writing is simple and to the point. I found myself flying through parts of this book and really getting into. Starting out, I thought that this was going to be a five star book. That’s just how much I was into it. Then, it changed. About halfway through, I began to lose interest, which is not a good thing.

I guess, the more I read, the more it seemed like Roxane was blaming the world for her problems. She got into Yale, which there are many people who would kill to get the chance to go to school there. However, she was mad because her parents wouldn’t let her go to NYU. Then, she runs away from Yale. Um....Yeah....Again, does she realize how many people really want to go there? Yeah...I know life is hard, but grow up!

Then, we get into seats size and how everyone is watching her....Um...Okay...She isn’t the only person in the world who struggles with their body. She seems to think she is and how no one understands, but whatever....I hated how she just seemed to reject herself. To me, this is no longer the strong woman at the start of the book. This is a whiner who blames everyone else for their problems.

At the end, she started in on how small towns didn’t accept her and how she didn’t feel like she was at home until she got into the city. She claimed that small towns couldn’t accept her because she was black. Race card???? Really???? Come on....I am from a small town and never once have we shamed someone because of race.

I don’t know, but after the first half of the book, it just seemed like Roxane was just complaining about how hard everything is. We kind of lost the memoir structure of the book and went right into Roxane’s complaining. This was not a memoir, but a book of anger and I’m sorry, but no. It just came across that she was blaming society for not being able to give her everything she wants.

The only reason this even got a three star rating was because I really enjoyed the first half....Oh, well, off to the next one.

I appreciate the strength it took to write this memoir of what it's like to live in a world that values thinness so highly when you are not thin. So many of the thoughts Roxane Gay shared, I have had but not been able to express so clearly. Glad to have read this book.

Unreal. The goal of a memoir is to take you inside someone's mind and story and Hunger does exactly that. Painful, heartbreaking, raw, real, Roxane doesn't hold back in telling her story and you will emerge from reading it with a deeper sense of empathy for all people.

I loved this book. Roxann was so vulnerable and honest. I loved her story and it really was such a good read. She has a very interesting perspective on being overweight and it's conversations like hers that are hard to hear sometimes, but are so important.

I really wanted to love this memoir. Who can't relate to somebody who has struggled? I was so excited...until I read the first 30 pages; they all read very repetitively.

Sadly, I am returning this book for a refund. I still, however, think it's very brave of the author to share a very sacred part of herself with an audience. I just wish I could connect more with her writing style and story.

Everyone should read this book. Such an unsentimental - and I use this word with reverence- walk through the long lasting effects of rape. Such a flat, honest expression of the experience of being in a body built as armor. I am in awe of the journey she's carried me through.

This is a very transparent look at life inside an “unruly body.” Roxane describes a life defining moment and traces its consequences through the next thirty years. Very raw, but at time slipped into a self-indulgent tirade.

Gay brings the issue of obesity into a national discussion with razor-like focus. Admit it, those of us who are not obese, are prejudiced against those who are. After this book, one should never assume that obesity is simply a story of lack of self-control or that one has the right to judge a person simply by their waistline. However, Gay's narrative loses a great deal of force when she gives into her petty jealousies concerning those who don't battle their weight, particularly when she sees a group of blond skinny women at the gym and berates them in her mind them for "atrocities" that could just as much be imagined as real (a section of the book that should have been edited out). In the end, Gay falters by coming dangerously close to arguing that not only do we need a culture that accepts obesity but one that embraces it. What exactly would the latter option mean: A plus-sized section on airplanes and in theaters? Friends who by furniture so they can entertain their friends who are morbidly obese?

The promising beginning goes...nowhere. Repetition, endless expressions of resentment--that's about it. If you readthe first chapter--which I thought was interesting and educative--don't bother reading any further.

"I worry that I can’t be happy or feel safe anywhere", she wrote. I am saddened that the author states she is as healed as she will ever be. In general, I disliked this book. For the sake of the author's personal trauma and feelings, my reasons for disliking it aren't important, and I know a 2 star review will be unpopular. However, I did not enjoy the book for many reasons. I hope other readers love it!

This should have been a 2-page article in "O" magazine. It's repetitious, and much of it has been said before, in more interesting terms, by both fat and thin people discussing the issue of overweight. I liked Gay's book "Bad Feminist," but lost a lot of respect for her writing abilities while wading through this work.

This is one pathetic story. The woman repeatedly talks of how others view her. She puts the onus of looking at her kindly to others and wants others to accept her 500 lb body. Yet, she is ashamed of it. So, what is it? Is her 500 lb body OK or it is not? She does not mention the high insurance costs to us healthy people funding her obesity. Who pays for the myriad of illnesses she will have or has? Us? Society? And she plays victim which some people do who don't want to help themselves.

The book is badly written, is repetitive and makes little sense. I could not get through it even though it was prescribed read at my MFA program.

How did such rubbish get published and got reviewed well? I can only surmise that she got a pass for being black, woman and obese. We are not treated equally. Affirmative action towards a group is always discrimination against another.

I can not recommend this book to anyone. The writing is fine, she is a very articulate author. However, as I moved through the story, I found myself becoming impatient with her, wanting her to find a way to get past this trauma and find help, perhaps some counseling. I do not pretend to know where she is coming from as I have not experienced rape. But to complain about being overly large in this world, knowing you did this to yourself intentionally, and doing nothing about it....well, I could not find empathy for her situation.

I've never read anything else she's written. I chose this book because I'm interested in nutrition and obesity in general and like reading about how people handle adversity.

This is one of the worst books I've ever read. It's basically one long stream of complaints from an angry, bitter woman who blames the rest of the world for all of her problems.

The last 25 minutes I couldn't get thru because of the ranting. I heard the political leanings throughout the book and while I don't agree with them, I could still listen to the book for what I came for...the body image part. I had not heard of the author before so I didn't realize what political stances with such hatred would come out. The first part of the book was fine, but I had to stop listening early.