Hunger
Book description
The New York Times Bestseller
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
Lambda Literary Award winner
From Roxane Gay, the New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist, a memoir in weight about eating healthier, finding a tolerable form of exercise, and exploring what it means to learn, in the middle…
Why read it?
4 authors picked Hunger as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
If you’ve ever had a complicated relationship with your body, welcome to the club. Gay’s memoir is refreshingly unvarnished—no filters, no gloss, just the stark reality of living in a body that the world often sees as a problem to be solved.
Her vulnerability is disarming, offering insights that are as profound as they are uncomfortable. It’s like she’s sharing secrets you didn’t even know you had, making you laugh at the absurdity of societal expectations while also leaving you with a deeper understanding of the complexities of identity and trauma.
From Tori's list on books that are raw, honest, and vulnerable.
A “best of books about chronic illness list” would not be complete without Gay’s heartbreaking memoir.
The bestselling author delves into chronic overeating, PTSD from a trauma she suffered as a young girl, and a complicated relationship with her overweight body. This book is both devastating and devastatingly beautiful. She explores her history with food as a Haitian-American woman as well as society’s expectations of women and women’s bodies. Gay is a true warrior, and she writes her story with guts.
Trigger Warning: this book contains explicit depictions of sexual violence.
From Rebecca's list on chronic illness to laugh, cry, and everything in between.
Hunger speaks to the near-universal experience of women hating their body.
Dr. Roxane Gay writes about how her childhood sexual assault drove her to gain weight to feel unseen and therefore feel safe. As a fat, queer, Black woman, she recounts numerous experiences of harassment and hatred based on intersecting identities.
Hunger is a powerful retelling of the deep cuts inflicted by daily encounters of fatphobia. Hunger demands that we create a world that is more considerate of the realities of the bodies of others at the same time we become more accepting of our own bodies. Dr. Gay’s vivid,…
From Caroline's list on stop worrying about your body.
If you love Hunger...
The Pianist's Only Daughter
The Pianist's Only Daughter is a frank, humorous, and heartbreaking exploration of aging in an aging expert's own family.
Social worker and gerontologist Kathryn Betts Adams spent decades negotiating evolving family dynamics with her colorful and talented parents: her mother, an English scholar and poet, and her father, a pianist…
Roxanne Gay is a stunning writer and it’s critical that the voices of women of color, particularly LGBTQI+ women of color, are given a big platform and are amplified.
Eating disorders are rampant in our culture. I know. I suffered from anorexia from age seventeen to nineteen before it was widely known as a thing. Our society gives young women all sorts of messages and some of us play out our insecurities, our voicelessness, our desire for control with food.
Roxanne Gay bravely shares her story, how she felt, how she behaved, and how she was treated, illuminating the struggle…
From Joanne's list on by and about wise, vulnerable, badass women.
If you love Hunger...
The Pianist's Only Daughter
The Pianist's Only Daughter is a frank, humorous, and heartbreaking exploration of aging in an aging expert's own family.
Social worker and gerontologist Kathryn Betts Adams spent decades negotiating evolving family dynamics with her colorful and talented parents: her mother, an English scholar and poet, and her father, a pianist…
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