Be Bigger, Fight Harr: Roxane Gay On A Lifetime Of 'Hunger' : NPR

Contents:

• ROXANE GAY’S COMPLITED “HUNGER”
• REVIEWS OF HUNGER BY ROXANE GAY
• BOOKS BY ROXANE GAY
• BE BIGGER, FIGHT HARR: ROXANE GAY ON A LIFETIME OF 'HUNGER'
• THE BOLDNS OF ROXANE GAY’S HUNGER

ROXANE GAY’S COMPLITED “HUNGER”

In her phenomenally popular says and long-nng Tumblr blog, Roxane Gay has wrten wh timacy and sensivy about food and body, g her own emotnal and psychologil stggl as a means of explorg our shared anxieti over pleasure, nsumptn, appearance, and health.

Roxane Gay shows how to be cent to ourselv, and cent to one another.

At s simplt, ’s a memoir about beg fat — Gay’s preferred term — a hostile, fat-phobic world. A memoir that’s so brave, so raw, feels as if [Gay]’s entstg you wh her soulSeattle Tim.

REVIEWS OF HUNGER BY ROXANE GAY

Gay turns to memoir this powerful reflectn on her childhood trmas…Timely and ronant, you n be sure that Hunger will touch a nerve, as so much of Roxane Gay’s wrg do.

BOOKS BY ROXANE GAY

Gay ni that hers is a story of “triumph, ” but rears will be hard prsed to fd a better word.

In 88 short, lucid chapters, Gay powerfully tak rears through reali that pa her, vex her, gui her, and rm her work. And on nearly every page, Gay’s raw, powerful prose plants a flag, facg down s of shame and self-loathg by reclaimg the body she never should have had to lose. Gay says hers is not a succs story bee ’s not the weight-loss story our culture mands, but her breakg of her own silence, her movement om shame and self-loathg toward honorg and fivg and rg for herself, is self a profound Francis Chronicle.

BE BIGGER, FIGHT HARR: ROXANE GAY ON A LIFETIME OF 'HUNGER'

Anyone faiar wh Gay’s books or tweets knows she also wields a dagger-sharp Globe. On the one hand, this is an amazgly hont acunt of Roxane Gay's life wh an unly body, as she lls , which veloped after she was gang raped at 12. Gay has had to learn to live wh her large body, which is on display to the world.

I admire Gay’s brilliance, bravery, and life, and I will ntue to get my hands on everythg she wr. I wanted to love this one, I really did, pecially sce Gay's novel An Untamed State is one of my all-time favor. And no, not jt bee is important and is heartbreakg - which is both - but bee Gay is one of the bt wrers I've ever known.

THE BOLDNS OF ROXANE GAY’S HUNGER

This is Gay's memoir om the time she was gang raped at twelve-years-old, to her later need to e food to build a fortrs around herself, to her more recent life as a woman tegorized as the horrendo phrase "super morbidly obe". Gay's self-awarens is paful to read as she talks about experienc narrow seatg on airl, movie theatr or rtrants, or at events.

Gay says the thgs that many are - for a whole variety of reasons - aaid to say. It is an credibly powerful memoir that is ma even more so by the raw, uncensored tth Gay brgs to . Gay is not happy wh her body, but also angry at the world for beg a place that mak her unhappy wh her body.

) I wonr if Roxane Gay was ed ready to wre this book -- she am as a difficult experience to wre and fish and publish and there is equivotn on every page, sometim every sentence, and nothg like the stronger, more direct prose and voice of her says/op-eds on femism and society. Roxane Gay's voice was born and champned via the Inter, which means that a lot of "Hunger" bears the stream-of-nscns rmaly of blog entri.

For example, I wish wrers like Gay, who surely knows what real hate is, wouldn't e the word "hate" so much for banal occurrenc everyday life that we simply don't like or don't prefer: food, habs, celebri, mor nvenienc, awkward moments.

I found Gay g the word "hate" this way more than a dozen tim "Hunger, " and maybe many more (I should have unted them).

596 reviews1, 148 followersAugt 8, 2021I nnot jump on the bandwagon of this beg a wonrful and empowerg folks but as Ms Gay ntu to blame the world for her unhapps there is jt no chance for peace. I’ve realized that Roxane Gay is, while not my style as a fictn thor, a fantastic thor of nonfictn.

Roxane Gay seems to know exactly how to e repn and exactly how to nvey what is to be her place - emotns we’ve all felt, but maybe haven’t put to words. Gay’s narratn perfectly nveys every emotn, perfectly nveys jt how horrifyg and hard to talk about her experienc are whout melodrama or tears. I’m a ltle horrified by several reviews seemg to imply - or outright state - that Roxane Gay is makg her problems worse by wallowg or by “refg” to open herself to others - or even worse, that she is “choosg” not to heal.