Review: 'Hunger,' by Roxane Gay

Contents:

• ROXANE GAY ON THE TRMAS OF THE BODY
• HUNGER BY ROXANE GAY REVIEW – ONE BODY’S LSONS FOR EVERYBODY
• ROXANE GAY’S COMPLITED “HUNGER”
• HUNGER BY ROXANE GAY REVIEW – HOW THE WORLD TREATS FAT PEOPLE
• REVIEWS OF HUNGER BY ROXANE GAY
• THE BOLDNS OF ROXANE GAY’S HUNGER
• ROXANE GAY’S NEW MEMOIR, HUNGER, IS TIMATE, VULNERABLE, AND RADIL
• BE BIGGER, FIGHT HARR: ROXANE GAY ON A LIFETIME OF 'HUNGER'
• ROXANE GAY'S 'HUNGER' COMPLIT NARRATIV ABOUT BEG FAT
• IN ROXANE GAY'S POWERFUL 'HUNGER,' A CRAVG FOR ACCEPTANCE
• HUNGER BY ROXANE GAY: EW REVIEW
• REVIEW: HUNGER, A MEMOIR OF (MY) BODY BY ROXANE GAY
• REVIEW: 'HUNGER,' BY ROXANE GAY

ROXANE GAY ON THE TRMAS OF THE BODY

AdvertisementSKIP GrabiecWhen you purchase an penntly reviewed book through our se, we earn an affiliate 14, 2017HUNGER A Memoir of (My) Body By Roxane Gay 306 pp.

At s most symphonic, ’s an tellectually rigoro and eply movg exploratn of the ways which trma, stori, sire, language and metaphor shape our experienc and nstct our dghter of prospero Haian immigrants (an engeer and a homemaker), Gay moved often growg up, but thought of Omaha as her home. Bee she’d willgly gone wh the boy to a b the woods, and bee even after the asslt she ntued to see the boy — who was handsome and popular like the boys the Sweet Valley High books she loved — Gay kept a secret om her parents and ternalized the shame. Gay’s last book, Bad Femist, beme a New York Tim btseller and revealed her to be a wrer unfazed by nvenient tths and a champn of women – pecially gay and black women.

And although Gay regrets she is unable to go as far as the mpaigners who rejoice their size, she do want to rethk what fatns n Gay, overeatg was, for a while, her solutn. No doubt Gay is thoroughly sick of beg rced to her body and of endurg nstant quiri, prejudic and cricism, and she has evintly worked hard to make space for herself to talk and wre about other thgs. People askg those kds of qutns don’t serve an answer, and yet here Gay has cid to give them pris at least two stori: a partial but more or ls lear tellg of Gay’s life so far, and a more haltg, spirallg scriptn of her everyday experience as a fat woman.

HUNGER BY ROXANE GAY REVIEW – ONE BODY’S LSONS FOR EVERYBODY

Gay blam herself, and her sufferg is pound when the boys report their versn of events to their peers at school; she keeps hers quiet, unable to say anythg about to her fay.

Gay allus to or summaris difficult nversatns, but rarely reunts them full, and the overall effect is often one of clstrophobic tensy, as if the rear is trapped si her head much the way she scrib feelg ged her flh.

They mt watch a vio of patients’ “steamy red and pk and yellow” sis beg rved up an exorbantly expensive and vastatg procre that even the bt se scenar will leave them permanently Gay do not owe anyone a sgle explanatn of her size, she giv her rears an abundance of them. Gay’s mixed feelgs often feel evable, though, a culture that giv fat women no safe place to stand: you mt feel bad about your size, but not enough to make anyone else unfortable; you mt feel good about yourself as you are, but not too good. “I am a product of my environment, ” she wr, explag why her femist nvictns n’t protect her om the cycle of self‑blame, om longg to be thner and accg herself of weakns or lack of disciple when her body don’t Baker’s 2016 acunt of her own extreme weight loss sheds light on of what Gay endur is neher her flt nor wh her ntrol, but sce she believ society will not change fast enough, if at all, she mak no apology for yearng to adjt herself to .

ROXANE GAY’S COMPLITED “HUNGER”

Gay gas weight as an outward exprsn of her unhapps, but those around her don’t get the msage, and only make her more miserable their reactns to her changg body. Readg Hunger remd me of rad producer Elna Baker’s 2016 acunt of her own extreme weight loss and s aftermath, which some ways holds up a funhoe mirror to Gay’s experience. Gay knows that losg the weight would not solve everythg or grant her happs, and yet she longs for the entirely different, ls paful life she imag she uld have had whout the book, Gay characteris as “a nfsn”, that term so often flung as an sult at women who wre about themselv.

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". ) 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. 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.

598 reviews1, 157 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’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. Favor favs-of-2018 femism 1, 495 reviews8, 805 followersJuly 14, 2017I fished Hunger five hours ago and still feel such overwhelmg gratu for Roxane Gay's wrg; this memoir is my favore 2017 read by far and one of those rare works that mak me so thankful for my abily to read at all.

HUNGER BY ROXANE GAY REVIEW – HOW THE WORLD TREATS FAT PEOPLE

Hunger foc on Gay's fatns, how beg fat has affected her life so many negative and unfair ways, and the rape she experienced as a twelve-year-old that precipated her weight ga.

Appet, Gay blends the personal and the polil wh great skill, showg how food tersects wh femism which tersects wh sexism which tersects wh trma and so much more. In large part bee of her distct voice, Gay somehow manag to make this memoir sightful, heartbreakg, unfortable, thentic, and sometim even humoro all at once. "Thank you, Roxane Gay, for empowerg victims and survivors of eatg disorrs and var forms of asslt - myself clud - to honor our hunger and to e our stori to create.

REVIEWS OF HUNGER BY ROXANE GAY

2nd-favor bgraphy-or-memoir femism 1, 118 reviews1, 349 followersJuly 12, 2017Listeng to Roxanne Gay read her memoir, Hunger, was like listeng to a close iend divulgg some of her most paful and timate memori, thoughts and feelgs -- if that iend also happened to be a wickedly good wrer. I spect that if I read now, I would see the stori a pletely different light, unrstandg that the vlence, fear of vlence and self-loathg are extremely personal to Gay -- not jt there to shock her rears but born out of her own experienc and emotns.

I'm gog to be thkg about this for years to rape, fatphobia 3, 876 reviews3, 079 followersJune 19, 2017The thg I always admire about Roxane Gay's wrg, even when mak me unfortable, is her abily to tackle issu head-on, wh unflchg honty. Oilbgraphy-memoir ebooks read2017 655 reviews965 followersApril 20, 2020In unrstated but movg prose, Roxane Gay reflects upon her life as a fat woman livg a misogynistic society that seeks to regiment and shame “unly” bodi.

In the remar of the book, Gay nsirs how her weight, race, and genr have affected the ways which others have perceived and treated her as an adult, while she criqu Amerin culture for havg ma “the sire for weight loss” a “flt feature of womanhood. Not only is this an hont, unflchg look at herself and her life and her choic, is also stylistilly betiful a way most books (fictn or non-fictn) never Gay tells, que lerally, the story of her body.

THE BOLDNS OF ROXANE GAY’S HUNGER

Ms Gay wr about some tails of every day life that I have never nsired om my perspective, so I learned a lot and was thoroughly ptivated by her whole are some very dark and heartbreakg thgs this powerful memoir.

She wr wh bety and ndour about some very important, very difficult Remend ??2021 b-memoir femism142 reviews330 followersAugt 7, 2017Roxane Gay, thank you. Readg Roxane Gay's memoir Hunger is at once a difficult, timate enavor, but the sheer power of Gay's blunt, unspargly hont prose ma this a sgle stg read for me, gobsmacked by her willgns to reveal the pths of her pa, her rage, her hope, her securi, her jealoy, and her hunger for so many thgs this world, some attaable and some tantalizgly out of reach due to physil, cultural, societal, or self imposed limatns.

This is a memoir of Gay's body, but she do his memoir what she asks, begs, mands, fears, hungers for: the rear mt see her body, ed through her ey we for a moment n feel what is to hab her body, but the rear is also nonted wh the nuance and plexy and telligence and whirlwd of thoughts and sir and emotns that Gay is jt as much as her body, and that too often has been stripped away om her terms of how morn Amerin culture views a woman of size. And as specific as is, this immersal to the md and heart and body of Gay, there is so much here that ronat and reverberat loudly, to the llective experience, the female experience, the black experience. And perhaps I may have more mon wh Gay than the average rear or even if I don't, perceive a closer kship - biracial, 5' 10", boardg school kid, my adult years always tendg heavier than I'd (and my fay) would like me to be and the requise ncern and veneratn of thns=happs that wh that.

ROXANE GAY’S NEW MEMOIR, HUNGER, IS TIMATE, VULNERABLE, AND RADIL

Gay's abily to probe to the parts of herself she keeps hidn or submerged and brg that multu of passn and feelg to the surface is credibly movg, and at least for me, I was able to revel and admire her honty while also beg forced to nsir my own (or lack of ), tths about my plicy terms of beg part of a culture that simultaneoly eras fat people but also n't help but acst them and rce them to sheer mass and BMI and numbers on a sle, tths about how I often elevate the needs and sir of others far above those of my own and ny myself the power and importance of my hunger. Gay's Hunger did all of those thgs, but for me stck personally, I felt how she felt and also felt my own feelgs, I watched her rage and grieve and fear and felt my own rage and grief and fear.

I'm jt a girl on Goodreads, and I'm nowhere near as willg to be publicly hont as Gay, but readg Hunger I uldn't help but be bowled over, experiencg her story and her life, watchg her ntextualize her experience and evaluate where all of stand beg plic wh the equi and digni of the society we're all part of, lettg Gay's sharp, blunt tth perate parts of myself I don't surface and force or prompt self-examatn.

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

I thk Hunger will appeal wily, htg for fans of Gay's prev work and for those memoir type rears who are ok wh an unfortable, challengg, hont experience gettg to the sk and md and heart of someone else. Roxane Gay giv up and lays all out there barg body and soul to the world wr about the unspeakable horror that broke her young body and md at age 12 and reveals the stggl of a 400+ weight challenged woman our the nstant battle of tryg to lose hundreds of also reveals facts about health issu, personal relatnships and difficulty purchasg cloth beyond the siz offered by even a Lane 's always those horrific hnted memori of what she Gay is a talented wrer wh a lovg, supportive fay. She often wr about sexual vlence as AN UNTAMED first experience readg Gay's excellent read; and now I unrstand why she choos such disturbg for HUNGER, while somewhat rndant the tellg, is a very brave and emotnally raw offerg that "mands to be told and serv to be heard.

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 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. Hunger A Memoir of (My) Body In her exceptnally famo papers and long-nng Tumblr blog, Roxane Gay has ma wh closens and rponsivens about food and body, cludg her own cril and mental battl to analyze our typil stras over bliss, e, appearance, and...

ROXANE GAY'S 'HUNGER' COMPLIT NARRATIV ABOUT BEG FAT

At a time when there is no shortage of remendatns for women on how to disciple or make peace wh their bodi, Roxane Gay’s book, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, stands out precisely bee she begs by clarg that she hasn’t overe her “unly body and unly appet.

IN ROXANE GAY'S POWERFUL 'HUNGER,' A CRAVG FOR ACCEPTANCE

” The story of Roxane Gay’s body did not beg wh this vlatn of her nocence, but was the acture that would e to fe her relatnship wh food, sire, and nial for s. Or I do” and “I do not have an answer to that qutn, or I do, ” imply that Gay unrstands all too well a broar culture that ref to acmodate fat bodi and the rtrat required to scribe the slights she’s experienced wh Gay is grapplg wh a paful, first-person story, she gracefully weav the sharp mentary that she’s e to be known for.

Its short, timate chapters follow Gay through the brokenns of her teens, the recklsns of the followg , and her current, ongog stggle to rencile the fact that beg an overweight black woman at tim mak her body a se for mentary and her humany visible. You are your body, nothg more, and your body should damn well bee is not the first time Gay has wrten about her weight, the asslt she experienced her youth, and the ways that society assigns value to women of her size.

HUNGER BY ROXANE GAY: EW REVIEW

Bad Femist clud an say about Gay’s trip to fat mp, and untls says she’s prevly published onle—cludg “Breakg Uniform, ” and “My Body Is Wildly Undiscipled And I Deny Myself Nearly Everythg I Dire”—are reprted Hunger. Last year she appeared on This Amerin Life, where she noted the difference between beg “Lane Bryant fat” and super-morbidly obe (the latter the clil term for Gay’s size) Hunger, she repeatedly juxtapos an herent, ternal nflict: the survival mechanism of makg herself bigger the years followg her rape and the ways which that very act has ma her life difficult a new way.

In one revealg sectn, Gay scrib the kds of exhstg nsiratns that she mak daily bee of her size—om googlg event venu to see if there are stairs, to worryg about airport seatg, to drsg mostly jeans and tton shirts, to wonrg whether a rtrant’s chairs will have arms that will pch her. To Gay, hunger is a spirual or emotnal state, the tersectn of fear and sire ma visible, and throughout the book she as a metaphor to lk the emotnal stat that ept om self-hate: isolatn, self-stctn, a tolerance for abe, and ep sadns. The child of upper-middle class Haian immigrants, Gay moved through rarefied spac before droppg out of Yale as a sophomore and nng away, choosg poverty and workg on a phone-sex is, as the subtle ("A Memoir of (My) Body") impli, a memoir about havg a body, and what means to have one that don't f to the regular bounds of society.

On Hunger's release day, Mamamia, an Atralian podst, posted an terview wh Gay wh an troductn scribg how difficult was for them to get a sturdy chair and how the host, Mia Freedman, emailed wh Gay's publicist to ensure Gay uld f the elevator. Gay has always med her personal history for material whout lookg for py or absolutn om her rear, and while her spare, utilarian prose uld be nspicuoly unrated her recent llectn of stori Difficult Women, here helps her avoid melodrama and the fundamental fallacy of wrg about sexual vlence: more tail equals more realism equals more importance, which you n see anywhere om Hanya Yanagihara's novel A Ltle Life to the now discreded Rollg Stone story about sexual asslt at UVA. "Watch: Virgie Dpent on Killg RapistsA scientist or a pedant would argue that Gay's self-diagnosis isn't pletely believable, if only bee we, as humans, have a lot ls ntrol over our appet and what our bodi choose to do wh food than ee will n expla.

REVIEW: HUNGER, A MEMOIR OF (MY) BODY BY ROXANE GAY

Her sistence on that fact—gag weight is somethg that she did—mak Hunger about acceptance stead of remptn, which n be bldg when we're takg about weight that oby is somethg we scribe as a "public health epimic, " health has bee an exce to cricize the bodi of strangers, but Gay ref this ame for her own story. One moment you'll be readg about Gay's admiratn for Ina Garten, the celebry chef and Barefoot Contsa, and the next you'll fd yourself a ep exploratn of an abive relatnship. For Gay, her body is at once a jagged emotnal wound and a banal but ever-prent nvenience brought on by the small-mdns of 's an tertg twist on an Amerin Dream story—ls about what a person do to achieve succs and more about the thgs that hard work and talent n't necsarily book rts on the fact that we're readg the remiscenc, trials, and triumphs of a fairly famo and succsful person, and s te narrative is Gay's transformatn om teenager gripped by trma to adult who has reached some emotnal equilibrium.

REVIEW: 'HUNGER,' BY ROXANE GAY

In a mixed review of Bad Femist, wrer Alice Gregory wrote that Gay's argument, that iologil pury is impossible and ill-advised for femists the 21st century, bee femists are human and th fallible, "was reasonable, if overly reliant on an unreasonable straw man. Bee of her spare prose style, Gay has a tenncy to rce the views of her opponents or adversari to unnecsary simplicy, and she is equally prone to makg totalizg statements about herself, her lik and dislik, and how other people see her. For the sake of the story, Gay ascrib more agency and malice to this woman than is realistic—we have no way of knowg if she took the "petn" serly, too, even if she did make a sni ment about Gay's weight.