I had the weird sense that Irby is probably someone I would like in real life, but that I couldn't vibe with on the page. It was okay but I think I onI had the weird sense that Irby is probably someone I would like in real life, but that I couldn't vibe with on the page. It was okay but I think I only felt truly amused once (when she went to spread--or rather, dump--her father's ashes after having stashed them away for 15 years, in a guilty-chorelike way, and the wind picked up, and when she tossed them into the river in a fit of panic as children were coming to swim there, all the ashes came back to hit her in the FACE).
I don't really know how to categorize her humor. It's of-the-times, self-deprecating, dark at certain moments, vulgar at others. None of this is stuff that I don't like. It just didn't have the intended effect. So: meh.
I really liked this book, and I think a major part of that was the narrator, Eileen Stevens, for the audiobook version. She did SO GOOD with all the TI really liked this book, and I think a major part of that was the narrator, Eileen Stevens, for the audiobook version. She did SO GOOD with all the Texas accents and everyone had a very distinct voice and it brought the characters alive.
What I really liked about this book was how true-to-life and complicated it felt. I worked at a pizza shop for 5 years; Willowdean works at a fast food burger joint, and this comprises a lot of the setting. It felt real and made Willowdean feel really relatable to me.
I also related to Willowdean because she is fat. I wasn't fat in high school, but I gained a lot of weight after high school, and like Willowdean I'm conflicted about it and waver in my confidence and ego. I want to be content with the way I look, okay with looking different. Sometimes I feel like all the various things that threaten my happiness are related to my weight. I worry about being up in front of a classroom in front of a bunch of teenagers and being taken less seriously because I'm fat. I'm worried what my friends think about me but don't say. Changing rooms can be nightmares and before I had a long-term boyfriend, the thought of being intimate with a new person had a whole extra layer of anxiety. Like Will, I know what the best version of myself should be: someone that doesn't comment on another person's body, someone that feels bold and powerful despite what other people think, someone that knows her weight doesn't define her. But we both falter. And I loved her for that, even when she made some decisions that were really not commendable (I was also able to extend Will a lot more empathy and sympathy than some other reviewers because she is deep in the trenches of grief after losing her beloved aunt, in the middle of feeling new feelings about her body because now there's the possibility of sharing it with another human).
Mainly this has 4 stars because I wanted the ending to be more concrete. After a major plot was all about how (view spoiler)[Will couldn't commit to her relationship with Bo because she was worried about the stares and the questions about how a fat girl could land such a conventionally attractive and fit boyfriend, it ended with them kissing but not with a conversation where she finally admitted she was ready. I know the kissing implied that, but Bo and Will kiss or want to kiss throughout most of the book. I needed the closure of words here, not actions that didn't feel fundamentally different than the secret they were keeping for months (hide spoiler)].
Several people hated the fact that Will (view spoiler)[led on a boy named Mitch. (hide spoiler)] I'm not for it, but I understand why it happened, why even someone that is mostly good can be capable of doing shitty things to other people, and why we are even more likely to do it when we are feeling bad about ourselves. Will is feeling bad for most of the book. She's lost her aunt, she feels herself losing her best friend, she's got jealousy and insecurity all wrapped into one, her relationship with her mother is COMPLICATED. By the end of the book, I feel like Will (view spoiler)[knows that she was shitty to Mitch and is smart enough to avoid doing it again. But I also feel like the lack of communication between her and both boys--Bo and Mitch--feels real for teenagers, and totally had a hand in how Will handled her relationship with Mitch. In a time when she was alone and vulnerable, Mitch was her friend, and his attention felt nice. It doesn't excuse what she did, but I understand how she somewhat-accidentally took advantage of his kindness, of his interest. I understand how it was hard to name what she was and wasn't feeling for Mitch, because she was so conflicted herself (hide spoiler)].
I picked this up knowing that I had heard Lindy West's name from my favorite comic Hari Kondabolu. Turns out, I've also read some of her pieces--and mI picked this up knowing that I had heard Lindy West's name from my favorite comic Hari Kondabolu. Turns out, I've also read some of her pieces--and my memory is fuzzy, but I think her rape joke piece was pretty formative in my transformation into a feminist. So thank you, Lindy West!
Lindy West is funny. That much is evident in the first 5 pages. She's also really, really honest, and she shares how vulnerable and uncertain she felt at a lot of moments, and even the moments where she didn't behave exactly as she remembered she did.
This book was important to me as a fat woman. Unlike West, I grew up thin and became fat around the time I was 22 or 23. The transition has been hard, mostly because one half of my family has a BIG problem with it. Lindy spoke to all of the things I was feeling about how their rudeness masquerading as "care" didn't really work because if they really cared, they would also care about my mental health, which was not doing so well at that point in my life (and I don't know how it's doing now--I struggle with anxiety now).
I just really liked this book. For me, it was timely and relevant and interesting and comforting. ...more
A solid read--sad, first and foremost, but hopeful, too. A little bit repetitive at times (most especially with word choice). Then there's the critiquA solid read--sad, first and foremost, but hopeful, too. A little bit repetitive at times (most especially with word choice). Then there's the critique of the fatphobia, which like, duh, on one hand, and on the other, maybe since it's about recovery there could be anything added about a reflection or a hope that "fat" might not be the worst, scariest, and most awful thing in the world? Like really she has to assure herself, and other people have to assure her, that she will not become fat. ever. there is never even a thought that maybe part of the problem is that fatness is thought of so poorly instead of neutrally. it's especially weird that they reassure her of this when her goal is pregnancy, which can and will radically change the body? And yet in the beginning she says she is less concerned about her body's appearance than she is about the control and addiction. hm. a more lengthy review perhaps when I'm not on mobile......more
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