This book is meant to divide, and that it does. Reminiscent of Melissa Broder’s Milk Fed (2021) both in its portrayal of eating disorders and approaching extremes, as well as its provocative, searing writing style, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl exposes a society that is built on approaching people differently based on their weight for being exactly what it denies to be: anti-fat. Her journey – from adolescence to the breakdown of her marriage – is overshadowed first by her self-consciousness, and later by her obsessive self-restriction. Having grown up overweight, she remains a fat girl even when there are no longer any kilos to shed. The book’s protagonist, Lizzie, doesn’t like the way she looks. It certainly doesn’t read like a debut – the voice here is strong, honest and unbearably real – however, this collection of 13 vignettes is exactly that: the work that defined the beginning of Awad’s career, finally published in Australia in 2022. Mona Awad’s darkly funny debut, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl (2016), chronicles the life of one particular fat girl as she struggles to conform to the expectations of society, her loved ones and herself.Īwad gained a cult following after the publication of her novel, Bunny (2019), and so you’d be forgiven for thinking (like I did) that 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl was her next piece of work.
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