What does it mean for a body to be both a shield against the world and an easy target for harm? This is not the main question of Gay's memoir but one of many she unravels. It eloquently squashes the idea that obesity is a lifestyle choice with incredible nuance, speaking to her own emotional landscape and life with a nakedness we are all lucky to witness. Hunger unveils so many privileges people who aren't obese take for granted.
A sharp memoir about Roxane Gay's experience with her own body and with a world that refuses to carve out space for bodies like hers.
The clever use of dual perspectives, combined with a fast-paced, intricate plot, creates a bombshell of a novel. This wonderful YA debut follows two girls, Claire Wang and Dani De La Cruz, whose incredibly different lives will clash in increasingly consequential ways as they navigate the destructive power dynamics of gender, age, wealth, and race at their elite high school. I cried every time I sat down to read this intimate conversation between Chanel and her audience. The vulnerability, wisdom, empathy, mental acuity, and humor with which Miller tells her story, reclaims her voice, and challenges the criminal justice system and rape culture is unparalleled. A stunning memoir on trauma and triumph by Chanel Miller, the survivor of the Stanford sexual assault case.
