And I think that was a striking part of this book, for me it felt commissioned. It’s not an easy read.Īny person who knows Gay’s work wouldn’t be surprised by either of these two revelations: they are both discussed in Bad Feminist too.
Her own disgust with her fat body, combined with societal disregard and distaste, imbue the novel. As she looks through her life, she notes all the different places in which her trauma manifested, and we are invited to see how a single day in the life of a girl can ripple through everything. Gay explains that she obsessively and compulsively eats, in part, to shield her body from the world. It’s a memoir of Gay’s life, up until the present day, in which she describes the trauma that at age 12 shaped her. HUNGER, by Roxane Gay, is a book that fascinated me.
