Four Stars

Best for:
Fans of Ian Karmel’s work, people interested in hearing from siblings who have been fat most of their lives, people interested in learning more about how anti-fat bias impacts the lives of fat people.

In a nutshell:
In this clever set-up, comedian, comedy writer and podcast host Ian Karmel shares what is essentially a memoir, told through the eyes of his life as a fat child, fat teen, and fat adult. His sister Alisa Karmel, who has a doctorate and is a nutritionist, appends each chapter with her own thoughts (and lots of statistics and studies), addressing some of the issues Ian raised in that chapter.

Worth quoting:
I laughed out loud a lot during Ian’s section, and found Alisa’s section interesting, but it was an audio book and I was mostly doing chores and such while listening so didn’t end up taking any down.

Why I chose it:
I listen to All Fantasy Everything, a podcast where Ian and two of his friends / fellow comedians (plus guests) fantasy draft items from pop culture. Nearly every episode is a banger, even though they draft things as wildly different as after school snacks and Disney movie songs. When I heard he had a book out, I knew I wanted to check it out.

Review:
I’ve read a few books about fatness – Aubrey Gordon’s two books. Roxane Gay’s works, Sophie Hagen’s happy fat – but all have been written by people who at the time identified as women. This is the first one that has at least part of it focused on the perspective of a fat man, and it’s interesting to hear the issues he has had, and how they are a bit different from what I have heard fat women discuss.

He’s a comedy writer, and he’s funny. His jokes flow with the storytelling, and he paints a picture of a childhood that was both full of love and joy but also full of pain from being a fat kid. And he doesn’t suggest that life would be perfect if he hadn’t been a fat kid, but he talks about the ways society has harmed him and people like him because of how it chooses to treat fat people.

He definitely talks about health impacts for him, and for some people, but he doesn’t, at least not that I caught, suggest that one must be thin to be healthy, or that one must be unhealthy if they are fat.

A lot of his story stuck with me, but the part that I recall the most is when he talks about being a high school football player and how adults finally accepted his fat because it helped him cause pain to others. Just — ooof. That level of insight.

Alisa’s section is full of so much empathy and also practical advice. She’s willing to disagree with her brother on some areas, but she mostly is focused on talking about health and creating children and young people who understand their bodies and feel comfortable talking about them. If I were a parent I would definitely be bookmarking and consulting this section repeatedly.

I’m not sure if this would have worked better if each chapter had Ian’s bit then Alisa’s (as opposed to all of Ian’s and then all of Alisa’s), but this is probably just as good as that would have been. Really that’s my only gripe.

What’s next for this book:
Keep (it’s an audio book)