The Strange History of Suzanne LaFleshe: And Other Stories of Women and Fatness

by Susan Koppelman (Editor), Alix Kates Shulman (Foreword)

Spanning the 1890s through the 1990s, this unique, daring, and vital collection explores the many psychological and emotional tensions in women’s relationships to—and perceptions of—their physical selves. Addressing the peculiarities, the delights, and the shames of body politics that reside in the flesh, these stories of bodies that refuse to be contained deftly and astutely comment on popular notions of acceptable body types and behaviors.

Often witty, sometimes painful, and always revelatory, the stories in this anthology offer a measured assessment of the rules, unspoken and otherwise, that govern women’s bodies. Whether celebrating bodies deemed transgressive or simply acknowledging that such bodies exist, the volume’s diverse literary representations of fatness render these bodies brilliantly, unapologetically visible.

Genres: Feminism, Fat Studies, Fat, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Susan H. Koppelman (b. 1940) is a feminist literary historian and anthologist. The PCA/ACA's Susan Koppelman Award for Feminist Studies in Popular and American Culture is given in her honor.

Reviews

[Rachelmallinga · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an anthology over decades of short stories that are about women and their bodies. It is great to see a lot of body/fat positive stories from 1895 to this centruy. When I am upset or depressed i read some of my favorite short stories; "The Dream Diet" and "The strange History of Suzanne LaFleshe" are my two favorite stories. I have read this book completly once but I cannot even count the times I have re-read specific stories. I recommend this book!

[Raquel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven but fascinating collection of stories about fat women over the course of a century. There's a variety of styles and portrayals of women and weight. A few of the stories were actually quite dreadful. Highly valuable were the editor's essays that sandwiched the collection, as well as the epigraphs at the start of each story. Speaking of editors, my god, this book needed an editor because wow, the number of typos in this book borders on comical. For this reason, I had to knock off an extra star. It did introduce me to other authors I want to check out, and I already picked up a couple of older collections the author recommended. I'd love to see more collections like this one.

[Anjoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riddled with typos (this is before my time!), this book is still a good read on women and bodies--specifically on embracing size difference--across time. The short stories are chronologically ordered.