Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body

by Roxane Gay

Sometimes we try to convince ourselves of things that are not true, reframing the past to better explain the present.

The less space they take up, the more they matter.

It’s hard for thin people to know how to talk to fat people about their bodies, whether their opinions are solicited or not. I get that, but it’s insulting to pretend I am not fat or to deny my body and its reality. It’s insulting to think I am somehow unaware of my physical appearance. And it’s insulting to assume that I am ashamed of myself for being fat, no matter how close to the truth that might be.

I do this obsessive research because people tend to assume that everyone moves through the world the way they do. They never think of how I take up space differently than they do.

The bigger you are, the smaller your world becomes.