Book Review: "What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat" by Aubrey Gordon

I love to read essays by people who have actually experienced the things that they write about. It is normally very difficult to empathise with a person who is writing a book of essays about something they have never or will never experience. For example: a white woman writes a book about third and fourth wave feminism and includes an essay about the experience of woman of colour. It is very difficult and near-impossible to empathise with the white woman and even very easy to dismiss her writing since she has never had to deal with the experiences of women of colour from the inside. She is merely an observer if even an observer at all. When it comes to essays as well, there are a number of things that I like to see done: I like to see facts. I have noticed in the 21st century that most of these self-proclaimed ‘essay’ collections have zero factual bases. I like statistics. Again, there are very few statistics in these ‘essay’ collections. I also like anecdotes. Not just anecdotes that are relative to the book but ones that support the argument being made in that particular paragraph and/or essay at the time.

This is why I really did enjoy this book by Aubrey Gordon. At the beginning of each essay, Aubrey seeks to make a point about what it is like to be fat and what the downside is in particular in the modern day. We then get an anecdote that directly reflects the argument that she has just made, complete with dialogue and a good set up. Nothing in the anecdote ever feels like it is pointless and everything supports each piece of her argument. After the anecdote, we get statistics and the way in which these statistics are reflected into modern life - supported by an example that is from the anecdote we have been through. For example: when talking about the insanely rude man on the aeroplane, Aubrey Gordon gives statistics of the average sizes of Americans in our own day in comparison to how they fit within the seats of an aeroplane that are, in her words (and correctly so) ‘getting smaller by the day…’ She then uses these statistics to show how modern life is seemingly fixed against larger bodies. It is clever, it is highly effective, it is an easy argument to understand and it is very readable with its intelligent reference back to the anecdote the reader has been so heavily focused on.

Normally, as I have said, collections of essays do not really contain very many essays but are just ramblings on a particular topic that someone had and decided to compile. This is not true for this book as the author has taken a lot of time to edit and style the essays so they read somewhat like a cross between academia and enjoyable reading written to entertain the audience. I was initially surprised by the essays and how good they were but, upon second guess, I realised that these are the kind of essays that I have wanted to read for a while: well structured, well written and brilliantly connected essays fit for their purpose and more.

In conclusion, I feel like this definitely should not be the final book and/or collection by Aubrey Gordon and that she should really work on more writings. Whether it is fiction or nonfiction, I am sure that the author will work diligently seeing as the way in which this book is written gives clear insight into the fact that she definitely edits her work and checks to see if every box has been ticked.