Fat Girl: A True Story, by Judith Moore

Her whole life, Judith has struggled with her weight.  She would lose weight, and gain twice as much back.  She has been on reducing diets since childhood, and has come to associate lost weight with increased love.  Even as an adult, these struggles continue.  Her father struggled with his weight, and Judith is well aware of the fact that her mother hated her father's fatness, much as she hated Judith's.  In this starkly honest memoir, Judith tells what it is really like to be a fat girl.

I cried when I read this book.  So much of what it holds feels familiar to me.  As a woman who struggled with weight for years, I found a sense of sisterhood in the candid story of Judith Moore.  I laughed, I cried, and I hurt for her, as well as for myself.  In times when obesity is so prevalent, and talked about in terms of numbers, I think it is important that at least one woman told the story behind her journey.

People think that overweight people are lazy, dirty, and unambitious, but Judith helps dispel a lot of those myths in her book.  She provides a lot of insight, and I think this book would be helpful for anyone struggling with body image issues, low self esteem, or eating disorders.  This is a book that will be a permanent part of my library, and I will look to it for comfort many times in the years to come.