Author: Evette Dionne
Title: Weightless
Genre: Nonfiction (essay collection)
Publication Date: 2022
Number of Pages: 245
Geographical Setting: New York City
Time Period: Present Day
1. Where is the book on the narrative continuum?
Highly narrative (reads like fiction)
2. What is the subject of the book?
Weightless explores the intersection of the fat, Black, and chronically ill experience, through the lens of the highs and lows of Dionne's life.
3. What type of book is it?
This book is a collection of essays on different topics. The essays include tidbits from Dionne's personal life that highlight her persuasive argument.
4. Articulate appeal:
- Pacing: The pacing is leisurely and reflective. There are moments of tension, but we know at the onset that Evette is at a greater place of acceptance with her body and life than at the lowest times of her life.
- Characters: The book is autobiographical and follows Evette's journey with chronic illness and fatness, interlaced with her Black identity. Evette manages several chronic conditions, including mental illness (especially agoraphobia), heart failure, and pulmonary hypertension. Evette is able to reflect on her perspective at different times of her life with clarity and stark honesty. She does now shy away from condemning her past actions as self-destructive, harmful to others, or weak. Evette's supportive family also play a role, as do various boyfriends, though they serve more as representatives of the effect of Evette's mindset on others and as stand-ins for society than actual charactesr with arcs.
- How does the story feel? The story feels as if you are reading journal entries.
- What is the intent of the author? Dionne's intent is to share her lived experience and to build community with readers like herself. The book can also function as a long persuasive argument that fatness is not a morally corrupt state of being, but rather a neutral fact of life that deserves accommodation. Dionne argues that fatness should not be overly medicalized, and that doctors should not default to diagnosing a patient with simply "fat" and not further investigate their health conditions.
- Does the language matter? The langauge matters less than the emotional resonancy of the material. Dionne's prose is not overly poetic, but it does strike a chord narratively.
- Is the setting important and well described? The setting is sparesely described and is perhaps beyond tertiary to the overall structure of the book. Dionne's interactions with others take center stage, and whether she is talking to another disengaged boyfriend on a city street, in a park, or in a club is irrelevant.
- Are there details and, if so, of what? Dionne shares lot of medical details about her various chronic illnesses. These serve to illustrate that Dionne's primary heath problem is not her weight, but rather the illnesses she was predisposed to and got by seemingly random chance. Dionne also shares startlingly emotional and thought patterns that would potentially isolate her from the body positive movement, but she does so with honesty and bravery.
- Are there sufficient charts and other graphic materials? There are no graphs, but the book didn't need them.
- Does the book stress moments of learning, understanding, or experience? This book stresses understanding and experience. Dionne grows to accept herself and her place in society, but also elicits a call to action to challenge the status quo of white supremacy, capitalism, and the thin ideal.
5. Why would a reader enjoy this book (rank appeal)?
- Body positivity
- Black lived experience
- Social commentary
References:
Dionne, E. (2022). Weightless. New York: HarperCollins.
This sounds like a phenomenal read. I love when essay collections read more like journal entries - especially when they're not overly poetic but just emotional enough to be gripping. Occasionally, the overly poetic reads sometimes feel like authors are trying too hard to write something that goes "viral" of a sorts (not that there's anything wrong with that, obviously, just not always the kind of vibe I prefer).
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an interesting book. I like it when nonfiction books, such as this one, make you feel like you're reading excerpts from a diary. Somehow that makes it feel more personal.
ReplyDeleteHi Grace! I tend to have a hard time with essay collections because I don't always trust the author as a narrator, but I appreciate how you said the author is very honest about herself and what she thinks. I think that would make it a more interesting and powerful read because it's so hard to admit your own flaws. Loved the detail you included in this!
ReplyDeleteI like that you mentioned this book makes you feel like you're reading journal entries. I think this format connects well with the author's intent and use of language. The journal format lends itself well to sharing deeply honest and vulnerable moments with readers.
ReplyDelete