I absolutely loved this book, and have recommended it to several friends. It’s sharp, funny, well researched, personal and thought provoking on a really sensitive (but wildly important) issue.

I love the balance of humour and pathos here and this is a great resourced for talking about body size and shape.

I adore, Sophie and I'm so glad she got to write and tell her story. I'm sure it just opened up another way for people to send her abuse though. There were many moments where I found myself nodding in agreement because as another fat woman, I get it. I've understood it since I was 6 years old. Sadly, we need a lot more books like this because the second a woman appears anywhere in the media or in public generally, her looks are picked apart and analysed for flaws and blemishes. It never stops. Thank you for publishing this title and making my normal a bit less lonely.

This is not an easy read but an important one.
I can’t believe how cruel some people can be to others. This is definitely made easier due to the online world we live in.
This book is important for everyone to read.

I’m conflicted because I know this book is important and wonderfully written and funny and poignant and all that, but it made me feel horrible about how I feel about myself. I have some thinking and learning to do. I don’t recommend this for anyone who has complicated feelings about themselves and they way they look.

I can't begin to tell you how much I learnt from reading this book. Sophie Hagen has taken one of the final taboo topics - being fat - and spoken so openly and so beautifully about what it's like to live in a world that's constantly treating your size like it's something that you should definitely, absolutely be ashamed of - regardless of how you feel about yourself. She examines the issue from a variety of different viewpoints, providing her own insights and observations along the way; some of them are funny, some of them heartbreaking but it's shocking at how aggressively, patronisingly or downright rudely Sophie has been treated.

As a non-fat person, I really appreciated the section where Sophie talked about how to be a good friend to someone who is fat, even though I was cringing at some of the things that I have very definitely said or done in the past and how problematic they are in hindsight.

By the end of this book, I can guarantee that you'll feel like you've had your eyes suddenly opened to just how fat phobic the world actually is (unless of course this is just your lived reality, in which case I apologise for being so blind to it all). Once you've read Happy Fat you can't go back - but I guarantee you'll be a better person for reading it.

"Practise self care
Uncover your strength
Never give up
Cry unapologetically"

Brb getting a Sofie Hagen tattoo.
I wasnt sure how id get on with this book, its unlike anything I've ever read but its also exactly what I needed to read.

Ive finished the book feeling more at peace with my end-of-furlough-body, feeling more understanding over my relationship with food and definitely armed with knowledge on fatphobia and the history of it.

It was such an interesting and motivational read. Im off to unfollow accounts that make me feel bad and give the podcasts Sofie recommends a chance.

Thank you.

I've been a fan of Sofie for years, and first discovered her through the Guilty Feminist podcast. I thought I would enjoy this book more than I did to be honest, but it was quite funny, quite interesting and quite thought provoking.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this book though I'm sorry to say that I didn't get too far with it. If it gets a lot better someone is welcome to let me know but it didn't cut it for me. It seems like it was an opportunity for the author to spend 336 pages having a rant on how there are not more opportunities for 'fat' people and how she has had a hard time because of her weight. There are parts that are meant to be funny but fell flat like when she admitted that someone told her to stop in the middle of her giving them a blow job at a party.

Maybe she references the amazing larger women later on in the book but I found myself thinking about Oprah, Gabourey Sidibe (whose biography I've read and is amazing., Queen Latifah, Rebel Wilson. Well she references Rebel Wilson's part in Pitch Perfect because of the negative characterisation there but she has been in other films.

I thought that I might have been the target market reader being overweight myself but it just annoyed me too much. Oh and she could have reference James Corden who has given a brilliant response to a fat shamer before on his show.

It is difficult to define this book’s genre as it slips from autobiography, to scientific report, to interview and at times to nothing more than a rant about the various problems Hagen encounters in her pilgrimage against the fatphobes. This constant change of styles is quite jarring on the reader and certainly doesn’t make for a seamless read as we are jumped back and forth from an interview to a childhood experience and then onto a reference to a medical research report.

One of the issues caused by this constant to-ing and fro-ing is that many points are merely repeated over and over which, rather than hammering home the point which may have been the intention, instead just serve to irritate the reader.

Overly long for what it is really. Same message over and over again, albeit said in different ways. A bit on the aggressive side too. I always did hate the word “activist” and dislike it even more after reading this book! However Sofie made valid points and there’s definitely “food for thought” here.

I have put this book under body positivity although Sofie Hagen would prefer that I used Fat instead. The Danish comedian has written a compelling argument for reclaiming the word Fat as purely descriptive and without any negative associations and by the end of the book I was convinced. At times not an easy read especially when she details the verbal and emotional abuse she has received for being fat, it is an important book. Her rage against the way she is treated and the inaccuracies that are perpetuated about fat people is enlightening and inspiring. She rails against the labelling of foods as good or bad and her distinction that body weight is not a sign of health or ill health and that size often doesn't reflect how healthy someone is actually being in their lives is vital. I share her hope that we can learn to love our bodies and stop the toxic messages around weight and food.

With thanks to Net galley for a free ARC in exchange for a review.

THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE!

I have been a fan of Sofie Hagen for a few years now. I really enjoy her stand up and her podcasts and it is actually through Sofie that I first became aware of the body positivity movement and the fight against fatphobia. So I have been meaning to read this book for a while now and am SO glad I did.

The book is clearly well researched and contains a trove of really interesting facts (did you know that it is still legal to discriminate against a person based on their weight in the UK? Or that one to five per cent of patients die on the operating table during weight-loss surgery?) But it is still written in a way which makes it accessible to all, whether you're familiar with the body positivity and fat liberation movements or have never heard of them before. The facts and evidence are well backed up and I know I will definitely be dipping back into this book as a reference whenever I'm making a case against diets and fat shaming. There are also numerous anecdotes throughout, many of them funny but also shocking and they serve as a stark reminder of just how difficult it is to exist as a fat person in this world.

One thing I really appreciate about this book is that Sofie recognises her own privilege as a financially comfortable, white, able-bodied European person and identifies when this privilege has benefitted her in a situation. It would be so easy for this to become a book that only middle class white women could identify with and benefit from but the inclusion of interviews with other, marginalised fat people (Stephanie Yeboah, a fat black woman from London; Kivan Bay, a trans queer man from the US; and Matilda Ibini, a black woman in a wheelchair from London) seeks to amplify their voices and draw attention to the intersection of things like race, sexuality, gender identity and disability with being a fat person.

I really recommend everyone - regardless of your body size or whether you're active with body positivity/fat liberation - to read this book. There is so much to be learnt from it to not only better your own relationship with your body but also to aid you in dismantling the internalised fatphobia that society has ingrained in all of us since birth.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An empowering and thought-provoking read that has encouraged me to think differently about my own body and be a better ally to people. I would love to have Sofie on my radio show on Resonance FM!

This book was so refreshing in its language and conversation around being fat and comfortable in one's old body. A few sections of this book really touched me, and even more made me reassess how fat people are represented and portrayed in media. A really interesting read.

Society Hagen has written a very heartfelt, sometimes heartbreaking but ultimately heartening book about being fat. The depressing bits about how fat people are treated (in real life and on the internet are hard to read, but it is ultimately inspiring and very funny (especially the footnotes). Deserves to be widely read.

This is an unapologetic commentary on fatphobia and how to question societal norms that harm us. It's refreshing approach helped me get past even my most steadfast fatphobic thoughts. Thank you.
Capitalism is unpicked to explain how the weight-loss industry is only in it for financial gain and is masquerading as concerned about our health and well-being.
I was in a supermarket some days into reading the book and was offered a give-away diet product goody bag - without thinking I handed it back and said 'I don't believe in dieting'. Success!

Funny, inclusive and most importantly, angry. This book felt like the comedy memoir version of Dietland (without the terrorism and stuff) and everyone should read both of these books immediately

Sofie Hagen is a joy and it translates so well on the page. Tackling a world that wants you to take up as little space as possible, Sofie doesnt only stand firm - unapologetically - and own her space, but sticks up two fingers to those who question it. Full of wit, charm and humour, it's a great read.

Everyone should be made to read this book,

As a fellow fatty, I have never felt so heard and validated with this book. As someone who has been on the fat liberation train for the past year, it was wonderful to see some of my thoughts, struggles and things I've had to come to terms with projected from someone else.

Sophie makes sure she talks to people of all different fat sizes, genders, and race, in order to get a full range of diverse voices. I also loved how was have so much history and extra knowledge about the fat liberation movement, such as the origins, and that was so great to find out more.

Would 100% recommend this wonderful wonderful book from .a wonderful woman!