Everything Hanne Black touches turns to gold. Such an excellent primer on fat from a body-positive, yet scientifically rigorous, perspective.

This book explores the concept of fat, what does it mean to eat fat, feel fat, how does it fuel various industries. Explained well.

A really I interesting selection of essays and thoughts on the topic of fat, unbiased it looks at it from both sides. It’s social implications, the need biologically, it’s a fantastic look and the issues and very thought provoking

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

⭐⭐⭐Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. This book is a short, thought provoking and interesting read on the topic of fat. It's not your typical book about the negativities of fat nor is it your typical body positive book on fat. Instead it explores what fat is, both from positive and negative perspectives. It covers things from people's inherent dislike/fears of fat, to others love/fetishness over fat. It definitely do leaves you looking at the word fat and all its connations in a very different way. #fat #hanneblank #tea_sipping_bookworm #goodreads #litsy #bookstagram #bookqueen #netgalley #amazonkindle

I am delighted to report that I loved this this little book! I requested a copy on Netgalley on a complete whim looking for something short to read on a topic that seemed interesting. I was rewarded with an intelligent, fresh exploration of our relationship with fat.
I was intrigued to learn that fat has not always been treated as the enemy of good health with medics of ages gone by often seeing it as a sign of wealth and access to food rather than something to be warded off like an evil spirit.
The distinction between the fat in our foods and the fat on our bodies was also interesting; I didn't know that fat, depending on where it is on your body, could be different colours for example.
With so much written about ways to get rid of body fat and cut fat out of your diet, it was refreshing to read something that took a more forgiving view of fat, treating it as any other substance to be studied and understood and not feared.
I particularly enjoyed the section on fat and race with black and fat being conflated together to become something to be disgusted by and avoided. I was interested as well to read how differently fat men and fat women are viewed in the world with one subject of the book preferring to start treatment to go from being a fat woman to being a fat man just so they could exist in this world as a fat person in peace!
I would highly recommend this short but fascinating read, you will almost certainly learn something new and maybe be kinder to those love handles after reading it.

I’ve read a lot of these Object Lessons books, thanks to NetGalley, and have always found them a bit hit or miss, but this one I thought was exceptionally good. It’s all about fat, what it is, why we need it, what happens with it and how we perceive it. Fat in all its manifestations and its cultural and societal implications. It’s a personal view but doesn’t ignore the science, and I found it both engaging and enlightening.

Object Lessons published by Bloomsbury is a series of short and beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. It's one of my favourite series, and I'm always thrilled when there is a new release to be published.
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In Fat, cultural historian Hanne Blank, discusses fat from all angles, picking apart definitions, meanings and stereotypes. She looks at fat as vetoed in today's healthy life craze (which only leads to more fat being consumed in secret and guilt prevailing), while simultaneously praised by chefs and Keto fetishists⁠. She also discusses fat and sex, which I found particularly interesting, and will be looking up further works from her on the subject. Blank presents fat as both desired and hated when it comes to sex, drawing appalling examples from her life as a fat woman. ⁠
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In Hanne Blank's world, Fat is a state, a possession, a metaphor, a symptom, an object of desire. It's a delightfully interesting and well argued read!⁠

Fat. It is a necessary part of being human, as without it you will die. As the author states, that is starvation. Fat encases our brains, and other organs, it does things in our body to maintain it, such as regulate our body temperature. There are different types of fat, most of the “extra” society denigrates is generally the white fat, which actually looks yellow. There is also brown fat, which is the type that typically encases our organs. And a mixture of the two that is, of course, beige fat, a small part but useful to survival. This science part was found only in the beginning.

The book dove into several aspects of fat, societal expectations, discrimination, and sexuality as related to being a fat person. Being a large person is not easy, and society rails against it in every way, and surprisingly to me even with salary. A fat person generally makes less than anyone. Discrimination is rampant.

The author’s first book was about being large and sexuality, one of the first of its kind. So then, the focus for the last portion of the book isn’t surprising.

The book is not about weight loss. Gosh no! It’s more about acceptance of the body you have and how it operates. All bodies are different, how the food we eat is used and distributed around the body. This part was enlightening to read.

This book is part of the Object Lessons series, and they are all fairly short, and focused topic reads.

A look into a personal and social lens at fat. How people think of it, the science behind it, fetishes, how people will treat you. This is a nice overview. on the social and science issues associated with fat. Very interesting especially for women.

Women and body issues is a subject of great interest. We live in a capitalist world that still continues to perpetuate an image of women of a particular kind and there is much fat-shaming. I was intrigued to read this. Fat looks at the author's experiences: her husband who loves her body fat, how Opera helped her own her body, being fetishized in her twenties by men, and how she didn't want to be that fat friend who people complain to, was interesting. Some of the research was interest too, such how people who are perceived as a fat are treated dismissively by doctors and their illnesses are likely to be wrongly diagnosed and often they are not even diagnosed as any 'sickness' is seen by the medical community as you-just-need-to-lose-weight-and-then-you'll-be-fine was fascinating. However I did find that the technical chapters on the benefits of fat and what fat actually is was overwritten and the links between black and fat wasn't strongly drawn, and went a bit off tangent. I just didn't understand the author's point and felt she didn't make any concrete arguments. I liked the memoir aspects more and wanted more of it. I found the chapters on the scientific benefits of fat a bit tedious for my taste as I was expecting more of the social aspect of being 'fat.'

In this slim volume Hannah Blank covers a lot of ground, from the personal and her relationship to her fat body, the history of fat and the racist past (and present) sexual fetishisation, fat in food and on.The story of fat is told through a political, feminist, economic and gender lens. While I definitly learnt some things there is so much serious material to cover and this is a small book. Each chapter could be an entire PHD, but it serves as an interesting taster.

Thanks to NetGalley for the preview copy.

More to Fat and Fatness Than You Think

As a lifelong fat woman, I was curious about what this book would be when I saw it at one of my favorite book review sites. I was surprised at the blend of topics discussed. In the book. The author relates her own experience as a fat woman as it pertains to the particular chapter topic. I found myself surprised by both the commonalities and differences with my own experience. While her story certainly has the “downs” many fat women experience all the time, I was surprised at some of her positive experiences. In all my 50-plus years, I don't think I've had a positive experience with others when it comes to my being a fat woman; they've all been negative. While she does touch briefly on the science of fat, I felt like that was mostly overlooked, unfortunately. I did like the chapter where she spent a fair amount of time going over the social history of how we went from “fat is where it's at” to “thin is in.” Its basis is surprisingly multifocal. The author also touches on the fact that how fat is viewed in often racist or sexist ways. Much of this book is the author's own musings on the fat topics (fact, friend, foe, fetish, figure) as they relate to her life. I wish the book had more objective portions. The book also has some profanity, which I never like to see, especially in nonfiction. All in all, though, I did find this to be a fascinating read.

This is one of the best Non fiction books I have read this year. I would say I, as a fat woman, am fairly well read when it comes to body positivity, health at every size and fat politics, but this book was just something else. Almost half literary prose and half political I feel the need to read this again and again. Theres lots to let sink in about this book! I think I need to now get all of the authors backlist!

Just seemed to be a whole lot of whining. Read the whole thing, and seriously confused. Excuse me while I go.have a cookie, and add it to MyFitnesspal.

Thanks to publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Fat by Hanne Blank is an excellent addition to the Object Lessons series by Bloomsbury. I appreciate the freedom that expert authors are given to explore their subjects and, in the case of Fat, this freedom was particularly well utilised.

Fat explores the biology of fat, the sociological implications of fat, fat as food, fat as part of our human bodies and the intersection of fatphobia with racism, sexism and classism. Interesting and thought-provoking, this is a well-rounded book recommended to all, but particularly to the well-rounded.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

This book is very different from the rest of the Object Lessons that I’ve read. To begin with, unlike other subjects highlighted in the series, fat is not a tangible object when applied to humans. You can touch the effects of the fat in a human, but not the actual fat. It’s clear that the authors have complete freedom when writing these volumes and Hanne Blank has done a feminist manifesto. I was more curious about the science of fat, how does it work? Where does it come from? Blank includes some facts that are fascinating, but the bulk of this short text is mostly about her experiences as a self-described fat woman. She uses no euphemisms, she confronts everything head-on. Her account is eye-opening. A close family member is fat, so it’s not like I wasn’t aware of the daily inconveniences that having a large body causes, but Blank’s unflinching account of her own private experiences is heartbreaking and enlightening. She also has a great sense of humor and, despite some sad parts, she is perfectly OK with her body. Just one small comment, the Woke language is at times hard to follow. Since she’s talking about babies, it’s clear she means people assigned male/female at birth so the whole language seemed like just an effort to be politically correct and it ended up distracting me. Other than that, I enjoyed this read.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/ Bloomsbury Academic!

It was fascinating to read this book on fat, as Hanne talks about, our societal prejudices about fat are so ingrained and emotive it makes it a difficult subject to think rationally about. As she points out there is nothing inherent about those prejudices (fat has not always been regarded as the enemy and in some countries it still isn't).
But because it is an intersection where so many issues converge, not least misogyny, internalized misogyny and power it is helpful to have someone unpick some of those unconscious biases. A powerful book.

Fat is the broad and controversial theme of the book Fat. A book with the mission to counter fat-shaming and spread body positivity.
There are things about the book I liked. Namely not trying to convince anyone that being fat, specifically obese is a good thing. Rather, it tries to convey that just because a person is fat, it doesn't mean they are any less human, any less deserving of respect. It's counterproductive to shame people, especially if they spend their days struggling to become thinner, while being ridiculed. I strongly support being kind to all people, regardless of size, shape, colour, etc. Also, just as women in general and especially women of colour, fat/obese people shouldn't have horrible doctor stories to tell - our doctors should always make sure they are treating people and looking at all possibilities. Maybe later, when they help with whatever ailment, they can add "your knees would thank you so much, if you try to get around 30 minutes of activity a day".
However, there are two important points I didn't like. First, the book is too focused on the "you shouldn't starve yourself", so much so it misses the "be active and have fun with it". I find good health quite important - it's essential part of feeling good. After all, the food and the fat in it are a source of energy and that energy is most useful when we move around. And second, an extension to my previous point, we should still aim for healthy eating - veggies are great and yummy, a good salad not only tastes great, but brings in essential vitamins and minerals. We should have some variety in what we eat and strive to not starve our bodies of much needed nutrients. Unfortunately, I feel like the book was too focused on the "we shouldn't avoid fat as if it's the plague" and missed on the "we can still eat french fries, but some steamed veggies are a great meal too (and they can be healthy and tasty)".

This book can definitely be of use to people who feel the weight of being ridiculed and mistreated, because they don't fit in the "standard", but I feel like it's only a good starting step and not informative enough.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Academic for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.*

Hanne Blank has written a terrific addition to this wonderful series.She writes an honest ,intimate raw Open story of her life identified as a fat person in America,There are so many layers to being fat identified from medical to day to day living to objectification .This book tells all sides from serious sad to hysterical.The author has a terrific style that kept m engaged.#netgalley#fat

Meet fat. It's the subject of this little book, in this frustratingly uneven series of little books about subjects you'd like as not never assumed to find yourself reading about – although you'll have to decide if it's titled for the noun or the adjective, or in which proportion a bit of both. It's not exactly the biological entity you think it is – and human fat, which we concentrate on, comes in at least three shades, white, brown and the beige in the middle. It's seldom met with on the body of an Olympic swimmer, and that's no bad thing, and it is commonly associated with opera singers – but as it actually helps them in their craft that's no bad thing either. Again, I'll leave you to work out which is more essential. And a final thought experiment – would Delacroix's Marianne have an ounce of the impetus if she was one those anorexic-seeming, Cosette-like waifs?

That's not to say I would ever call Marianne fat. In my lecherous boo hiss male gaze, a woman who is fat is someone whose stomach out-projects her breasts. A simple, objective rule – but that's not to say either side is at fault, nor that any one side is "aesthetically compelling", or allowed a rampant sex life, is refused my little place in their circle or a book published. It's not just a matter of over-eating, as the snappy riposte to the calorie counters here proves. We get the full medical consideration of fatness here, in fact, alongside, inevitably given the very left-wing bias of these books, more than enough lambasting of the allegedly sexist, historically racist, and any-ist-imaginable critique of the pyknic. This from an author who thinks all Lane Bryant (thanks for the tip) models are plus-sized.

To consider these pages in the franchise to which they belong, they are still as personal, as insular and as at-times awkward as is the norm. This is less concerned with the social history of fatness – the way we went from applauding the cushiony nude to the, er, more bony, the way our love of the totemic buxom and arsey fertility fetish of prehistory became dumped for the much skinnier as an emblem of the "correct" way to be as a woman. Nowhere here is the controversy when the British restaurant chain Little Chef's mascot lost about four stone overnight and was forced to be even littler, to pretend their motorway service junk was actually healthy.

No, what we do get is an academic – still highly personal, but very academic – look at what it might mean to be, as the porn sites have it, "thick" or "chubby". I'll admit to skipping a few "oh damn that slavery business" pages, and some later "people identified at birth as whichever gender" paragraphs just annoyed the hell out of me, but on the whole this works. I've long since stopped wishing the editors of these books sought the best book about each subject, as opposed to accepting just "the book about this subject I want to write and the heck with you cis bastiches", but on the whole this does veer more towards being the best book the subject would get. A plumped-up four stars.