DECEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
In these poignant, insightful essays, writer Evette Dionne shares her experiences as a fat Black woman in a world that vilifies fat people. Her narration is beautifully matched to the content and tone of her audiobook—it’s comfortable and inviting but urgent. She’s not fooling around. In fact, she writes about life-or-death issues, including the way medicine and doctors often fail fat people. But she’s having a good time, too. She makes observations on such topics as the ins and outs of fat representation in the media, the joy her body brings her, and the moments of fun and connection she’s found despite society’s repeated message that she not take up space. This audiobook takes up space in all the best ways, and will leave listeners with plenty to think about. L.S. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
09/26/2022
Journalist Dionne (Lifting as We Climb) examines fatphobia in America in these sharp essays. From detailing early experiences with bullying to unpacking personal relationships and destructive beliefs, Dionne confronts the systemic prejudice against fat bodies. In “No Country for Fat Kids,” Dionne considers Weight Watchers programs for teens and Michelle Obama’s initiatives to fight childhood obesity, arguing that these well-intentioned programs ignored “how difficult it would be to help fat children gain and maintain ownership over their bodies.” In “Doctors, Get Your Shit Together,” Dionne recalls her deteriorating health as medical practitioners dismissed her symptoms of heart failure and instead prescribed weight loss as a cure-all. Later, Dionne recounts watching the 1990s sitcom Living Single and being transfixed by Queen Latifah, who played a plus-size Black magazine editor who prioritized her own desires: “Khadija was the first character I’d seen who told me I didn’t have to just accept what was offered.” Dionne also dissects her complicated fascination with the reality series My 600-lb Life, which fosters feelings of superiority: “I’m able to create distance between the fat body I inhabit and their fat bodies.” Crackling with conviction, this is an urgent call for change. Agent: Sarah Phair, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc. (Dec.)
From the Publisher
Vulnerable, richly detailed…. Incisive and gratifying…. [Dionne’s] book is to be taken as an ‘excavation’ by someone who is, by her own admission, a work in progress. This, too, is a gift of “Weightless”: the chance to witness what it looks like to do the hard, continuing work of self-inquiry in pursuit of a better world.” — New York Times Book Review
“The brilliant Evette Dionne's newest masterpiece discusses life as a fat Black woman and the way that shapes experiences…. Dionne is a spectacular writer, and this book is a necessary addition to shelves.” — Buzzfeed
"It’s clear that Evette Dionne’s pen carries power…. The masterful Dionne is back with an exciting memoir, Weightless, that will surely resonate as she navigates such topics as self-image, societal expectations of women’s bodies, family, and more…. Dionne’s reflections and analyses read like a caring friend who helps one realize that they deserve to love every facet of their being.” — Shondaland
“Dionne’s careful recounting of her own story in Weightless adds particular expertise and nuance to the topic of fat identity….Reading the story of her lifelong work around self-acceptance and body peace is an emotional yet energizing experience.” — Vogue
“Dionne lifts the veil on the subtle and insidious ways in which society seeks to control and oppress fat women, particularly Black women and young girls. But Dionne's debut memoir is also a reminder to choose joy.” — USA Today
"Journalist and award-winning author Evette Dionne examines America’s relationship with fatness, deftly exploring how fatphobia—particularly as it pertains to Black women and girls—invades everything from our schools to our health care system…. [Dionne] shares her vision for a more dignified fat future." — Essence
“Vibrant, intimate, and intelligent, this book lays down the unapologetic demand that women of size finally be allowed ‘to be fat in plain sight.’ A provocatively necessary collection.” — Kirkus Review
“Dionne examines fatphobia in America in these sharp essays…. Crackling with conviction, this is an urgent call for change.” — Publishers Weekly
"Dionne takes readers on a personal and political journey." — Yes! Magazine
“Evette Dionne braids the personal with the political in Weightless, breaking down society’s beliefs about fat people and advocating for new standards that allow them to thrive…. A testament to resilience and an offering of realistic optimism…. Her assertion of liberation for fat people brings us one important step closer to achieving it.” — BookPage
“Weightless is the book that I'm going to tell people to read if they want a deeper understanding of what it's like to live in a fat, Black body. Evette has written a quintessential text for the book club, the academy, and political sciences section. She has approached this book with the same expansiveness and intersectionality that fatness embodies. It's important, honest, and good as hell.” — Sesali Bowen, author of Bad Fat Black Girl
“Weightless is a triumphant, unique, and necessary work. Evette’s talent is a gift to the world, which she uses in this book to tackle fatphobia in ways that are brilliantly relatable, passionately intersectional, and unapologetically Black. A must read.” — Frederick Joseph, New York Times bestselling author of Patriarchy Blues
“Weightless pulls you in and refuses to let you go. It’s a captivating journey of acceptance that anyone can find a part of themselves in. Evette Dionne’s writing is clear, sharp, and knowledgeable yet there remains a tenderness that welcomes readers to sit with the uncomfortable but honest truths within. Weightless challenges readers to think about the ways we navigate beauty— who we criticize, who we praise, and why. Not only does Weightless move you to examine your heart, literally and metaphorically, but it will also make you grateful to have read such well-crafted generosity of spirit.” — Nichole Perkins, author of Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be
New York Times bestselling author Frederick Joseph
Weightless is a triumphant, unique, and necessary work. Evette’s talent is a gift to the world, which she uses in this book to tackle fatphobia in ways that are brilliantly relatable, passionately intersectional, and unapologetically Black. A must read.”
DECEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
In these poignant, insightful essays, writer Evette Dionne shares her experiences as a fat Black woman in a world that vilifies fat people. Her narration is beautifully matched to the content and tone of her audiobook—it’s comfortable and inviting but urgent. She’s not fooling around. In fact, she writes about life-or-death issues, including the way medicine and doctors often fail fat people. But she’s having a good time, too. She makes observations on such topics as the ins and outs of fat representation in the media, the joy her body brings her, and the moments of fun and connection she’s found despite society’s repeated message that she not take up space. This audiobook takes up space in all the best ways, and will leave listeners with plenty to think about. L.S. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-10-21
A feminist culture writer examines the challenges plus-size Black women must overcome on a daily basis.
Dionne, author of Lifting as We Climb, began writing these essays in order to raise consciousness about “fatphobic culture that’s bolstered by a billion-dollar dieting industry.” By the time the book was completed, she had been diagnosed with heart failure and pulmonary hypertension, conditions caused by doctors’ inability to see beyond her “fatness.” Drawing on personal experience and popular culture, Dionne shows how “fat people” are mistreated by being "dismissed, willfully misinterpreted and sidelined." The problem begins in childhood when boys and girls are taught “to associate thinness with discipline [and] fatness [with] laziness” and made the objects of weight-bullying when they do not fit size expectations. The medical establishment has its own fat prejudices that only compound the issue. Dionne writes about how doctors routinely lectured her about her weight in young adulthood and focused on adjusting her diet. When she exhibited problematic symptoms like “swollen ankles, unrelenting lower-back pain, hot flashes and uncontrollable weight gain,” they immediately blamed her fatness. Even the excessive bleeding from which she also suffered wasn’t enough to convince Dionne’s gynecologist that fibroids had caused the problem. “Three in four Black people with uteruses will develop fibroids in their lifetime,” she writes. Later, decisions doctors made on how to treat her pulmonary hypertension robbed her of the ability to have children via vaginal birth. The author argues persuasively that the media plays a huge role in promulgating negative fat-girl stereotypes. The few positive images it has offered—e.g., Queen Latifah's sexy, confident character Khadijah James on the 1990s sitcom Living Single—provide plus-size Black women life-changing visions of a positive lifestyle. Vibrant, intimate, and intelligent, this book lays down the unapologetic demand that women of size finally be allowed “to be fat in plain sight.”
A provocatively necessary collection.
