What Are You Looking At?: The First Fat Fiction Anthology

By Donna Jarrell, I [eds] Jarrell, Donna & Sukrungruang, Ira Sukrungruang, et al.

Book Overview

This anthology of thirty works by some of our best contemporary American writers looks at our perennial American obsession: fat. It's everywhere, all around you, and maybe even on you. Now, America's consuming passion at last has its own anthology. From Andre Dubus's delicious story of a young woman more comfortable in her fat body than her thin one
("The Fat Girl"), to Tobias Wolff's tale of bonding over pancakes ("Hunters in the Snow"), Dorothy Allison's poem about food and love ("Dumpling Child"), Peter Carey's surreal tale of a fat-man revolution ("The Fat Man in History"), Wesley McNair's poetic celebration "Fat Heaven", and George Saunders's "The 400-pound CEO," this bountiful feast of fiction and poetry will ensure no reader ever looks at fat quite the same way again.

Including stories and poems by
Dorothy Allison
Frederick Busch
Peter Carey
Raymond Carver
Junot D?az
Andre Dubus
Pam Houston
Jill McCorkle
George Saunders
Tobias Wolff

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156029073
• ISBN13: 9780156029070
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Too many suffering characters

The blurb at the top of the jacket says, "Here is fat in all its glory and grandeur - a large-hearted celebration of the human spirit and each individual's unique value, regardless of size."But it isn't. I was hoping for some proud, in-your-face fat people who believed in themselves. But nearly all the fat characters in this story collection are miserable, and some are tragic. The only contented one is a cat. Some of the stories are marvelously written. Junot Diaz' "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" paints an amazingly colorful picture of the culture of young Dominicans in New Jersey. And Rhoda Stamell's "Love for a Fat Man," set in a public health clinic in poverty-stricken Detroit, is one of the few stories where people change in positive ways. But several others, including S.L. Wisenberg's "Big Ruthie Imagines Sex Without Pain," present people with too much self-hatred to identify with or enjoy.Perhaps I was looking for something that doesn't exist. I'm not heavy myself. I regard overweight as a health condition, not a character flaw. I have a chronic condition myself, multiple sclerosis. But unlike overweight people, I get sympathy for my problem, not blame. I interviewed several overweight people for my book, "The Art of Getting Well: Maximizing Health When You Have a Chronic Illness" (Hunter House 2002). Even though some of them are very fit aerobics instructors, most have a lot of self-doubt. I don't know if society put it there, or if there's something else about being heavy that hurts your self-esteem. Anyway, the protagonists in these stories are mostly damaged. It's worth reading, though. There are more poems than stories. I very much liked J.L. Haddaway's "When Fat Girls Dream." I think this book could start a lot of valuable discussion about weight and society's attitude towards it. David Spero RN, author of "The Art of Getting Well." Write "david at davidsperorn.com"

It's About Time

For anyone who loves fiction and has struggled with weight (or not) this is a wonderful, insightful book. The stories are funny, sad, and real. I'm so glad someone had the guts to put together this collection. The book makes you realize that it isn't fat that's obscene, it's America's gluttonous hyped obsession with perfection and "skin deep" body image. (My only complaint is that I wish the book had been fatter.)