This graphic memoir was impactful, well-drawn, and definitely will find its audience soon enough since it is so well-done.

Wow, this graphic novel hit close to home. I didn't grow up in the same environment as Marie-Noëlle did but as a teenager and as an adult I have been constantly obsessed over my weight and body hate. The subject is a hard one and trigger warning for suicide. It did give me hope that one day I can learn to accept myself. Also, the graphics are amazing!

Marie-Noëlle just wants to be a normal teenager with a normal body. She grew up with a mother and aunt who were always trying to help her lose weight and hide her body. They thought they were helping but they were only making it worse. Also, her father hurt her with words. She wasn't popular, peers made fun of her because of her fat, and she grew to hate herself more and more. Grappling with suicidal thoughts a friend turned her in the right direction and she began to accept herself.

I didn't grow up fat. In fact, I was pretty thin.. though as a teenager you couldn't tell me that. I always thought I was fat and when I started actually gaining weight as I got older my self-hatred got worse. I definitely sympathize with Marie-Noëlle and have been in her shoes with self-hatred, binge eating, being made fun of, etc. I hope one day that I can also learn to accept myself.

Thought-provoking look into the deeply personal and complex issues surrounding body image. Marie-Noëlle gives a soul-baring account that is emotional and commendable. The artistry is moving and at times breathtaking. An excellent read for teens and older with adult guidance or support.

This book had great art! It was very relatable and portrayed why it is like to be in that situation very well. The art style was all black and white which helped to illustrate how dark going through that situation really is.

What a heartache of a story. This was a hard read at times, especially having lived a similar experience and struggled with disordered eating myself. Definitely one you'll want to provide a content warning with your recommendation.

However, I would also urge readers to try and look past the potential triggers and read this book. The artwork alone made it worth the read. It's beautiful and breath-taking. Some images are stark and powerful, others are soft and inviting. Which all lends itself wonderfully to the story itself and the masterful writing. There are lines throughout that are so painful in their earnestness, in their yearning and desperation.

I was worried that with all the weight of the subject matter and the struggles presented throughout, that we would be left with a sorrowful story that leaves little hope for the future. But that was not the case, and I couldn't have asked for anything more.

This book is phenomenal. The emotions are TOO REAL and while reading I found myself remembering similar situations in my own life. I love the artwork. The contrast is great and the illustrations of distress and anguish are just so heart wrenching. I really liked how some illustrations had these harsh edges while others were soft and fuzzy. The time jumps might be a bit disorienting to some people but I think they worked well with the point the author was trying to make.

I knew this graphic novel was for me when I read, "The taste of chips. I feel relief when I swallow them one after another without stopping. I hurry. The others will be home soon. The bag is empty."

The black and white artwork that sometimes looks like a photographic image takes us through the experiences of emotional eating, binge eating, body hatred, princess worship, heat rash, criticism of your appearance, body dysmorphia, traumatic clothes shopping with your mother, "black is slimming," anger, jealousy, fear, bullying, self hatred, unintentional weight loss, depression, death, grief, suicidal thoughts...etc. It's full of triggers but also relatable and realistic. And it ends on a hopeful note. I really enjoyed reading this. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This poetry collection shown a light on the importance of finding yourself, ignoring negativity from others, and focusing on self-love & acceptance. It was moving & the message will stick with my long past the last page.

Thank you Netgalley and Goodround Books for allowing me to read My Body in Pieces. This was a short, nonfiction graphic memoir about a woman's life and her struggles with her body throughout it. It made me think. It hit close to home. It hurt, a lot to read some of my own thoughts played out on paper. As people, we struggle a lot with how society values our bodies and what we look like, and from personal experience, I know this can cause lifelong damaging effects. As much as this story hurt, it was real, and raw, and I appreciated the author's courage for writing about her truth.

My Review: I loved the cover of this book, the illustration style is stunning. I have to admit that I struggled with this book a lot more than I expected. It definitely took on a darker tone than I expected and it didn't really raise up out of it much. I had been expecting throughout the book to find a bit of hope or a bit of a break through in the struggle with body image but we didn't really get that too much. It definitely illustrates the struggle that comes from relationships with our bodies and food and the words of those around us. Is there ever really a time where people come to peace with their bodies or find that body positive attitude? This is definitely a personal struggle for so many and everyone handles it so differently and you can't always tell when someone is struggling so much.

My Rating: While this was a difficult book together emotionally, I do really appreciate the way the author managed to bring to light this often private and personal struggle. I give it a rating of Three Paws.

Lovely illustrations, great for teens that are ready for a tough subject and love graphic novels. I have purchased this book for my library and greatly look forward to feedback from patrons.

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley.
The illustrations are gorgeous - Both real and fantastical. The honesty grips you into the story right away and her heart/emotions hold you to the end. A must read.

My Body in Pieces is a graphic memoir about the author’s struggle with self-esteem and body image issues throughout her childhood and into her early adulthood. We see how she is treated because of her weight and how such treatment affects her, and we see her become obsessed with her weight in order to acquire an “ideal” size. Although the book touches on but does not dig too deeply into topics such as self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and eating disorders, I think the story could still be triggering for some folks.

This is a short graphic memoir at just over 100 pages. Even so, it was not a quick read. It’s a deep, emotional story that forces the reader to slow down to fully take it in. However, although I think it is a good read, I think the story was a bit too short and progressed too quickly. The flow of it was too episodic for my liking and seemed more like we are given snippets of moments that relate than a plot that flows smoothly from beginning to end. It’s not a format I like.

ART STYLE
Hébert is a very talented artist. Although in its entirety the illustration style for this book isn’t one I favor, there were many panels that were so stunning that I had to pause to admire them. Such panels pop up toward the end. To me, the illustrations seem to become more detailed as I progressed through the story, and the detailed panels, the close-ups on the faces, were my favorites. I think, overall, the illustrations were very well done.

OVERALL: ★★★☆☆
It progressed too quickly and the illustration style isn’t one that I entirely like, but it was a good read.

Unfortunately, this graphic novel was not what I had anticipated. Personally, I didn't love the art style which subsequently made the timeline jumps in this often confusing to follow. This disjointed nature of the story often took me out of the deep emotion I had felt in particular scenes which was frustrating as someone who has been in a similar position. That being said, I deeply respect the author for telling their story and think this memoir has the ability to shed a light on the experiences that many women face with regard to body image and self-esteem.

This is a graphic nonfiction memoir of a fat girl, tracing her path to self-acceptance. Her weight doesn’t appear to be due to overeating so much as body type. Growing up, she experiences significant shame in her family. Her parents attempt to help her in ways that are not helpful, presenting her with books on weight loss or questioning her about whether she really wants that second helping. At school, she is often bullied. A brief period on a soccer team and as a member of jogging club leads to some slimming, but inevitably the weight and self-loathing return. Dating, of course, is out of the question. “Let’s just be friends,” says a boy she likes. Ultimately, after moving out of the family home, she meets a friend who doesn’t abandon her and links her up with a therapist. Things begin to improve.

I wish I could say I liked this book. The mostly black-and-white art is accomplished enough, but seemingly endless pages about self-loathing don’t make for interesting reading. It is possible that some girls may find solace in this, but I am doubtful.

I suspect it was a therapeutic project for the author. Again: I’m not convinced it would be for teenage girl readers who suffer about their own weight.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for a free advanced reading copy of the book. I regret that I can’t summon up anything more positive to say about the book than that I’m sorry for the author’s psychological pain..

This book felt intensely familiar at points like Marie-Noëlle rolled up a mirror and was like look at this. When she speaks about Matilda I got goosebumps at it triggered memories with my own friends.

In reality this book is a perfect example of "you wouldn't say this to your friends, why are you saying it to yourself." While reading this, at many points I want to reach out and be like no you are beautiful. But then I realized, my own inner dialogue is and has often been the same as Marie-Noëlle's and I didn't ever question it coming from myself. Which means I should probably take a note from this book and also reach out to get some professional help.

TLDR: This book is beautiful, while also feeling intensely personal.

3.5/5

First, the illustrations completed entirely in graphite are absolutely stunning. Some drawings are very detailed while others seem blurred, but both convey so much emotion.

Second, the topic of body shaming and self-esteem issues are ones I think many people can relate to. Marie-Noëlle Hébert's portrayal of this is very personal and raw and real, from her family's commentary on what she eats at dinner, to her mother's suggestions of holding in her stomach, to struggling shopping for clothes, and looking in the mirror and feeling ugly. It's such a sad, vulnerable story about the harsh beauty standards woman in particular feel pressured to abide by. This, of course, includes discussions of mental health, which this novel carefully addresses in terms of alienation and isolation, suicide and depression, body shaming, and emotional eating.

My main complaint is that it's too short, and as a result, it feels like certain aspects are merely glossed over in ways that don't work toward a resolution. For example, her relationship with her parents is complex and traumatic in many ways, but when she confronts her father, it seems more like an exercise in letting go than moving forward through conversation toward resolution. Though she does achieve a form of resolution in other ways, this also seems like a quick solution, even though it's portrayed over many years. The sheer length of the novel makes it difficult to connect to the main character and become entirely invested in her journey.

The sudden shifts in both time and topic are also quite jarring, which undermines the vulnerability and the emotive connections readers make to her character. The writing itself is also a bit jarring and feels incomplete. The narration and dialogue feel overwhelmed by the illustrations, which carry the novel. With more narration and perhaps more dialogue, the writing could work together with the illustrations rather than try to compete with them. More writing would also add supplementary background information that could help the text feel less jarring and incomplete.

Overall, I enjoyed this graphic novel. The translation is very well done, as are the graphite illustrations. I really enjoyed the honesty and vulnerability presented through the subject matter.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and House of Anansi Press/Groundwood Books for granting me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Releases April 6, 2021

Content warning: body shaming

I received an ARC of My Body In Pieces by Marie-Noëlle Hébert thanks to the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Blurb thanks to NetGalley:

"A deeply emotional graphic memoir of a young woman’s struggles with self-esteem and body image issues.

All Marie-Noëlle wants is to be thin and beautiful. She wishes that her thighs were slimmer, that her stomach lay flatter. Maybe then her parents wouldn’t make fun of her eating habits at family dinners, the girls at school wouldn’t call her ugly, and the boy she likes would ask her out. This all-too-relatable memoir follows Marie-Noëlle from childhood to her twenties, as she navigates what it means to be born into a body that doesn’t fall within society’s beauty standards.

When, as a young teen, Marie-Noëlle begins a fitness regime in an effort to change her body, her obsession with her weight and size only grows and she begins having suicidal thoughts. Fortunately for Marie-Noëlle, a friend points her in the direction of therapy, and slowly, she begins to realize that she doesn’t need the approval of others to feel whole.

Marie-Noëlle Hébert’s debut graphic memoir is visually stunning and drawn entirely in graphite pencil, depicting a deeply personal and emotional journey that encourages us to all be ourselves without apology."

Review:

I wanted to love this book. It is about a really important topic and the artwork was unique. But there was no plot, at least not a clear one. This is a graphic novel memoir, which doesn't lend itself to much background information, and the way this one is told there is not really 'scene development'. Each page-ish is one scene made of a handful of blocks. It was also incredibly short, even for a graphic novel. Yes, it addresses body shaming and body image and mental illness, all aspects of the book that I love. But I wanted it to be more engaging so that high school students would be compelled to read and pass on to their friends. Similar to Go Ask Alice in the early 2000s. But this just wasn't that.

This book chewed me up and spat me out.
I've read it three times and the emotional hit doesn't waver. Large sections of these wordless images highlight pain, anguish and despair.

Marie-Noëlle Hébert's graphic memoir addresses her relationship with her body. It's one most, if not all women can connect to. Anyone who has ever dieted and or exercised to try and lose weight, will connect with much, if not all of this book.

The timeline jumps around from the present to different times in the past. We meet her at twenty, binge eating to shut out the noise of self hatred. It doesn't work. Eventually she reveals how her negative body image evolved over time.

Hébert was a chubby baby who grew up to be a large sized girl in a world that idolized thin princesses.

To the clothing industry, children like her don't exist. She loved to dance but had to give it up. When she was eight, her mother purchased women's clothes for her and hemmed them to fit.

As she grew older she endured bullying by her peers.

Family dinners, rather than being joyful celebrations, became more bombardment of negative comments.

By her teens she came to find fault with her body piece by piece. She ended up internalizing the fat shaming.

It isn't that she wasn't healthy. She played soccer and their coach worked them so hard she lost weight. Terrified of gaining the weight back, at the end of the season she joined the school running club.

Her obsession with dieting, exercising and losing weight wasn't enough to address her need to be seen, to be loved. She writes that she is "fat, but full of nothing."

Coming home from a running marathon, her father called her a Fat Cow. Her response begins with I HATE YOU, but ends up with I HATE ME. He continued to abuse her by calling her fat, and fat ass.

At the age of 17 she left home. While she revelled in the times spent with friends, she still never felt loved or seen. When her self loathing and depression overwhelmed her, she isolated herself. One friend, Matilda, stayed beside her. When Marie confided her suicidal thoughts to her, Matilda recommended a therapist.

Slowly she began to heal, to change her self talk, to start to love herself. She eventually became strong enough to confront her father.

Marie-Noëlle Hébert leaves us with some important messages about how we imprint who we are from what we learn in our families.

"Women pass down their body shame from generation to generation...
Tradition is strong.
The judgement of others.
The lack of self-esteem.
To not be fat forever.
They thought it was more important to teach me how to hold in my stomach than teach me to stand up and be proud of myself."

Thank you so much Marie-Noëlle Hébert for this important book. We need to do better by ourselves and each other so we can do better for our daughters and our sons.

There is this intense emotional attachment we have to our bodies that can tear us apart. This novel illustrates my own journey with my body and how others, including me, have sought out to destroy it.