Both an investigation into America's obsession with owning things and into America's fixation on weight, both a memoir about growing up fat and about growing up from a line of hoarders, American Bulk walks a lot of lines. It's well written and insightful and manages to deal with a lot of big topics. The combination of topics is unique but very interesting, and it worked out well.

3.5/5

‘It’s not the money part that inspires a cultlike devotion. It’s the more. Spend time in any Costco, and you’ll feel it too. The joy of Costco does not lie in thrift. It lies in bulk.’

Emily Mester’s ‘essays on excess’ carry the weight of observation, hoarding, and memory. She deftly glides between themes of excess that have impacted her personal living habits - how her family have influenced her tendencies to hoard and buy, how a drive to purchase is sneakily embedded into our daily lives. Each essay takes a different view on Mester’s own interactions with bulk-living, heavily interweaving her collection’s theme of excess with memoir.

What I think I find stilted about this collection is that I had anticipated it to be more argument-driven - I typically associate essays with arguing about relevant themes in order to expand on them, and cultivating a few phrased touch points that really highlight the key beliefs and conclusions at play. This is not to take away from Mester’s captivating ability to enliven her memories and associations of excess. She writes with tamed humour and puts a large emphasis on philosophically driven meaning: how am I made to be what I am? What objects and habits comprise me?

Mester’s observations on material excess and identity are critical and personal. However, I do feel like the collection is marketed as a more general meditation on modern excess, and I found this hard to reconcile with the highly personal stance that Mester adopts. I would certainly recommend this collection as a memoir and creative meditation on consumerism and materialism, its impacts, consequences and origins. Whilst the collection is less essay-based than it suggests, Mester engages in a light-hearted and creative approach to a slightly depressing topic!

This collection of personal essays examined such topics as consumerism and excess as it applied to the author’s own history. I thought it started off really strong but lost a little steam in its final quarter. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

'If consumption would always make me feel guilty, then perhaps it was more gratifying to guiltily consume, which at least produced charged, frothy sensations...than to abstain...'.

Bulk: bulk buying, bulk waste, bulky body, hoarding bulk - we all have a relationship with consumerism. Emily Mester's essays synthesise her relationship with shopping and eating, the joy of purchasing, and the amplification of this pleasure through online accessibility. Drawing on not only her behaviour, but also reflecting on her father's mass consumerism and her grandmother's hoarding, Mester's stories are sometimes quite pointed and thought-provoking, while others read more like nostalgic reflections. From the hypocrisy of Costco's hyperbolic offerings, to the comfort of chain restaurants, to the search for authentic products from genuine reviews, your concept of amassing and definition of 'waste' will be challenged.

'American Bulk' is a well-written, easy-to-read book that offers a topical discourse, shaped by personal experience.

'There are so many things to buy and so many people begging you to buy them...and so hungry and insidious is the onslaught now...to know why and how and if you like the things you choose to purchase - is more of an afterthought'.

‘american bulk’ was one that i was super excited for. it seemed, in its marketing at least, to examine subjects i was intrigued to read. unfortunately, it fell a bit flat.

mester, while a great writer, decided to describe how american capitalism of the late 20th century/2000s wiggled its way in between all relationships and aspects of her family’s life. while very interesting, not what i was expecting. the essays seemed to be a reckoning of how and why she is the person that she is, rather than examine american’s need for excess and object worship at large. i believe that it is still a good read, just be prepared for inaccurate marketing. i am giving it the review that i am because i did very much enjoy her storytelling abilities.

It’s no secret that America thrives off of consumerism and capitalism. In American Bulk, Mester challenges readers to look at consumerism with empathy rather than shame and disgust. Through the lens of nostalgia, Mester considers the comfort and safety that bulk provides and how it shaped her own life by reflecting on her dad’s shopping addiction and her grandmother’s need to collect any free item, the absurdity of Costco Wholesale, memories from her time at fat camp, and more. Mester meets readers with wit and a strong narrative voice; I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

Thank you W.W. Norton & Company for the early copy in exchange for an honest review

Wow did I love this! These essays are about overconsumption and consumerism in the modern age. From living with hoarders, to a summer at fat camp, to being a seasonal Ulta employee, she writes with empathy and understanding about the complex ways that our “stuff” can occupy both physical and mental space. It’s also very Midwest and full of specific mall references that brought me much joy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

The title on this book is somewhat deceptive. This is not a study of American consumer habits in the way that one may expect, but rather a more poignant look into more personal anecdotes from the author, and readers will find a great deal of introspectivity in this one. There is a focus on the author's life and family in a way that feels deeply personal, but also somehow removed from the more emotive side of things - the approach is very much one of fact and less so of feeling, which is a really nice approach in its own way.

I found some of the essays stronger than others. I really enjoyed the one on fat camp, and the approach that Americans take to them. I also really enjoyed the author's experience working at Ulta, and the odd parasocial relationships that were developed by her in retail (I note that speaking to customers was, and remains, a terrifying experience for me, so this was fascinating to read about). Some of the essays, I felt, were less strong than others, like the dissection of the mall and how much of a zeitgeist it has become in American society.

The writing style is good, if not sometimes inconsistent - although, I did find as a whole that I was left wanting a little bit more. It was interesting, but I perhaps expected it to be a bit longer and a bit more detailed in the dissection of American consumerism. A solid 3.5 stars!

I loved this collection of essays on consumerism - I thought for me, they provided a fresh angle that I rarely read about. I have been interested in consumerism - and in consuming less - for about two decades and usually I read either about the environmental cost or the judgment attached to being someone who consumes a lot. The recent trend of "under consumption core" on TikTok and the "deinfluencing videos" play into that angle where a moral judgement is attached to someone who consumes a lot, and is therefore wasteful, doesn't care about the planet, doesn't care about the workers, buys to fill a gap. This book was interesting and lovely because there was none of that - Emily Mester focuses on our relationship to things as part of a capitalist system but admits it feels pointless at times to try and consume less: why skip the new makeup palette or the Shein haul when big corporations pollute without any guilt?

The essays cover different things: her time working in sales at Ulta, a makeup and beauty shop, driven to convince every woman who walks in that she needs a new lipstick or a new eyeshadow; the competitions she enters, greedily, keen to win more stuff she doesn't need and doesn't even like; her parents - her mum, "the good consumer", who buys clothes she needs once a year, and her dad, a compulsive consumer who fills rooms and garages with more stuff. She mourns the end of the mall as people shop online, and questions why the mall, full of shops and made up of private properties owned by big corporations, felt so much like a public space where people would meet. Three essays are about her grandmother, a beloved teacher who won't let anyone enter her house where she hoards, focused on being frugal but never saying no to a freebie or a good deal; and later, on visiting that house once her grandmother has moved closer to them.

The essays were all well-written and full of empathy and humour, very reflective and intelligent. I was not familiar with her work before but I would read more of her essays, and I think she adds an interesting perspective to the anti-consumption discourse.

THIS WAS SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD! The author crawled inside my brain for real. Perfect blend of personal and cultural analysis.

American Bulk: Essays on Excess by Emily Meste is an engaging memoir about consumerism. A thought-provoking read.

A series of insightful and informative essays on culture in America and how excess has become and remains so deeply entwined with life and success. Whilst not my usual read, I enjoyed this series of essays and would recommend to fans of nonfiction writing on culture and society.

4 stars.

Got unopened Amazon packages piling up at your house? I think I have eight on my dining room table as I type this. If you are anything like me, this is for you, because we are Americans, so most of us amass. The description of the book makes it seem like this will be a study on why we buy and gather and discard what we do, but that really isn’t accurate. The book is more a biography of the author’s life in commerce, and being raised by a dad and around a grandmother who were both hoarders. Her dad is rich, her grandmother was a teacher in Iowa, so they came at amassing goods from different perspectives, but they shared a common psychology; more is better.

Then the author recounts her time as an Ulta salesperson and her stint at fat camp, as well as family trips to Costco to look at her own relationship with stuff.

Really enjoyed this book. The author has a strong narrative voice and she kept me engaged even though I’ve read other, similar stories.

This series of essays had some interesting concepts and themes but it felt surface level and lacked reflective depth. The writing felt more navel-gazing and narrative than interrogation and unpacking. There was also a fair amount of repetition of topics that had already been explored in previous essays that felt like I was rereading the same story rather than building towards a bigger concept. Cool idea for a book but could have used more comprehensive analysis

Americans consume more than any other country on earth, this book delves into the how we got here moment and how we can stop buying so much stuff. Intertwined are the economic, environmental and social factors that push the drive for more. Recommended for anyone who ever went to Costco and thought, why did I buy 12 tubes of toothpaste at once!

This was a brilliant read by someone who could speak honestly about the excesses of life. We follow Emily through school, fat camp, work and family and how we allow excess to infiltrate our daily lives materially.

I found this book very thought provoking and, in places, relatable.

Never before have I had my vices laid bare like this, ouch.
Getting to the crux of the matter, Emily sifts through the many ways in which consumption has gone off the rails. Unique to these essays, I don't get the sense she's riled up. American Bulk is more of an elucidation than anything. A welcomed reprieve from the rousing (and rightly so) critique I've grown accustomed to.

Emily Mester dissects consumption with a nostalgic air. Drive thru ordering, guests visiting from out of town, online shopping. Our never ceasing transition from one screen to another. What a 3 star rating <i>really</i> means. The contagion that are bed people. Baby dolls with one "skill" that is a skill in the way a baby reaching milestones is a skill - not a "skill-skill", recognized by the masses. Our unfortunate front row seat to The Mall and online shopping's coup. The jump scare that is Spirit Halloween, fully stocked and open for business out of thin air. If you can't tell, I identified with a lot of it.

The description for this collection does seem a bit misleading in hindsight; a few times I felt my thoughts start to wander when the essays stayed on a personal tangent for too long. While most of the anecdotes did add <i>something</i> to the essays, it just wasn't what I thought I was signing on for. And if I wasn't also a white woman who grew up in the middle class, masquerading as upper, I'm not sure I'd have appreciated the tangents as much - if at all. "White American Bulk" may be a more accurate title? That being said, take my review with a grain of salt.

{Thank you bunches to NetGalley, Emily Mester and W.W. Norton for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!}

I am normally not a non fiction gal, but I find myself increasingly interested in the topics of consumerismand waste, so I decided to check this book out, and I really enjoyed it. The author tells a lot of personal stories about her own growing up and realizations and lessons with consumerist culture, and it was interesting to see it through her eyes. Lots of good lessons to be learned and points made.

American Bulk is a series of personal essays about consumption and the American family, as Emily Mester explores her own history with consumerism and the ways it has been part of her life and upbringing. In short essays exploring topics like American chain restaurants, working in retail, and hoarder family members, Mester exposes herself and her family to look at appetite and consumption, and things we might automatically see as bad or shameful, whilst asking why this happens.

I was intrigued by the concept of exploring American 'bulk' culture and consumption, though actually this book is more focused on personal history and is more of a memoir in essays than 'essays on excess' more broadly. That's not to say that it isn't engaging, but it doesn't really draw what it depicts into comparison with wider American culture that much, and I think there were obvious areas where it could've gone deeper, particularly as many of the essays seem to start to reflect on class and its relationship to consumption, but often returns to the personal rather than go further with that. However, it is more of a memoir that focuses on an ongoing story of Mester's grandmother's abandoned house and what it says about her wider family's hoarding and consumption, which I think some people will prefer, but for me I wanted more of the cultural stuff.

As an ending note, there is an essay about leaving reviews which makes reviewing this book almost ironic, particularly as the conclusion of that essay seems to be not to review because you don't know the impact of that review. So, I suppose, take this review with the grain of salt that maybe we shouldn't be reviewing at all...

Told with beautiful writing that’s cutting, subtle, and relatable all at once, Mester uses a memoir style to illustrate why it’s important to approach consumerism with empathy and how individuals are just tools in capitalism’s constant extraction. Be it money, energy, health, self-esteem, joie de vivre… capitalists won’t stop until they take everything from everyone.

The structure was artful. Every section of this was well done and thought-provoking. The standouts for me were Mester’s reflections on fat camp, her experience working at Ulta, and her commentary on review culture. The three-part story about her Grandma was so emotional and raw: Mester skillfully applied tension around the state of her Grandma’s house in Storm Lake.

This book is also an artfully crafted slice-of-life/slice-of-time of the Midwest in Mester’s and her dad’s time. Mester’s writing transported me to restaurants, malls, and small town America so authentically!

It’s easy to feel repulsed/angered by the flagrant excess that Mester describes but, equally, it stirred a compassion in me for how her family was not coping with the weight of ambivalence. Her self-awareness around her privileged upbringing and her consumerist tendencies was refreshing, honest, and brutal. Putting herself out there so openly with this memoir is commendable!

A well-written, intelligent, and accessible commentary on excess, I enjoyed the time I spent with this book and I’m genuinely excited for what Mester writes next.

I was privileged to have my request to read this book accepted through NetGalley. Thank you so much, W. W. Norton! ✨