Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Random House for the copy of I’ll Look So Hot In A Coffin by Carla Sosenkoy. I don’t read lots of memoirs, and I have never read one by someone I had never heard of, but I'm glad I read this one. Sosenkoy writes humorously about her disability, other peoples’ reactions, and how they treat her, and her experiences are eye-opening. If you enjoy her humor you will love this book. I really appreciated how she explored themes like weight control and how people feel entitled to judge and comment on other people’s bodies. This wasn't always an enjoyable read (some people are awful), but I loved getting Sosenkoy’s perspective on life. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4

In this memoir, Sosenko details her life growing up with a visible deformity from a rare disorder and her lifelong journey to find happiness in her body. She’s a journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Cosmopolitan, and more, and her engaging writing style (and her humor!) drew me in from the first page. I love that she confesses to being a work in progress and is just doing her best in terms of improving her self-image. I didn’t know anything about her going into this memoir, but now I’m so glad I got to read about her very interesting life.

Carla Sosenko's memoir via essays makes for entertaining as well as illuminating reading. Born with a rare condition known as Klippel-Trenaunay, she has dealt with the issues that go along with it, one leg larger than the other, a carapace on her back, hunched posture. But she was more fortunate than some in that her parents didn't treat her differently, but as she puts it, "....[who] gave their kid who was born with a really rare disorder a completely normal, regular-in-a-good-way life ... did most of the things you're supposed to do when you're growing up." This gave her self-esteem, a fact that she really didn't appreciate until she'd matured. Each essay relates another aspect of living "other," a fact that many can relate to, without sentment but with a lot of humor and honesty. Kudos.

3 stars

Sosenko was born with Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome, a vascular disorder which has caused her to have a mass on her back, a hunched posture, legs of different length and some other issues. She tells the story of her life and her self-image problems as well as why she went into media and about years spent fighting her weight.

When Sosenko described the physical aspects of the effects of her K-T disorder I had trouble picturing exactly what she was trying to say, plus multiple times she comments on the fact that people tell her how lucky she is to have such a pretty face (to offset her body, I guess? People are awful.) So, I searched for photos of her.

None of the photos I found show a profile or back view, but from the front Sosenko looks…absolutely normal. Granted, they obviously don’t show the different leg lengths, but I didn’t notice any hunched posture, nor did I see evidence of the mass on her back. I’m not denying it’s there, of course, just saying I couldn’t see it when looking at her straight on in photos, for what that’s worth. And she is very pretty.

There was also a bit of a disconnect for me in her descriptions of her trying to hide/blend in versus her career in media and her tendency to dress out loud. But we’re all made up of contradictions, I guess.

She seems like a great person, out there telling her truth. I hope this book finds those who need it.

Who is Carla. I had never heard of her before this book. Sometimes I like her, sometimes I don't. I would never date her but she would find that I am not her type. I learned a lot from her book and I am glad she is who she is. She is not important in my life but she is in her own and I will learn to practice what she preaches. A solid book, a story about growth.

3.5 stars!!!!

Carla Sosenko’s writing is filled with humor! She takes you on a journey through stand out moments of her childhood into adulthood, and how these glimpses into the past helped shape her into who she is today!

Some parts of the book were sad/emotional, some had me so angry for her, and others had me cheering her on for being herself in a world that is so hard on people they see as different!

I found her to be courageous, tough, vulnerable, blunt, and relatable based off her story telling!

FAV QUOTE:
“The much more important part is understanding that nothing about you—not your body, not your brain, not your feelings—is wrong. You are just you.” <——-💖

Thank you to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review!

The author was born with a rare vascular disorder. Throughout her life this made her interactions with people difficult. There are some hard things in this book and it made me feel sad for how she was treated. This book made me think about how people react to other people’s bodies and how it affects everyone. I learned many things from this book about how to be a better friend and help those around me feel better about their bodies.

Thank you to Carla Sosenko, NetGalley and The Dial Press for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: May 6, 2025

A thought-provoking memoir for anyone interested in self-image and cultural critique. I loved Carla’s writing style and her exploration and commentary on her body, fashion, diet culture, dating, self-acceptance and more.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

This was a sharp, incisive critique of how we talk about bodies and treat them. I loved her perspective and I’m going start adopting some of her philosophies. It will be much better for my mental health than what I’ve been doing! I adore how unapologetic she is. That’s the kind of advocacy that people with disabilities need! I still get down by my multiple chronic illnesses from time to time, but this book made me realize that there’s no reason to beat myself up like that. It’s a body, not a good body or bad one. I’m grateful to her brave spirit and willingness to share her path!

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and so glad I read it. I love a memoir when the author "puts it all on the dance floor" and Carla Sosenko did so with a sparkling narrative style. She was born with Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome, which makes her body look different from others. She shares all the best stories of her life (so far - she is in her late 40s now) - about dieting, about her love of shopping and body adornment through fashion and tattoos, of dating, of anxiety. I laughed out loud many times and by the end of the book, I felt like I had a new friend with a million dollar personality.

Carla Sosenko’s I’ll Look So Hot in a Coffin is a bittersweet and darkly funny memoir with a hint of self-help. Carla was born with a congenital condition called Klippel–Trénaunay syndrome, K-T syndrome for short. If, like me, you’re unfamiliar with K-T, it affects about 1/100,000 people in a mix of ways. For Carla, it presents as physical abnormalities like bumps in her back and two different size legs. With these physical differences, Carla has suffered a significant amount of self body hatred and disgust, which she has coped with a number of, often, self-destructive ways. In detail, Carla shares her history of disordered eating, extreme dieting, compulsive shopping, and dating jerks. While the content is often sad, the writing is not: Carla deploys humor and wit in a way that makes I’ll Look Hot in a Coffin fun and readable. And it’s not all lows, Carla shares her growth journey, shift in perspective, and strength throughout.

Overall, I really enjoyed I’ll Look Hot in a Coffin. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First off, I was unfamiliar with the author and her lifestyle and background. I thought the title was clever, so I was interested to read this. I finished about an hour ago, and I'm not quite sure how I feel. Brutally honest, raw, sometimes unflattering, the author took an unflinching look at her body, her history, dating life and professional life with a wide angle camera, and let us all look inside. I was a little uncomfortable sometimes, no often, but enough to resister my anxiety about her self-reflection. On the one hand, I respect the honesty to look at oneself, warts and all, and lay bare all the guilt and pain and slung arrows one has received. On the other hand, after a while, it seems awfully narcissistic and almost too self-absorbed, and as an outsider, it was a lot to take in.

The author has been on a long journey of self-acceptance, which is laudable, and which goes hand-in-hand with a don't-give-a-flip about others' opinions of herself.

All in all, this was interesting, if not a tad self-indulgent, and I did learn some things along the way, which, for an old dog, is saying something.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

I loved this smart and funny book written by someone in a non-conventional body. I appreciated her perspective on body confidence and this book supports the notion that many (all?) of use have hangouts about our bodies, BUT it’s the only one we’ve got. This is a great reminder to treat your body with kindness and love.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I received a free DRC of this book through Netgalley. The title of the book and the blurb definitely caught my attention. It's a coming of age story with cosmetic imperfections that make you think life will be harder, but Carla seems breathtakingly normal to what a lot of women experience with men and feeling self-conscious and the pervasive anxiety in our culture. I did lol at times or snicker from humorous parts in the book. It was well-written and made me feel like it was one of my friends talking with me.

It’s always great to have new perspectives about such import themes and gain new understandings about things out of our own experiences

For anyone who has ever considered their body, and judged it not “good”, without really stopping to wonder — Not good for what? Or whom? — this memoir, written by a woman who has explored that question, painfully and from birth, will definitely set your head spinning.

Diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening disease that is cosmetically disfiguring, rare and of which very little is known (within the medical community, and certainly the general population), the author, now forty-seven years old, grows into her own ultimately life-changing relationship with her uniquely self-entangled body, as she graciously reveals her journey to get here.

This is a story that is, in parts, heart-breaking, hilarious, anger-generating, and most of all, bursting with learnings and practical advice, shared deep-from-the-heart by an author with an absolutely no-holds back candor.

Beginning with her painfully-induced struggles with disordered eating and weight “control”, to the perils of sex and dating in the brutally misogynistic culture of NYC, (and if you had ever doubted, there are indeed some scary and hateful creeps out there) for much of her youth the author is unable to escape the worst of society’s body-shaming, abuse, and marginalization. Still she soldiers on, “waiting it out”, eventually finding therapy, medication, fashion, and most of all, her own personal blend of resilience, clear-thinking, self-confidence, and pure gutsiness, bubbling to the surface to inspire her (and by proxy, the reader).

Highly recommended, this is a wonderful read, celebrating divergence in all its paths, right now, living each moment, because, as we hear in the author’s own darkly prescient wake-up call—

“One day, in a coffin, I’ll look like everyone else”.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

***Four and a half shiny stars

Links:

This one is an extremely personal memoir about the author’s life with Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome, a rare vascular disorder that causes physical deformity. Carla Sosenko writes essays about all manner of life events, some major and some minor, with the added perspective of a woman who moves through the world with a visible deformity. Sosenko’s writing style is very breezy and fun, and I mean that as a compliment. She writes about anxiety-producing, depressing, upsetting situations in a way that invokes empathy, but there’s no self-pity. She also writes about our culture’s obsession with thinness and western standards of impossible beauty and how those standards can lead to self-destruction. This is really raw, distinctive writing, and I admire that so much. I would recommend this to everyone - it encourages empathy and understanding and the idea that none of us are truly alone.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I had no idea what this book was, but the cover and title appealed to me. This book is a series of essays about various issues and challenges the author has faced in her life. The author lives with a disability, which does remain a constant throughout the book. I gained some understanding of her life with a disability as well as a Jewish American. I really enjoyed her stories about what she has faced with her own issues and well as issues that most adults face. Anxiety, dieting, parent relationships, getting the "poofies", tattoos. Carla has a humorous way of writing that still comes off genuine This was a quick and easy read that kept me laughing throughout the book.

The ending was the real winner for me. She talks about what things she does not allow to affect her anymore.

Thank you to the author and Dial Press for allowing me to read an ARC copy of this book.

Carla Sosenko has Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome and has spent her life trying to become comfortable in her own body. Sosenko writes about what she has dealt with living with this syndrome, hiding her body, and working on loving her body. She uses humor in a way that anyone who has felt like an outsider can appreciate, while also being real about her feelings. This is a good memoir for anyone who has struggled with their own appearance and loving themselves.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House | The Dial Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this book blew me away. The story telling is authentic and vulnerable. I will be thinking about this one for a long time. I identified with a lot of Carla's words about body hatred and self-discovery when feeling different from everyone else. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.