Piglet: A Novel

A wonderful read about the messiness of life, but her descriptions of food are absolutely rapturous! Can't say the same for the hubby.

Really interesting book about class antagonism in British society, anti-fatness, disordered eating and other mental health issues, and finding your own identity and purpose outside of your relationships with other people (who may not always be who they seem). A slow build-up of tension with a train crash of a climax and what could be considered a happy ending, or the happiest possible ending such a story could have. The one-two punch of those mouth-watering descriptions of food right alongside a nauseatingly uncomfortable atmosphere and more than one tense conflict does well to make you feel some of the disorientation Piglet is feeling as the life she thought she had falls apart around her. It’s easy to get emotionally invested in most of these characters (though I thought Kit himself and Piglet’s father were a bit weak, the latter much more so), which is good since this is a very character-driven story.

Something in particular that I love about this book is how it exposes the impact of everyday fatphobic microaggressions. Piglet is subjected to multiple instances of violence in the story, but it’s the kind of violence that isn’t often labeled as such, the kind done with words instead of fists. It wounds just as deeply but you wouldn’t see it unless you were put in the mind of the victim like this story places us in the mind of Piglet. I also love the contradiction it highlights between how society treats pregnant women, how their fatness is celebrated and cherished and heaped attention onto, and how society treats Piglet’s fatness, how her fatness is shamed and ridiculed whenever people are finally forced to pay attention to it (and they can try so very hard not to). It’s nothing groundbreaking, but the commentary in this book left me thinking about my own life, the way I think about and treat people with bodies different from mine, and for that reason, though it didn’t emotionally resonate with me as much as other books I’ve given 5 stars in the past, I have to do the same for this one simply because it’s a well-crafted and valuable piece of art.

Idk if it was this book or just me but I had a good mental break cry in between reading this. Her character feels undefined herself, thus causing issues with her close relationships. She actually isn’t close with any of them, which is me. She does things because they’re “right” and then blows up. Yep

“She was proud, in a way, that she could still smile as the delicious life she had been savouring turned maggoty in her mouth.” Seems I have unintentionally been reading a lot of books lately that highlight the stark contrast between appearances and reality. This time, the main character is drifting above herself through what she thought would be the happiest day of her life, dazed by her recently revealed reality and caught between wanting to stay and figure it out and wanting to run. Food acts as both a comfort and a catalyst for her anxiety about the life she can't decide she wants or doesn't want.

Hated this book. The food descriptions were never ending (and became nauseating in my opinion). And I love to read reviews of restaurants and enjoy lots of different cuisines. But this was over the top. Hated the characters - none of them were fully developed. Less food description - more character description.