It's an amazing memoir but also an emotional one. But that, to me, makes Hunger so different from all other memoirs: it's brutally honest, vulnerable, and unapologetic for being so. Not everyone can read about topics such as sexual abuse, emotional abuse, body image, and depression all in the same memoir. This book is mainly hard to read because of its hard subject matter. Yes, this book is a lot to take in, but with Gay's writing and structure, it becomes approachable in a way. She creates a balance between chapters that makes this book nor dreadfully hard to read.
The structure of the book is also perfect for the story she is telling each chapter differs from the last one, so in one section you get her thoughts on body image while in the other you get an explanation as to how her worth has been shaped since she was gang raped by her boyfriend and his friends. Roxane Gay has a innate talent for writing that is very hard to come by, and her ability seeps through every single page.
I don't mean it's a hard book to read because it's bad in fact, it is extremely good. She mentions how this is 'by far the hardest book ever had to write' and with good reason it's also a hard book to read. This memoir follows Gay's struggle with her weight, body image, yearning, and self worth. I can't remember the last time a book left me this speechless.
It's hard to write about Roxane Gay's Hunger.
