The Earth, My Butt And Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler

“Never underestimate yourself.”

Fifteen-year old Virginia feels like an outsider. She doesn’t have any friends in school since her best friend moved away and even among her family she feels like the odd duck out. She can’t speak French, like her family is, she isn’t brown haired and popular and gorgeous, like her family is, but most of all, she’s fat, unlike her family. Virginia does her best to navigate teenage life while fat by adhering to her self-imposed rules, but her life is about to be turned upside down when her brother is accused of something terrible. Then rules seem not so simple any more..

★★★★★

I first read this book many moons ago (near a decade) when I was a young shy, fat teenager. I had never read a book or seen a movie about a fat teen who was the hero, not the sidekick, and whose problems weren’t magically solved by losing weight. This book made such a big impression on me at that age. Mind, this was all long before the body positive movement became more mainstream, long before ‘health at every size’. For me this was such an important book (and still is). I didn’t turn my life around like Virginia, but I do believe this book put the first seeds of resistance in the back of my mind.

Because this novel is such a rebellion against diet culture and fatphobia. What mostly struck me was how Mackler manages to get so much of it so right. She doesn’t only show how bullying/prejudice can ruin a person’s self esteem (although there isn’t an amazing amount of bullying going on in The Earth) but also how ingrained fatphobia is in society/people and how much damage it can do to people. Even when they know better, like Virginia’s mom who is an adolescent psychologist, just can’t shake the notion that Virginia needs to be thin to be happy due, to her own childhood insecurities.  And this idea and the way her family treats her because of those ideas actually make Virginia very miserable.

The Earth targets that very idea; that you need to be thin to be accepted/happy/healthy (feeling well is what matters, not your size!) This destroys that completely throughout this book, by showing how learned obsessions with weight can last till late into your adult years or even cause serious eating disorders or just plainly make your life miserable because you’re never “allowed” to really live. It shows how being thin doesn’t automatically make you happy or successful, and that size doesn’t really matter for those who truly care. That’s such an amazing message for impressionable young teenagers who are constantly bombarded by friends, family members, tv ads, magazines, books and movies that tell them they need to be thin to be healthy/succesful/happy. Fatphobia is so flipping ingrained in our society that many would rather be dead than fat. That’s just terrible. This book shows all that, without sugar coating it, making you realize how ridiculous and awful that is.

But this book also discusses other very important things, like mother and daughter relationships, dealing with your problems, self harm, self hate, rape, being yourself, and putting people on a pedestals and the consequences of that. It also is just in general a great book about how the most important thing is to be yourself, to do what you want to do in life (without hurting anybody else) and not let people walk over you. This book teaches how important it is to stand up for yourself and that you’re allowed to create a life for yourself that makes you happy.

Otherwise it’s also just a really great story. The characters feel so life-like and Virginia is an amazing protagonist. It’s really funny and heartfelt and real and true. I love her character development, and love how she’s this really tough and colorful character, once she allows herself to shine. She’s such a great role model for young teenagers (and adults)! There are just so many things in this book I’d like to write about and shout about because they’re so spot-on and so amazing, but I also don’t want to completely spoil the book for everyone. It’s just such an amazing book that really struck a chord with me all those years ago, and still does now.

The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things is an incredibly funny, heartfelt, encouraging book about weight and diet culture and feminism, but most of all being yourself. A wonderful and complex book that I would recommend to anyone! And there’s going to be a sequel too!

 

Trigger warnings: fatphobia, eating disorders (minor characters), rape, self harm

 

 

Get the book!* | Goodreads

Virginia’s story continues in Mackler’s new book The Universe Is Expanding And So Am I which will be released on May 29! You can pre-order it here*

 

Have you read this book? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!