Full of Myself

Full of Myself: A Graphic Memoir About Body Image (Pub. Date April 2, 2024) by Siobhán Gallagher is a nicely-done, visually-appealing memoir in graphic form, dealing with difficult topics, such as body image, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

Siobhán starts off with her childhood in the Canadian Maritimes, as she began keeping a diary as a kid, and what strikes her now, as an adult was “how pervasive my body shame was.” She goes through some of what she wrote at the time she was as young as 10 years old, and then goes into what messages she received through the culture when she was growing up. It’s all spot-on, and she uses the word “fat” in the same neutral way as fat liberationists do, explaining it in a footnote!

On one page, she explains the difference between straight size, midsize, and plus-size, with accompanying body-diverse drawings. She also goes into the misogyny she experienced just becoming a woman in the world, her choice to go away to college, and to transfer, and finally getting to live in New York.

She often felt isolated and awkward, and she illustrates these things effectively, including the depression she fell into, and later, how that morphs into an eating disorder where she binges and purges.

Eventually she works her way back to healthy behaviors and meets someone. I thought it was well-done, and would call it fat-positive, as any anti-fat bias described is done critically. Gallagher has done the work, knows what it means to be fat-positive, and has recognized the anti-fat bias that we are all exposed to. Thanks to NetGalley for an electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.