Three non-fiction mini reviews

Hello everyone, I hope all is well! Today I’m reviewing three non-fiction books I read recently: Hunger by Roxane Gay, Text Me When You Get Home by Kayleen Schaefer, and Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot.

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Hunger: a memoir of (my) body by Roxane Gay: 5 stars

I cannot say enough good things about this book. I loved everything about it. It was incredibly well-written. I can’t get over how open, honest and vulnerable Gay was throughout the whole book. I loved the audiobook and her narration. I loved the variety of topics she covers, from food to reality TV to being a fat woman to being a fat black woman to her struggles with fashion to her education.

Also, because it came up on twitter recently, I think Gay does a really good job about acknowledging her privilege as well. She’s open about the fact that she went, and was able to go, to an elite boarding school for high school and that she was able to go to an Ivy League, and continue to get other degrees. Her privilege isn’t something she hides, and it’s something she tries to work with as well. I really appreciated her insights into everything she discussed.

Text Me When You Get Home by Kayleen Schaefer: 3.5 stars

I’m still working through my thoughts on this book. I liked a lot of it: I loved the different examples of female friendships in media, I liked all the anecdotes, I liked the range of topics explored. It was well-written, for the most part. There was perhaps a bit too much reliance on other people’s quotes, but that happens sometimes in nonfiction.

However, there are certain non-fiction books that I think would be best suited to stay essays. They don’t totally work in novel form because the author doesn’t have much more to say on a topic other than the amount that would go in an essay. I think this book is, unfortunately, one of those cases. Though it’s fairly short, it got very repetitive very quickly. Listening to the audiobook helped because I noticed the repetition a lot less than I would have had I been physically reading it, but I still notice.

Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot: 4 stars

I very much enjoyed this memoir. It’s a tough read, and it’s a book I definitely need to reread at some point. It’s really well and interestingly written, and I appreciated the non-conventional writing style. It really worked for Mailhot’s story. I also enjoyed Mailhot’s exploration of the different relationships in her life: her relationships with her mother, father, siblings, relatives, and lovers were all confusing and hard, but also had so much love. It was really interesting to read. I highly recommend this memoir (and also recommend looking up trigger warnings before reading this).

So, there are my thoughts on these books! Have you read any of these? What were your thoughts? Do you plan to read any of them? Let me know!

Ally xx