Big Girl

October 19, 2015
This debut memoir by Miller, a senior features writer at the fashion website Refinery29, bemoans the ups and downs of dieting. Miller begins by telling us she’s “not special,” but has gone through the same struggle to lose weight that many people have endured. While focusing on her experiences at age 29, she traces her troubled relationship with food and her body back to early childhood, remembering trying to eat sweets away from the watchful eye of her mother, the “Food Police.” Miller goes on to share candid vignettes of going on and off multiple diets, getting her first job, falling in love, and facing her first Internet troll. The tone is raw and revealing, with self-deprecating humor sprinkled throughout; early on, Miller scripts out her inner dialogue with Seamless, an online food delivery service, in the process revealing her wit and vulnerability. By the end of this heartwarming and -breaking emotional roller-coaster, Miller has shed her self-destructive bingeing and dieting habits, learned to eat only out of hunger, and gained the ability to recognize and embrace who she is. Her honestly, hilariously told story will appeal to any readers who have ever felt dissatisfaction with their bodies and will move them to tears of sorrow, laughter, and joy.