Hunger comprises at least two stories: a partial but more or less linear telling of Gay’s life so far, and a more halting, spiralling description of her everyday experience as a fat woman. People asking those kinds of questions don’t deserve an answer, and yet here Gay has decided to give them one. No doubt Gay is thoroughly sick of being reduced to her body and of enduring constant inquiries, prejudices and criticism, and she has evidently worked hard to make space for herself to talk and write about other things. Simply leaving the house means navigating a physical and emotional obstacle course. Doctors not only patronise her but routinely refuse her basic care.
Shopping for clothes or food, visiting a restaurant or getting on a plane frequently involve a humiliating ordeal.
