My Body in Pieces

Title: My Body in Pieces

Author: Marie-Noëlle Hébert

Genre: graphic novel

PopSugar Reading Challenge Prompt: A book that discusses body positivity

Thank you NetGalley for this book!

This book is absolutely beautiful. Not only are Marie-Noëlle’s honesty and realizations important to convey, but her illustrations are absolutely phenomenal. They are in black and white, so I was able to read it on my e-ink Kindle, but I also read it again on my phone to see just how dynamic the illustrations would look. I definitely recommend reading on a full-color tablet. The shades of gray and small details are so dynamic.

From Goodreads: All Marie-Noëlle wants is to be thin and beautiful. She wishes that her thighs were slimmer, that her stomach lay flatter. Maybe then her parents wouldn’t make fun of her eating habits at family dinners, the girls at school wouldn’t call her ugly, and the boy she likes would ask her out. This all-too-relatable memoir follows Marie-Noëlle from childhood to her twenties, as she navigates what it means to be born into a body that doesn’t fall within society’s beauty standards.

When, as a young teen, Marie-Noëlle begins a fitness regime in an effort to change her body, her obsession with her weight and size only grows and she begins having suicidal thoughts. Fortunately for Marie-Noëlle, a friend points her in the direction of therapy, and slowly, she begins to realize that she doesn’t need the approval of others to feel whole.

Marie-Noëlle Hébert’s debut graphic memoir is visually stunning and drawn entirely in graphite pencil, depicting a deeply personal and emotional journey that encourages us to all be ourselves without apology.

There isn’t a lot of text to this graphic novel, but that’s okay. As Marie-Noëlle discusses her image of herself, the few words and detailed illustrations work together well. When I downloaded the book from NetGalley, I had no idea it was a graphic novel, but I loved everything about this book. I highly recommend this one.