Deanna Brady

In a world with continuing knowledge and education on mental health, stratification, discrimination, and fat phobia, I found this book to be completely and utterly ignorant of the realities and complexities that people experience. This book makes multiple fatphobic comments, stating that “being overweight” is simply an excuse to be lazy, as is depression, and that simply with a change of mindset, these aspects can be overcome. This, of course, is inaccurate and EXTREMELY dangerous. This tells readers that mental health is a choice, and that weight is a choice, and today we know for a fact that they are not. As a white woman, at no point does she acknowledge her privilege, nor the privilege/discrimination that exist in the world. For some groups, a positive mindset is not going to somehow fix systematic racism, oppression, disenfranchisement, etc. It is concerning that this book is a best-seller, as it propagates a idea that invalidates the very real and difficult experiences of others. I hope those who engage with this book read it with a critical lens and don’t take her words verbatim. This genre of self-help books are not without bias, and misinformation. Very, very disappointed in this book.

I can tell that Glennon is a talented writer, but I couldn’t get into this book of hers. It felt repetitive, overly preachy, and fluffy. Sorry- but not for me.