My Rating: ★★★★
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: January 15, 2019
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
The government definition of obesity is a body mass index of 30 or more. My BMI is 60.7. My shirts are size XXXXXXL, which the big-and-tall stores shorten to 6X. I’m 6-foot-1, or 73 inches tall. My waist is 60 inches around. I’m nearly a sphere.
Those are the numbers. This is how it feels…
So begins The Elephant in the Room, Tommy Tomlinson’s remarkably intimate and insightful memoir of his life as a fat man. When he was almost fifty years old, Tomlinson weighed an astonishing—and dangerous—460 pounds, at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, unable to climb a flight of stairs without having to catch his breath, or travel on an airplane without buying two seats. Raised in a family that loved food, he had been aware of the problem for years, seeing doctors and trying diets from the time he was a preteen. But nothing worked, and every time he tried to make a change, it didn’t go the way he planned—in fact, he wasn’t sure that he really wanted to change.
In The Elephant in the Room, Tomlinson chronicles his lifelong battle with weight in a voice that combines the urgency of Roxane Gay’s Hunger with the intimacy of Rick Bragg’s All Over but the Shoutin’. He also hits the road to meet other members of the plus-sized tribe in an attempt to understand how, as a nation, we got to this point. From buying a FitBit and setting exercise goals to contemplating the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, America’s “capital of food porn,” and modifying his own diet, Tomlinson brings us along on a candid and sometimes brutal look at the everyday experience of being constantly aware of your size. Over the course of the book, he confronts these issues head-on and chronicles the practical steps he has to take—big and small—to lose weight by the end.
Affecting and searingly honest, The Elephant in the Room is a powerful memoir that will resonate with anyone who has grappled with addiction, shame, or self-consciousness. It is also a literary triumph that will stay with readers long after the last page.
Those are the numbers. This is how it feels…
So begins The Elephant in the Room, Tommy Tomlinson’s remarkably intimate and insightful memoir of his life as a fat man. When he was almost fifty years old, Tomlinson weighed an astonishing—and dangerous—460 pounds, at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, unable to climb a flight of stairs without having to catch his breath, or travel on an airplane without buying two seats. Raised in a family that loved food, he had been aware of the problem for years, seeing doctors and trying diets from the time he was a preteen. But nothing worked, and every time he tried to make a change, it didn’t go the way he planned—in fact, he wasn’t sure that he really wanted to change.
In The Elephant in the Room, Tomlinson chronicles his lifelong battle with weight in a voice that combines the urgency of Roxane Gay’s Hunger with the intimacy of Rick Bragg’s All Over but the Shoutin’. He also hits the road to meet other members of the plus-sized tribe in an attempt to understand how, as a nation, we got to this point. From buying a FitBit and setting exercise goals to contemplating the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, America’s “capital of food porn,” and modifying his own diet, Tomlinson brings us along on a candid and sometimes brutal look at the everyday experience of being constantly aware of your size. Over the course of the book, he confronts these issues head-on and chronicles the practical steps he has to take—big and small—to lose weight by the end.
Affecting and searingly honest, The Elephant in the Room is a powerful memoir that will resonate with anyone who has grappled with addiction, shame, or self-consciousness. It is also a literary triumph that will stay with readers long after the last page.
My Review ♥️
Millions of adults are categorizes as obese. I am one of those millions. We all have our stories to tell of how we got to where we are, but there is a lot of the journey that we want hidden from the world, ashamed of where we've been and what what we've become.
Tommy Tomlinson is a brave man. After his sister died due to complications with obesity, Tommy decided that enough was enough and decided to document a year of attempting to lose weight, while at the same time reflecting on his past and examining the journey that led him to the 460lbs weight. Tommy witnesses how his sister's death affected his family and it was a huge wake up call. It was time to change and this time for good.
I truly enjoyed reading about Tommy's life. How he intertwined his past with his present was wonderfully done, his feelings from each experience raw on every page, to where you feel like you're listening to a new friend share their experiences instead of reading words on a page. There were several parts of Tommy's story that brought tears to my eyes. So raw and so real that you wish you could reach through the pages and give this poor guy a hug.
The only grievance I had with the book was some of the bad language that was used. I felt the bad words were oftentimes unnecessary and at times even distracting from the particular story being told at that moment, and wish they could've been omitted. Other than that I had no other qualms and enjoyed this read immensely and cheered for Tommy every step of the way.
Get to Know Author Tommy Tomlinson
Tommy Tomlinson has written for publications including Esquire, ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, Garden & Gun, and many others. He spent 23 years as a reporter and local columnist for the Charlotte Observer, where he was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in commentary. His stories have been chosen twice for the “Best American Sports Writing” series (2012 and 2015) and he also appears in the anthology “America’s Best Newspaper Writing.”
Tommy is the host also the host of the podcast “SouthBound” in partnership with WFAE, Charlotte’s NPR station. He has taught at Wake Forest University as well as other colleges, workshops and conferences across the country.
He’s a graduate of the University of Georgia and was a 2008-09 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
Tommy and his wife, Alix Felsing, live in Charlotte.
Tommy is the host also the host of the podcast “SouthBound” in partnership with WFAE, Charlotte’s NPR station. He has taught at Wake Forest University as well as other colleges, workshops and conferences across the country.
He’s a graduate of the University of Georgia and was a 2008-09 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
Tommy and his wife, Alix Felsing, live in Charlotte.
Connect with Tommy Tomlinson Online
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Simon & Schuster through NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. All opinions are my own.
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