A poignant and ruthlessly honest journey through cultural expectations of size, race, and gender—and toward a brighter future—from National Book Award nominee Evette Dionne
My body has not betrayed me; it has continued rebounding against all odds. It is a body that others map their expectations on, but it has never let me down.
In this insightful, funny, and whip-smart book, acclaimed writer Evette Dionne explores the minefields fat Black woman are forced to navigate in the course of everyday life. From her early experiences of harassment to adolescent self-discovery in internet chatrooms to diagnosis with heart failure at age twenty-nine, Dionne tracks her relationships with friendship, sex, motherhood, agoraphobia, health, pop culture, and self-image.
Along the way, she lifts back the curtain to reveal the subtle, insidious forms of surveillance and control levied at fat women: At the doctor’s office, where any health ailment is treated with a directive to lose weight. On dating sites, where larger bodies are rejected or fetishized. On TV, where fat characters are asexual comedic relief. But Dionne’s unflinching account of our deeply held prejudices is matched by her fierce belief in the power of self-love.
An unmissable portrait of a woman on a journey toward understanding our society and herself, Weightless holds up a mirror to the world we live in and asks us to imagine the future we deserve.
BIO
Evette Dionne is a journalist, an editor, and a pop-culture critic. She is the National Book Award–nominated author of Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box, a middle- grade nonfiction book about Black women suffragists. Her work has appeared in Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Time, the New York Times, the Guardian, and Teen Vogue, among other publications. A graduate of Bennett College, Dionne is based in Denver, where she works as the executive editor of YES! Media.
REVIEWS
“Vulnerable, richly detailed…. Incisive and gratifying…. [Dionne’s] book is to be taken as an ‘excavation’ by someone who is, by her own admission, a work in progress. This, too, is a gift of “Weightless”: the chance to witness what it looks like to do the hard, continuing work of self-inquiry in pursuit of a better world.” -- New York Times Book Review
“The brilliant Evette Dionne's newest masterpiece discusses life as a fat Black woman and the way that shapes experiences…. Dionne is a spectacular writer, and this book is a necessary addition to shelves.” -- Buzzfeed
'It’s clear that Evette Dionne’s pen carries power…. The masterful Dionne is back with an exciting memoir, Weightless, that will surely resonate as she navigates such topics as self-image, societal expectations of women’s bodies, family, and more…. Dionne’s reflections and analyses read like a caring friend who helps one realize that they deserve to love every facet of their being.” -- Shondaland
“Dionne’s careful recounting of her own story in Weightless adds particular expertise and nuance to the topic of fat identity….Reading the story of her lifelong work around self-acceptance and body peace is an emotional yet energizing experience.” -- Vogue
[H] Ecco Press / December 06, 2022
1.1" H x 8.4" L x 5.4" W (0.66 lbs) 272 pages