What you need to know is that my life is split in two, cleaved not so neatly. There is the before and the after. Before I gained weight. After I gained weight. Before I was raped. After I was raped.Roxane Gay
I do not know how, exactly, to become comfortable this body. It feels impossible, but I also know it is not. So many of us are trying to do just this.Roxane Gay
This is a memoir of (my) body because, more often than not, stories of bodies like mine are ignored or dismissed or derided.Roxane Gay
When you're overweight, your body becomes a matter of public record in many respects. Your body is constantly and prominently on display.Roxane Gay
Nobody wants to be fat, that we know of, but my body is shaped differently than others.Roxane Gay
My warmth was other, even though in many ways I was same. I was a good student. I have always been a good friend. I had adolescent fantasies.Roxane Gay
I was swallowing my secrets and making my body expand and explode. I found ways to hide within myself.Roxane Gay
When one gains weight rapidly, as I have, there is no end to the astonishment one feels at what the body is capable of, at how the body might become.Roxane Gay
In so many ways, the past is written in indelible ink that stains the clean, white present we try to claim.Roxane Gay
I am not just one story or voice. I contain multitudes and there are many stories to tell. Sometimes, they bubble up to the surface and demand to be told, and I can do nothing but comply.Roxane Gay