... Aside from deserving an award for having the best title ever, Fatty Fatty Boom Boom thankfully doesn’t fall into the woe-is-me trap of some weight-issue memoirs. Equally a relief, there isn’t a whiff of you-go-girl!-style evangelizing anywhere in its pages. In its place, Chaudry’s engrossing look back at her life and the decisions she’s made thus far is full of honest introspection about what it feels like to be heavy, frank reporting about the difficulties associated with losing weight, and — perhaps unexpectedly — glorious celebrations of food and mouthwatering descriptions of everything from 'creamy, buttery saag' to naan pakoray (the Urdu plural of pakora) that are bound to make your tummy rumble ... For more than 350 pages, Chaudry’s memoir aims to tell it like it is without much cushioning ... lovingly spiced with equal parts humor and insight, perhaps to humanize the struggle. Of particular interest are the rich passages describing her Pakistani heritage and opinionated relatives, as well as her commentary on the social media response after she lost some of the weight .. First and foremost, Fatty Fatty is an engrossing read that attempts to reckon with two disparate cultures’ shame surrounding body image and obsession with looking thin. But don’t miss the tantalizing recipes for Lahori fried fish, chicken salaam and others at the end. Like everything else in this book, they’ll keep you coming back for seconds.
... this isn’t a simplistic narrative in which the narrator loves to eat and just won’t, or can’t, stop. Much of the memoir explores how colorism and sexism—specifically the fear that Chaudry, born dark-skinned and scrawny, would never attract a husband—put her under the microscope for constant improvement, beginning when her mother put her on a super-high-calorie diet as a newborn. Raw buffalo milk and bottles of half-and-half caused Chaudry’s body to grow at a rapid rate, but once she reached a size that her family deemed unacceptable, their relentless psychological abuse (the book’s title is a nickname her relatives taunted her with) and the accessibility of America’s tastiest junk food ensured that her weight continued to increase ... Chaudry skillfully narrates how overeating was a savior and a curse...Her skill at describing flavors and mouthfeel, and the intricacies of food preparation, suggest that if Chaudry weren’t an attorney, she might be a food writer. She also captures the exquisite pain of being treated as a disappointment by her family and the lifelong fight for their love.
Chaudry shares this candid and bighearted story about her lifelong love/hate relationships with food and her body ... On this long road to repairing her self-esteem and her relationship with food, Chaudry is totally engaging, a perfect host. And after her descriptions of food, readers will be very happy to see recipes included at the end. Utterly delicious!
... a love letter to the traditions and culture of Pakistan and the determination of a family to make it in America ... a delightful story of a woman who learned to both indulge and curb her appetites.
Many readers will eat it up, finding consolation in Chaudry's story. But even those who, like Chaudry, have felt 'trapped on the perpetual hamster wheel of weight loss and gain,' may tire of the minutely chronicled binges and weigh-ins... There are far more interesting things about Chaudry—and this book—than her weight. Atypical of inspirational weight loss books, Fatty Fatty Boom Boom, is, among other things, a love letter to Chaudry's native cuisine.
... delightful and entertaining ... She writes mouth-watering descriptions of the foods of her Pakistani heritage and her adopted American life that gave her joy and brought her family together. She also includes recipes at the end of the book for some of the dishes she raves about, which is a treat for readers. Her hilarious anecdotes about her large and supportive family are relatable to any reader with zany relatives, and she fills out the narrative with descriptions of Pakistani culture, traditions, and her highs and lows as she emerges as the advocate and self-assured figure she is today.
Touchingly warm and intimate narrative ... Chaudry is an uplifting storyteller and her humor-laden anecdotes balance the underlying gravity of her story with grace and skill ... Readers of Chaudry's memoir are in for a treat.
Chaudry refreshingly eschews conventional narratives about weight loss ... Joy is contagious in descriptions of Pakistani street burgers, the rainbow hues of Punjabi daal, and 50 pages worth of delectable recipes. Victory is sweet and savory in this ebullient tale of self-acceptance.
This unblinking account ... tone of rueful candor ... Chaudry eloquently portrays the role of food in love and friendship. At the same time, she doesn’t flinch from reporting the humiliations heaped on the overweight at every turn.
