admin reviewed Commute by Erin Williams
Very raw and honest memoir
2 stars
Content warning CW: Mental health, alcoholism, body image
I thought this was just okay. I highly empathized with Williams in this memoir, but it did seem like there was no real growth in Williams from front to back. Rather, she does imply growth but it doesn't feel resolved or significant. I felt like her remarks at the end of the book were Maybe that's just life.
That aside, I take a lot of issues with reviews of this book I've seen on the Internet (cough Goodreads cough).
- Accusations of fatphobia
Where? Literally, where? Williams points out moments where she gains weight and how she feels less desirable and how her feelings are hurt when partners point this out in an accusatory manner. Is feeling this way, fatphobic?
This entire graphic novel is about toeing the line of wanting to be desirable or loved and being seen as solely only an object of desire. Society "demands" women to be slim in order to be desired by the opposite sex. Is feeling the pressure of this, fatphobic? What Williams feels is not something that happens in a vacuum. I'm sure many women have felt like this at one point or the other.
- Lightly veiled accusations that because she is an alcoholic, her trauma is negated because she brought many of these things upon herself
I really hated this take. It made me boil over. Trauma is trauma. Addiction is no joke. People struggle. Have some empathy, please.
/rantover