From its arresting cover through its final ambiguous page, Regina Hofer’s graphic novel FAT provokes and disorients the reader. Hofer, an Austrian artist and author, battled with anorexia and bulimia from her teen years in the context of family abuse and dysfunction. The memoir promises to resonate with anyone grappling with, or trying to understand, an eating disorder. Armed with sharp lines and indeterminate symbolism, Hofer confronts readers with the reality of distorted perception, mirroring her own experience with anorexia and bulimia: “When you have an eating disorder, you lose a sense for your own appearance—among other things. The perception of your own body changes significantly” (7). Informed readers will recognize through lines sourced from science fiction, the animal kingdom, and even Shakespeare’s Henry V, but may buckle under the weight of the sense-making enterprise, as Hofer’s commitment to disorientation is complete.
Hofer’s memoir is a story of damage,...
University of California Press