In this graphic memoir, Siobhán Gallagher takes on body image. We learn about her family, friendships and relationships, and tag along as she navigates her relationship with her body.
It was clear to me as a kid that to be a woman was to be wrong no matter what, and there were so many ways to be wrong!
Siobhán talks about pop culture and the messages she’s received about her body throughout her life.
When you hear something enough, you internalise it. And I internalised the message, “I am not enough.”
As someone who has read fairly widely about disordered eating and body image, I didn’t come away with any new revelations. However, Siobhán’s story is relatable and definitely something younger me needed to hear.
Disordered eating is a serious topic but there were definitely some smiles along the way.
And times where I felt called out.
Something I’m starting to notice more in memoirs is a focus on how difficult things were in the past, then a shift to how much things have improved. While I can empathise with the pain of the past and embrace cheerleader mode when I read about someone being healed/better/more fulfilled than they were, what I really want to know is how they got from A to B.
Most of us are living in the messy in between. We’re looking for signposts to follow or toolbox contents we can test out and adapt for ourselves. I would have loved to have spent more time learning how Siobhán went from disordered eating to acceptance.
I loved the Years in Fashion pages at the beginning of each section. A lot of these brought back fond memories and fashion crimes. I appreciated Schrödinger’s outfit and I’m considering adopting Purple Day Fridays.
Content warnings include body dysmorphia, disordered eating, fatphobic language, mental health, self harm and sexual harassment.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this graphic memoir.
Once Upon a Blurb
Author and illustrator Siobhán Gallagher’s humorous and heartfelt graphic memoir details her journey from being anxious and unhappy to learning to love herself as she is.
“I’m proud of the person I’ve become because I fought to become her.” At the age of 30, Siobhán Gallagher looks back on her teenage years struggling with anxiety and diet culture, desperate to become a beautiful, savvy, and slim adult. As an actual adult, she realises she hasn’t turned out the way she’d imagined, but through the hard work of self-reflection — cut with plenty of humour — Gallagher brings readers along on her journey to self-acceptance and self-love.
Through witty comics and striking illustrations, Full of Myself is a highly relatable story of the awkward, imperfect, and hilariously honest teenage best friend readers will wish they had had — and the awkward, imperfect, and hilariously honest woman she becomes.
Schizanthus Nerd 