Novel with huge heart, shocking truths

WOW, Not to Mention is one of those books that stays with you for some time after reading. It has dug a deep impression into my mind and heart, as disturbing and unusual as it was.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this fictional drama/horror novel – I’m actually not sure what genre it is. Being a strong believer in the Health at Every Size movement started by Lindo Bacon, and someone who tries to stand against fatphobia and discrimination against fat people, in my own quiet little circle of influence, I was concerned that this book would push some of my buttons. Well, it did, a bit, but then it didn’t. And then, I felt the depth of the pain that morbidly obese people go through and understood how much their family members are complicit in allowing them to get to that point where they can no longer have a life, where they are no longer mobile or able to take part in society.

Not to Mention is a diary written by a morbidly obese young adult woman who is bedridden due to her size and isolated from the world around her. She writes the diary in the form of a set of cryptic crossword clues for her mother over the period of a year. In the end, it’s mentioned that she writes the diary for two years, but the dates of the diary inscriptions span over a period of just over a year. I’m not sure if it’s an editorial error or something I missed or didn’t understand.

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Anyway, the diary goes into the story of Katy Ferreira from when she was a young child. It chronicles her sad, disturbing and traumatic moments that led her to become addicted to sugary treats as a way to comfort herself when she felt neglected. Her longing for food causes her to put on weight and then adds to her feelings of rejection and shame at home and school – as she is bullied and rejected by her peers. The shame forms layers and layers over her soul as the fat grows over her young bones until she reaches a point where she can no longer bear going to school, and her mother allows her to stay at home. Thus begins her story of slow imprisonment until she is confined to her bed in a room all by herself with brief visits from her cold and heartless mother who pops into her room just to perform some hygiene care for her and give her food, and plenty of it.

There were times while reading this book that I was engrossed, captured and enthralled and other times when I didn’t know if I was enjoying it, then several times when I was disturbed and disgusted. Yet, the feelings of disgust were mitigated by the gentle, tender, sensitive and deep dive into a tortured soul. I want to shed tears for Katy. She deserved so much better. The story highlights the parental neglect that morbidly obese children may suffer. I’m not sure if neglect and abuse are always the cases with such children – I think it may sometimes boil down to ignorance or not knowing how to help a child who is addicted to food. I also don’t think that everyone who becomes morbidly obese has a food addiction due to greed or gluttony. Oftentimes, binges result from restrictions and diets. I don’t know all the science behind it, but this masterful tale has a powerful message to parents and communities to care about those who are different and who are considered disgusting and greedy – without people knowing the true reason behind their behaviour and physical appearance.

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I have to give this story five out of five stars. It had moments of repetition in the writing, but I think that was to show Katy‘s emotions as she wrote her diary. But besides that, in every way, this book was a masterpiece. There is so much depth to it. I’m amazed how Vivian managed to craft such an intriguing story from the bed of a person stuck in the same room for years on end. Her descriptions of the views from the window in her bedroom, the smells from outside that waft in, and her delightful and sensual descriptions of the taste of the food she indulges in as her only joy in life were intensely beautiful and especially stirring because they were South African foods that I am all too familiar with.

If you have an interest in books that are written with depth, insight and that have an unusual premise and plot, you won’t be disappointed by Not to Mention. It will transport you back to South Africa in the 70s and 80s, too.

Not to Mention, Vivian de Klerk, Pan Macmillan, ISBN: 9781770107069