My Body in Pieces

Despite the common association of picture books with young children, there are certainly many picture books geared towards, and best suited to, older readers. Marie-Noëlle Hébert’s graphic memoir, My Body in Pieces, is just such a picture book. In the book, Hébert conveys the manner in which she has endeavoured to navigate her way through issues of body image.

At over 100 pages in length and with pages filled with many images per spread, there are echoes in the book design of Shaun Tan’s masterpiece, The Arrival. (www.cmreviews.ca/cm/vol14/no5/thearrival.html) Just as that book remains a picture book classic, so too will Hébert’s work endure because of the powerful way in which its important messages are conveyed.

My Body in Pieces was first published in French in 2019 under the title, La Grosse Laide (The Big Ugly). It was translated for this English edition by Shelley Tanaka.

With one exception, all the illustrations are greyscale, graphite pencil drawings. The exception is the page 17 coloured pencil drawing of a tiara-wearing princess. As a design feature, it is superbly executed. The colour and the idealized princess image provide a stark contrast to the rest of the book. That contrast is especially strong given the last words that appear on page 16 are “Fat! Fat! Fat! Fat pig.”

My Body in Pieces begins with a 21-year-old woman living with her cat, Ganache. In futile attempts to make herself feel better, the protagonist binges on junk foods, but then, having done so, she is overwhelmed by guilt and self-loathing. The woman reflects upon her ongoing struggles with her weight and the problems she has endured throughout her life. These reflections include her childhood difficulties with a critical father and schoolyard bullying. Her struggles have included the suicide of her cousin, and it is obvious that the protagonist is similarly inclined to kill herself.

The serious tone of the book is reflected in this extract from page 59:

Being out in the world is complicated. Being around other people. I feel so stupid for having all these feelings for no reason. Better to just finish me off. I want to be someone else so much. I hate it. I hate everything. Me me me. I really want to die. I think about this guy all the time and it leaves me feeling more alone than ever. It makes me even more ridiculous.
The ugly fat girl.
I suddenly get it through my thick skull that nothing is going to happen between us. He doesn’t feel anything for me. I’m so afraid he doesn’t like me. It hurts.
Hideous body.

My Body in Pieces is not an easy read, but it is a story well told and beautifully illustrated. Self-image, self-respect, and self-acceptance are all critical issues, and, indeed, they are significant for all people. My Body in Pieces is an important book. It is not a book to be enjoyed, but it is a book one can appreciate for its fine quality. It is a book that needs to be read.