AM I UGLY: Elman, Michelle: 9781788541848: Amazon.com: Books

Michelle Elman came up on instagram after I searched “body positivity” after a hard day’s self-hatred. I read her latest posts on her account @scarrednotscared, and was struck by her honest and funny posts. I saw she was promoting this book’s release and to be honest I was sold by the title alone. “Am I ugly?” is a question I’ve been asking myself for over half of my life.

Once I started to read I was hooked. Her writing is simple and unpretentious in its style and raw in its honesty. The book is written chronologically and in such as way as to be both easy to follow and to gain sympathy for the very real character of Michelle herself.

I got that wonderful feeling of being completely absorbed in a remarkable story; the kind of absorption that leaves you feeling a bit weird when you resurface into the real world. I finished the book in a few hours. It left me feeling hopeful about not only my future relationship with my body but with society’s future relationship with us. We are fed so many messages that play on our insecurities, and it is easy to forget that we are not alone in feeling the pressure to conform and to be “beautiful”.

I am so glad to hear a “beauty comes from accepting yourself as you are” message that actually resonates rather than making me want to break mirrors and/or vomit. This difference stems from the development of her story, and her blunt honesty throughout. Most refreshing.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.