“Sullivan writes with tenderness and uses the language of poetry to communicate her protagonist's inner life.” Kirkus Reviews
The story explores how shame is passed down like an heirloom. Malaya’s mother, Nyela, and her grandmother, Ma-Mère, view her weight as a "problem to be solved," dragging her to Weight Watchers and forcing her to count calories from age eight. Big _ Girl _ed hard in _elmp4
“Big Girl gifts us a heroine carrying the weight of worn out ideas who dares to defy the compulsion to shrink.” Amazon.com “Sullivan writes with tenderness and uses the language
Critics note that Sullivan allows "no time to pause," creating a "breathless, almost unbearable momentum" as the narrative stays locked within Malaya’s intense interior world. Community Perspectives Community Perspectives The "hard" aspect of the story—and
The "hard" aspect of the story—and why it might be described with such intensity—stems from its raw, unfiltered look at , a young Black girl navigating a world that relentlessly shames her for the size of her body. Review: A Struggle for Space
Book review of Big Girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan - BookPage
Sullivan’s novel is described as an "achingly beautiful" coming-of-age story that captures the "exhausting trauma of being looked at but never seen".