Why We Love It

Clever but never flippant, critical but never cynical, Jean Hannah Edelstein’s slim and powerful book is part memoir, part social critique about perception of bodies. The book splits into three parts (“Sex”, “Food” and “Cancer”), chronologically following Jean’s experience with breasts large enough to shop in the specialty section of the store and contend with constant attention, to breastfeeding her children, to navigating a Lynch syndrome diagnosis that makes her vulnerable to many cancers. The book’s appeal lies in the way it holds multiple truths at once: especially that losing something you never chose can still feel like a loss.