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Greedy Guts: Notes from an insatiable woman
'A must-read memoir' SUNDAY TIMES STYLE
'Candid, razor sharp and hysterical' GLAMOUR
'Charming, radical, funny and intimate' BETHANY RUTTER
'Savvy, hilarious and straight to the point' ALICE SLATER
'Greedy Guts is a revelation - it's a book that'll make you laugh and cry in equal measure' IONE GAMBLE
'I love this book so much; it's so funny and honest in a way that's really going to kick people in the teeth' SAMANTHA IRBY
Growing up chronically online in the depths of South Wales, Gina was raised in one of the most unforgiving times to be a the early 2000s. Grappling with the era's body shaming and blatant sexism while dealing with a growing body of her own, she had to learn to navigate a world where internet trolls were a given, fancying her was declared a fetish and starving herself was actively encouraged by her GP.
As she grew a little older and wider, Gina started to embrace her fatness. With candour, heart and humour, she invites us to rethink beauty standards, fatphobic culture - and ourselves - and shows how fat and female liberation go hand in hand. Exploring sexuality and relationships, appetite and indulgence, this is an empowering ode to living a life without sacrificing a single ounce of pleasure.
Co-host of The Polyester Podcast with Ione Gamble, Gina Tonic has been named one to watch for 2025 by Sunday Times Style and 'the writer and editor empowering a generation of fat babes' by Dazed.
'Candid, razor sharp and hysterical' GLAMOUR
'Charming, radical, funny and intimate' BETHANY RUTTER
'Savvy, hilarious and straight to the point' ALICE SLATER
'Greedy Guts is a revelation - it's a book that'll make you laugh and cry in equal measure' IONE GAMBLE
'I love this book so much; it's so funny and honest in a way that's really going to kick people in the teeth' SAMANTHA IRBY
Growing up chronically online in the depths of South Wales, Gina was raised in one of the most unforgiving times to be a the early 2000s. Grappling with the era's body shaming and blatant sexism while dealing with a growing body of her own, she had to learn to navigate a world where internet trolls were a given, fancying her was declared a fetish and starving herself was actively encouraged by her GP.
As she grew a little older and wider, Gina started to embrace her fatness. With candour, heart and humour, she invites us to rethink beauty standards, fatphobic culture - and ourselves - and shows how fat and female liberation go hand in hand. Exploring sexuality and relationships, appetite and indulgence, this is an empowering ode to living a life without sacrificing a single ounce of pleasure.
Co-host of The Polyester Podcast with Ione Gamble, Gina Tonic has been named one to watch for 2025 by Sunday Times Style and 'the writer and editor empowering a generation of fat babes' by Dazed.
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Published March 6, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 19, 2024
really amazing work well done
March 10, 2025
Started this book how I ended it: crying like a baby.
There's soo much I want to say about this memoir, but the most startling thing I realised embarrassingly close to the end is that this is a love letter to community. Tonic's voice is so full of an unabashed love for the people who love us as much as we love them, I'm in awe of how much she got to me and really hammered home the importance of not just fat liberation but the communities that come together to make up the movement.
Reading this was the most tender slap to the face and encompassed so much of what I've learned growing up fat, from the ways of combatting self-hatred (and living with it endlessly) to finding a mode of self-expression - I, too, had an emo phase on Habbo Hotel, which feels so ridiculously niche but clearly not as much as I expected, which delights me - that works as a gateway into freedom. Not absolute freedom, because assholes with mouths still exist, but knowing I have the freedom to love in spite of those people is the most valuable thing I've learned in my twenties, and I want to shout with joy having read this.
There's soo much I want to say about this memoir, but the most startling thing I realised embarrassingly close to the end is that this is a love letter to community. Tonic's voice is so full of an unabashed love for the people who love us as much as we love them, I'm in awe of how much she got to me and really hammered home the importance of not just fat liberation but the communities that come together to make up the movement.
Reading this was the most tender slap to the face and encompassed so much of what I've learned growing up fat, from the ways of combatting self-hatred (and living with it endlessly) to finding a mode of self-expression - I, too, had an emo phase on Habbo Hotel, which feels so ridiculously niche but clearly not as much as I expected, which delights me - that works as a gateway into freedom. Not absolute freedom, because assholes with mouths still exist, but knowing I have the freedom to love in spite of those people is the most valuable thing I've learned in my twenties, and I want to shout with joy having read this.
January 23, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and Coronet for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I'm not sure I can review this book as I do other books. I don't want to comment on the flow or the writing or the story etc. This is the kind of book where I review it in terms of what it means to me and how it made me feel.
I am a fat woman. I always have been, and no matter what diets I go on, I can never stick to it. But it doesn't bother me. At school, kids would comment things like "Oh I can't see who is behind her", wanting to get a rise from me, but I'd just stare back and say "Oh that's because I'm fat", and they wouldn't know what to do with that. I don't find fat an insult, it's a description. But I know for some people - mainly girls but of course boys too - that their fight with body size and weight is an ever-consuming battle, and I think this book is an amazing thing to exist. If only younger girls have access to something like this I think it would really help.
And if we're being honest, as much as body positivity and inclusivity has become more vocal, it is still on the edges. Calling someone fat as an insult is still an acceptable form of discrimination.
And this book really shows where society has gone wrong in terms of fat-ism. In some countries, the bigger the woman the more desirable she is. And in the not so distant past, if you were bigger, then that meant you were richer and higher up in society. But in somewhere like Hollywood, you need to be toned, skinny, restrictive. Which shows that we're not born with this idea that thin means beautiful, it's about wat we grow up with.
I know skinny people, I know fat people, and I know people in between, and from an outside perspective, there is no difference between them. I'm not friendlier with someone because I can see their ribs, and I'm not more disgusted by the person who wears size 30 trousers. It doesn't even enter my head, maybe because I'm on the heavier side, I know what being fat in a society that's scared of fat people is like.
There was so much that Gina has written that I have experienced. Not being able to fit into the cute pretty teenage clothes, being head and shoulders above your classmates (I was my tallest at 11 and have only shrunk since), being diagnosed with PCOS, and, the big one, that every single woman (I can't say for men), has experienced is that every single medical problem, no matter how severe or not, is because you're fat. Broken toe? Fat. Chest infection? Fat. You've got an eyelash that's fallen out? Fat. That's it. You're fat so why are you surprised you have these issues. Lose weight and I can guarantee you'll never have a rash on your elbow again. And the frightening thing is, and is something Gina mentions, is how dangerous this way of thinking can be. If someone attends with abdominal pain and the Dr says it's to do with their weight, they might have missed a tumour, a twisted bowl, an ectopic pregnancy.
One think I was jealous of, and I know to some it may seem weird to be jealous of, but I'm jealous of Gina's fat friends. I have friends who are bigger than others, but I am by far the biggest person in my friendship group. The way Gina talks about the fellowship she has with other fat people, it's so wonderful to have this relationship and I wish I had it. Because most people don't realise what it's like to be the only fat one in a group. To have someone that gets it without explanation.
I think this would be interesting for, not only fat people, but thinner ones too. There may be people who don't know they're being fat-phobic because they can't imagine something is even a something to worry about - cutting through a gap in a crowded room becomes very difficult for a larger body.
It's not appropriate for young readers due to the quantity of swearing and sexual conversations, but I do think the message behind it is vital for young people to learn.
This made me cry far more than most fictional books. It's so real. I'm basically reading about my life, my experiences. It's so powerful. 'm not sure how I can ever make Gina aware of how much this book has meant to me, has meant to the fat little kid hidden inside this far woman.
I feel like I've become best friends with Gina after reading it. She doesn't know it or not, but we have become best friends. She's a beautiful human being, in every possible way.
I'm not sure I can review this book as I do other books. I don't want to comment on the flow or the writing or the story etc. This is the kind of book where I review it in terms of what it means to me and how it made me feel.
I am a fat woman. I always have been, and no matter what diets I go on, I can never stick to it. But it doesn't bother me. At school, kids would comment things like "Oh I can't see who is behind her", wanting to get a rise from me, but I'd just stare back and say "Oh that's because I'm fat", and they wouldn't know what to do with that. I don't find fat an insult, it's a description. But I know for some people - mainly girls but of course boys too - that their fight with body size and weight is an ever-consuming battle, and I think this book is an amazing thing to exist. If only younger girls have access to something like this I think it would really help.
And if we're being honest, as much as body positivity and inclusivity has become more vocal, it is still on the edges. Calling someone fat as an insult is still an acceptable form of discrimination.
And this book really shows where society has gone wrong in terms of fat-ism. In some countries, the bigger the woman the more desirable she is. And in the not so distant past, if you were bigger, then that meant you were richer and higher up in society. But in somewhere like Hollywood, you need to be toned, skinny, restrictive. Which shows that we're not born with this idea that thin means beautiful, it's about wat we grow up with.
I know skinny people, I know fat people, and I know people in between, and from an outside perspective, there is no difference between them. I'm not friendlier with someone because I can see their ribs, and I'm not more disgusted by the person who wears size 30 trousers. It doesn't even enter my head, maybe because I'm on the heavier side, I know what being fat in a society that's scared of fat people is like.
There was so much that Gina has written that I have experienced. Not being able to fit into the cute pretty teenage clothes, being head and shoulders above your classmates (I was my tallest at 11 and have only shrunk since), being diagnosed with PCOS, and, the big one, that every single woman (I can't say for men), has experienced is that every single medical problem, no matter how severe or not, is because you're fat. Broken toe? Fat. Chest infection? Fat. You've got an eyelash that's fallen out? Fat. That's it. You're fat so why are you surprised you have these issues. Lose weight and I can guarantee you'll never have a rash on your elbow again. And the frightening thing is, and is something Gina mentions, is how dangerous this way of thinking can be. If someone attends with abdominal pain and the Dr says it's to do with their weight, they might have missed a tumour, a twisted bowl, an ectopic pregnancy.
One think I was jealous of, and I know to some it may seem weird to be jealous of, but I'm jealous of Gina's fat friends. I have friends who are bigger than others, but I am by far the biggest person in my friendship group. The way Gina talks about the fellowship she has with other fat people, it's so wonderful to have this relationship and I wish I had it. Because most people don't realise what it's like to be the only fat one in a group. To have someone that gets it without explanation.
I think this would be interesting for, not only fat people, but thinner ones too. There may be people who don't know they're being fat-phobic because they can't imagine something is even a something to worry about - cutting through a gap in a crowded room becomes very difficult for a larger body.
It's not appropriate for young readers due to the quantity of swearing and sexual conversations, but I do think the message behind it is vital for young people to learn.
This made me cry far more than most fictional books. It's so real. I'm basically reading about my life, my experiences. It's so powerful. 'm not sure how I can ever make Gina aware of how much this book has meant to me, has meant to the fat little kid hidden inside this far woman.
I feel like I've become best friends with Gina after reading it. She doesn't know it or not, but we have become best friends. She's a beautiful human being, in every possible way.
March 3, 2025
Guest Review by @bookish.holly for @londongirlsbookclub_: Greedy Guts by Gina Tonic (@princessgeorgina)
Thank you to @hodderbooks and @coronetbooks for providing us with an Advanced Copy of Greedy Guts, available to purchase from March 6th 2025!
I find that memoirs are often difficult to give a rating to and that it is importsnt to focus mostly on how they make you feel. There is something so deeply personal about reviewing this kind of book and this especially feels very vulnerable to speak about.
Greedy Guts is an honest, informative and humorous insight in to the challenges, relationships and realities of being a fat woman. Getting to know Gina through these 200 pages was almost like looking in a mirror (though I unfortunately don’t have the same cracking boobs that she does). Her experiences align so closely with my own and it’s hard to describe how it feels when that is often not the case.
Over the course of this book, I was teleported back to being a fat teenage girl in the early 2000s, quite literally surviving being a Tumblr emo and trying to love yourself in a world that tells you not to. As well as going into details relating to her own life, Gina also highlights how the patriarchy benefits from making fat people a scapegoat, how fat people suffer and sometimes lose their lives to medical neglect as well as how the diet industry harms us all.
There is so much more to this book and I think the message behind it is vital. I encourage you all to pick up a copy when it’s released!
Another 5 star read for me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to @hodderbooks and @coronetbooks for providing us with an Advanced Copy of Greedy Guts, available to purchase from March 6th 2025!
I find that memoirs are often difficult to give a rating to and that it is importsnt to focus mostly on how they make you feel. There is something so deeply personal about reviewing this kind of book and this especially feels very vulnerable to speak about.
Greedy Guts is an honest, informative and humorous insight in to the challenges, relationships and realities of being a fat woman. Getting to know Gina through these 200 pages was almost like looking in a mirror (though I unfortunately don’t have the same cracking boobs that she does). Her experiences align so closely with my own and it’s hard to describe how it feels when that is often not the case.
Over the course of this book, I was teleported back to being a fat teenage girl in the early 2000s, quite literally surviving being a Tumblr emo and trying to love yourself in a world that tells you not to. As well as going into details relating to her own life, Gina also highlights how the patriarchy benefits from making fat people a scapegoat, how fat people suffer and sometimes lose their lives to medical neglect as well as how the diet industry harms us all.
There is so much more to this book and I think the message behind it is vital. I encourage you all to pick up a copy when it’s released!
Another 5 star read for me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
March 13, 2025
A beautiful balance of informative, personal, relatable and mostly uplifting. Gina's words reach out to us like an old friend, there's no pretense only love and understanding. I was so excited to find out she was releasing this book from Polyester, I'm really thankful that she was so honest and vulnerable with her audience and most thankful for the way she celebrated community and the importance of loving friendships and relationships, especially as there's so much individualistic discourse on self-love and independence.
April 27, 2025
fantastic book ❤️
November 23, 2024
I have followed Gina (and quite a few of the pals she mentions in her book) for years on social media and when I saw that she was releasing a book I immediately requested an ARC. I love Gina’s writing style and see so much of my own life experiences in this book - I loved it. I spent most of a Saturday afternoon lying in bed and absolutely devouring every page. It felt like chatting with a good mate and putting the world to rights.
March 29, 2025
Reading this at points was like being transported into my own memories.
To the day as a child you are told you need to start wearing ‘adult sized’ clothes, to the wild west days of tumblr, entrenched with blogs dedicated to porn and ED’s.
With essays that recount different aspects of Gina Tonics life experiences, I was drawn in from the first page. Witty and relatable, she really captures what it feels like to be a fat person just trying to live your life, while everybody else makes it a problem.
While thoroughly researched, I don’t think you will read anything new or surprising you haven’t known before. However, I do believe It’s honest and refreshing enough that it’s still worth the read!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher
4/5 ⭐️
To the day as a child you are told you need to start wearing ‘adult sized’ clothes, to the wild west days of tumblr, entrenched with blogs dedicated to porn and ED’s.
With essays that recount different aspects of Gina Tonics life experiences, I was drawn in from the first page. Witty and relatable, she really captures what it feels like to be a fat person just trying to live your life, while everybody else makes it a problem.
While thoroughly researched, I don’t think you will read anything new or surprising you haven’t known before. However, I do believe It’s honest and refreshing enough that it’s still worth the read!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher
4/5 ⭐️
August 24, 2025
"Why is being seen as the norm aspirational?" A riveting, radical account of fatness, Gina's deeply earnest words are warm affirmations for marginalised bodies. For people who have questioned and struggled to articulate their positioning in slim society, "othered" because of their fat frames.
Touching on everything you can possibly imagine, from job interview anxiety to fat fetishism in the digital age, I can only hope for more uplifting texts as entertaining and educational as this one for future feminist generations of Foyles shoppers and library book loaners. I wish this existed in the educational institutions I grew up attending as a fat queer kid. It's that serious.
Touching on everything you can possibly imagine, from job interview anxiety to fat fetishism in the digital age, I can only hope for more uplifting texts as entertaining and educational as this one for future feminist generations of Foyles shoppers and library book loaners. I wish this existed in the educational institutions I grew up attending as a fat queer kid. It's that serious.
June 3, 2025
The last few chapters really gagged me! I’m so glad this book (and Gina herself) exists 🩷
April 20, 2025
This book reminds me that it's okay to be me - I really loved it and found it spoke to so many of the experiences you go through as fat (queer) women.
Sometimes I forget it is indeed inherently political to be fat, and I appreciated Gina Tonic's candidness and openness and reminder that indeed our bodies are always policed.
As someone who went to get tested for PCOS, the medical bias thing is very real and I've definitely been on the receiving end of it (i.e. not being believed). While I do not have PCOS, the male doctor who delivered the results refused to refer me on, telling me to lose weight which I get is sound advice (and I recently have lost a little but still no periods ans the symptoms that made me think maybe it was pcos remain), but it didn't make me want to ever come back. Medical bias in any marginalised body is something we really need to be fighting against because there are no winners. Add to the fat element of being a woman and some people really just don't want to believe anything you say 😭
The idea of a 'good' vs 'bad' fatty too was real eye opening, and the idea that if diet culture didn't exist, a lot more people would be fat and be fine with it too, loved these new ideas.
I think Greedy Guts just really really spoke to me and I don't really have any fat friends so this was like the big sister I needed :') Also, having lived in Manny as a student too made it that much more relatable. Really loved it, 10/10!!
Sometimes I forget it is indeed inherently political to be fat, and I appreciated Gina Tonic's candidness and openness and reminder that indeed our bodies are always policed.
As someone who went to get tested for PCOS, the medical bias thing is very real and I've definitely been on the receiving end of it (i.e. not being believed). While I do not have PCOS, the male doctor who delivered the results refused to refer me on, telling me to lose weight which I get is sound advice (and I recently have lost a little but still no periods ans the symptoms that made me think maybe it was pcos remain), but it didn't make me want to ever come back. Medical bias in any marginalised body is something we really need to be fighting against because there are no winners. Add to the fat element of being a woman and some people really just don't want to believe anything you say 😭
The idea of a 'good' vs 'bad' fatty too was real eye opening, and the idea that if diet culture didn't exist, a lot more people would be fat and be fine with it too, loved these new ideas.
I think Greedy Guts just really really spoke to me and I don't really have any fat friends so this was like the big sister I needed :') Also, having lived in Manny as a student too made it that much more relatable. Really loved it, 10/10!!
March 11, 2025
Oh wow that Joe character in chapter 11 seems like a really cool dude!
My goodness what to say about Greedy Guts, this book came at EXACTLY the right moment for me. It's fucking brutal out here for a fatty atm and this book has reawoken the radical fatty in me. Some of it's a punch to the chubby gut, the feeling of reading stories so similar to your own experience is simultaneously affirming, soothing, fucking depressing and then fucking funny. Most of it is fucking hilarious, funny how fat people can turn their biggest most seeping oozing wound into comedy gold, almost like we leaned humour for survival?!
It's honest, informative and brilliant.
My main take way (LOL had plenty of those) from this is that fatties need fatties and all our hurt, anger and worries drop away (Quicker than a week on special K) when we're united and together.
FAT POWER!!!!!
My goodness what to say about Greedy Guts, this book came at EXACTLY the right moment for me. It's fucking brutal out here for a fatty atm and this book has reawoken the radical fatty in me. Some of it's a punch to the chubby gut, the feeling of reading stories so similar to your own experience is simultaneously affirming, soothing, fucking depressing and then fucking funny. Most of it is fucking hilarious, funny how fat people can turn their biggest most seeping oozing wound into comedy gold, almost like we leaned humour for survival?!
It's honest, informative and brilliant.
My main take way (LOL had plenty of those) from this is that fatties need fatties and all our hurt, anger and worries drop away (Quicker than a week on special K) when we're united and together.
FAT POWER!!!!!
August 28, 2025
This book was the pick for a Fat Liberation reading group I follow online. I finished the book in one week! Having grown up in the 90's and early 00's, where Heat magazine rammed "Circle of Shame" down our throats and heroin chic skeletal frames where THE look etc, I had internalised a significant amount of fat phobia. I am now in the process of unlearning all of this and cannot get enough of authors like Aubrey Gordon and Gina Tonic. Greedy Guts is funny, sad in places, and informative. It saddens me to read about the abuse Gina receives simply for being her (fabulous) self and the eating disorder she had in previous years. This book really highlights how eating disorders can develop (and repeatedly be dismissed by medics because of BMI bullshit). Books like Greedy Guts continue to showcase the power of lived experience and the importance of solidarity
April 4, 2025
Gina writes like a friend, or like the voice in your head. I feel like her book is universal, even if you might not think you relate, there’s a lot to relate to in here. The personal stories and reflections combined with research on fat phobia and the treatment of fat people in the nhs is really impactful. Thought this was very enlightening.
April 22, 2025
As a thin person, I truly want to work to understand the fat experience and this book allowed me to do that, complete with all its nuances and complexities. A really interesting and eye opening read, would recommend for anybody of any size.
April 29, 2025
first introduction to gina tonic and ohhh my goddddd i don’t think ive ever highlighted a book so much. a truly heartfelt, beautiful and relatable piece of writing. would give triple the stars if i could <3
March 9, 2025
What an amazing read! A defo must read for any one fat or otherwise.
March 14, 2025
Important, poignant, honest, vulnerable, hilarious and inspiring, loved it
March 31, 2025
I love you, Gina Tonic!!!!
May 7, 2025
a beautiful ode to fatness
May 8, 2025
A really honest and uplifting book. what i loved so much was her honesty on the negatives she feels too and her message about the importance of her female friendships. would recommend the audiobook!
July 11, 2025
i wish i had this book when i was 16. i want gina tonic to tell me how sexy i am every morning
April 20, 2025
* SHES SO FANTASTIC!
* She’s witty whilst exploring really important topics. One minute you’re giggling at Gina’s one liners and metaphors and the next you’re angry at the system and those who adhere to it.
* Her approach to indulgence is 10/10, why are we so anti pleasure? Can you have “too much” of something you love?
* So open - about sex, fatness, being gross (greggs crumbs falling out of bra line made me laugh)
* Would recommend to everyone. I always love Gina’s takes - the way her mind works reminds me of my own despite experiencing different lives.
* She’s witty whilst exploring really important topics. One minute you’re giggling at Gina’s one liners and metaphors and the next you’re angry at the system and those who adhere to it.
* Her approach to indulgence is 10/10, why are we so anti pleasure? Can you have “too much” of something you love?
* So open - about sex, fatness, being gross (greggs crumbs falling out of bra line made me laugh)
* Would recommend to everyone. I always love Gina’s takes - the way her mind works reminds me of my own despite experiencing different lives.
May 27, 2025
Listened to the audiobook
Another candid, witty and honest memoir, this time from the co-host of one of my favourite podcasts. Well-researched and informative, while funny and raw. I could listen to Gina speak for hours.
Another candid, witty and honest memoir, this time from the co-host of one of my favourite podcasts. Well-researched and informative, while funny and raw. I could listen to Gina speak for hours.
March 14, 2025
Frank, entertaining, a masterpiece, a big hug.
April 5, 2025
as a fat gal who’s entire life has revolved around how i look/feel about myself, this was the most relatable book i’ve ever read! i listened to it in a day, no notes 📝
April 7, 2025
I felt seen in collective experience of growing up fat, something that feels incredibly isolating and personal has been articulated immaculately. Witty, political, and badass
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews