Fat Swim

by Emma Copley Eisenberg

An electrifying collection of linked stories following a cast of characters navigating bodies, queerness, power, and sex—with radical results—from the bestselling author of Housemates.

With a brash and stylish voice that implicates and confronts the reader, Emma Copley Eisenberg wades into the contradictions, joys, and violence of a modern world shaped by looking and watching, examining how our hungers can both hijack and crack open our lives. In the title story, a young girl looks to a group of fat women at her local pool to teach her about her changing body. In “Swiffer Girl,” a woman agrees to try for a baby with her partner, only to suddenly find herself haunted by the viral sex video that made the rounds during high school—a video indelibly tied to her own sense of self. In other stories, an obscure fat makeup vlogger’s strange friendship with a middle schooler forces her to reflect on her past life at a toxic beauty startup, a boomer retiree tries to understand her nonbinary child’s gender and polyamory, and a trans librarian takes a job as assistant to a famous science fiction writer only to find himself screening hookups on his octogenarian employer’s behalf.

For better or for worse, these stories counsel, none of us can leave our bodies behind: they remind us what it is to be alive. As the characters in Fat Swim dance into and out of each other’s lives—and through and around Philadelphia—they seek connections and experiences that remind them of that fact, culminating in a reality-bending, tour de force finale, “Camp Sensation.” Eisenberg, whose fiction “should be studied by every contemporary author as the finest departure from the fatphobic hellscape of fiction that exists” (Electric Literature), has a singular vision, and Fat Swim is her most incisive and provocative work yet.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Queer, LGBT, Audiobook, Contemporary, Anthologies

Unknown Binding

First published April 28, 2026

About the author

Emma Copley Eisenberg is the nationally bestselling author of the novel Housemates, nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Fiction and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Prize, as well as the nonfiction book The Third Rainbow Girl, a New York Times Notable Book and Editor’s Choice and a finalist for an Edgar Award and an Anthony Award. She’s received fellowships and residencies from Yaddo, Bread Loaf, Tin House, The Millay Colony and others, and her fiction, essays, and criticism have appeared in such publications as Granta, The Paris Review, The Believer, Esquire, the Virginia Quarterly Review, The New Republic, Harpers Bazaar, and The Cut. She lives in Philadelphia, where she co-founded Blue Stoop, a community hub for the literary arts. Her next book of fiction, Fat Swim, will be published on April 28, 2026.

Reviews

[Marcus (Lit_Laugh_Luv) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this irreverent, charming collection of stories! I'll admit I was a bit hesitant that this may be a little too on-the-nose after the first entry, but I enjoyed how different each entry was despite the interlinked characters and themes throughout. It's intentionally a little provocative and subversive, and I grew to really enjoy my time with each protagonist. A short story can rarely achieve the perfect balance of depth and brevity, but Eisenberg does it ten times over. I rarely like all entries in a collection, but this is one of the exceptions.

Fat Swim interrogates our relationship to our bodies and challenges the labels and limitations we often assign them. The final few pages in particular were fascinating — I could have read an entire essay about Eisenberg's writing journey for this collection.

If you enjoyed Her Body and Other Parties: Stories (with a dash of Dykette), I think this is a comparable collection you'd enjoy. It has a bit of levity and fun, yet ultimately sticks the landing with its important messaging.
---
I grew up as a socially awkward, gay, fat kid. Stories like this are healing for my inner child.

Thank you to the publisher for the copy!

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[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published April 28, 2026.

4.4 stars

I was so impressed with this collection of ten short stories featuring girls and women. These women aren’t me, but I could see them being me in a different world. I love how the author sees women, especially how she portrays women who are overweight. For some it is just a part of daily existence, not worth remarking upon (kind of) (see the title story, my favorite of the collection). Others often have it too of mind nearly all the time. And I’m so glad there’s a real Kay’s Happy Birthday Bar. I will be looking for more from Eisenberg.

[Tell]

Brilliant. Obsessed with "Beauty". A meditation on the body, the self, living an embodied life, interacting with the world as a queer person, as a fat person, as a person seeking love and connection (or isolation).

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

To run from something was not the same thing as being free of it, as it turned out.

Fat Swim is a provocative collection of linked stories about bodies, queerness and sex. Set mostly in Philadelphia, the stories are written for and about a specific audience, but their themes of loneliness, connection, yearning, and the journey of self-discovery are universal. So while I couldn’t necessarily relate to the characters’ specific circumstances, I could certainly identify with a lot of what they were feeling.

A few of my favorites:

In “Fat Swim,” the young narrator joins a group of fat women at a local pool, who unknowingly serve as mentors to help her understand her changing body over the course of one summer. It’s both innocent and wise and reads like a celebration of the female form, no matter its size.

“The Dan Graves Situation” is about a college advisor dealing with a student having a mental health crisis. This story is so compelling, centering on themes of responsibility, obligation, grief, and parent-child dynamics. “There were a thousand ways to fuck up a child, it seemed, and only time would tell your unique, trademark method. Dan Graves’s dad’s was being good and then dying.”

In “Beauty,” a make-up vlogger’s burgeoning online friendship with a middle-schooler forces her to reckon with her (thinner) former life at a toxic beauty start-up. It’s an incredibly reflective story, juxtaposing an adolescent’s perspective with that of a grown woman who, while she may have more life experience, is still trying to figure it all out.

And then there’s “Lanternfly,” which may be the most provocative story in the collection. It’s about a trans man who spends a summer working as an assistant to a popular fantasy writer - but he’s surprised to find his job mostly consists of finding the author the appropriate hook-ups he needs for inspiration. It’s a story about self-discovery, self-doubt, and the ongoing metamorphosis that all humans experience throughout our lives.

Emma Copley Eisenberg has such a bold, confident voice and a critical modern perspective. Fat Swim really showcases that, and I’ll eagerly await whatever Eisenberg writes next. Thank you to Hogarth for the early reading opportunity.

[Quill (thecriticalreader) · Rating 1 out of 5]

0.5 stars

The stories in Fat Swim by Emma Copeland Eisenberg lean so hard into the transgressive and offbeat that they completely miss the boat on capturing relatable human experience.

Fat Swim by Emma Copeland Eisenberg is a collection of short stories that take place in Philadelphia. Most of the stories feature queer and/or fat characters dealing with sexuality and relationships; “The Body” is a theme running throughout the collection.

I enjoy stories that confront themes of embodiment in a society that prizes thin, white, cishet bodies above all else. But Eisenberg seems far more interested in stuffing her stories with offbeat characters, quirky pathologies, bizarre dialogue, and transgressive plotlines than exploring human experience. For example, a couple of the stories flirt with themes of incest and pedophilia for seemingly no other purpose than to provoke. The characters speak to themselves and each other in that nonsensical banality commonly celebrated in the creative writing world. As I was reading, I kept thinking, “People don’t talk like that!” “People don’t act like that!” and “This would never happen!”

Because I found the stories wholly unrelatable, I struggled to keep my attention focused. A couple of the stories had moments where, if I squinted hard enough, I could see what sort of vision the author had for their execution. But a couple vague glimmers of clarity in an otherwise soggy mess of a short story collection do not come close to the products as a whole.


Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Bean Bull · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this out of the pushcart for a class. This is the only short story that’s ever made me cry. I think about it constantly, a great piece of writing that changed me.

[Ann Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liiiiive for a set of short stories and this is definitely a collection to live for!

Just reading this over the last few days has made me feel more aware of my body while in my body. This book is for bodies. It gave me Heavy by Kiese Laymon vibes, the Shrill pool party episode vibes, and also Housemates vibes because duh, the books have the same mom.

I absolutely love the fatness of it all. Eisenberg has written on this and I think of this statistic often - less than 1% of literary novels have fat people in them. It’s truly bonkers, but reading her books feels like taking the first dose of good medicine in the right direction.

And for another treat, you simply must look up the Fat Swim billboard that Eiseberg had put up in Philadelphia! ICONIC. 👏🏼

Whenever I finish Eisenberg’s books, my first inclination is to start them over from the very beginning and I think I just might with this one too.

It’s sapphic, it’s beautiful, it’s big, it’s loving. Wonderful book.

[Nicole Clapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Hogarth for the arc! I was so excited to receive it. I adore Copley Eisenberg’s work and this was no exception. I really enjoyed the bizarreness and queerness of the stories. The last one went a bit over my head (some of the others did too) but that’s a me problem. The writing was exquisite. Would definitely recommend to my community.

[Aislinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.5⭐️] I didn’t know what to expect going into this collection of stories, and I wasn’t sure how I felt by the end of it.

Some stories, like Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar, really grabbed and moved me, and others fell short for me. These stories felt very blunt, and at times a bit gritty, but each one was uniquely interesting. And Copley-Eisenberg’s writing is wonderfully descriptive and evocative throughout, and it felt very honest.

Mixed emotions at the end of this read, but in a good way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m dedicated to reading queer fiction so I wanted to give this a go even though I was underwhelmed by Housemates. There were moments here that worked well for me and I found intriguing. Other times it suffered from clunky prose, endings that fizzled out, and an emotional detachment from the characters. A lot of them failed to stand out from one another and their voices all kind of ran together.

My favorite story was Lanternfly, from the perspective of a transmasc personal assistant for an aging gay science fiction writer. Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar, Beauty, and Camp Sensation also stood out. I didn’t like Sundays or I Want a Friend, the former waxing poetic about bi polyamory and the latter an lamentation of a friend breakup.

One of the recurring characters Michael really confused me, really not sure what was going on with him but it hinted at some really disturbing things without actually looking at them head on.

Overall a decent collection of stories exploring queerness, fatness, and the experience of having a body. Some people will probably really like it, but it didn't work for me unfortunately!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this series of short stories. These were stories where I felt seen, where the fat on my belly was something our author gave thought and attention and time to. Centreing the experiences of queer fat women in writing is more healing that I thought it would be, and I especially enjoyed Fat Swim and Camp Sensation. I could read an entire book around the plot of Camp Sensation, and I loved the (un)becoming explored through the (dis)embodying our cast went through. I found it interesting how we see the character of "Gin" pop up time and again, all the way into the last story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

[lys]

HEY!! YOU PEOPLE WHO ALSO LOVED MILK FED!! Check this out! I always talk about how the part of the copy that calls Milk Fed “a tale of appetites: physical hunger, sexual desire, spiritual longing” is so perfectly on the nose, and I think this story collection scratched a similar itch for me. On queerness, bodies, and desire. How much wanting is too much? Is there even such a thing as too much?

“I want both cake and pie, to live by the ocean and in an ocean of strangers. One day I stick a jumbo yellow barrette in my hair, pair it with a white cotton sundress; the next I'll pull on Carhartt work pants and a sleeveless muscle tee. I do not mix and match, I do not mash up. I separate, alternate, switch, repeat.

Is this too much chaos? The world says yes, but I say no. There is something delicious in putting two things that should be kept apart right up next to each other. For example, in the late afternoon, putting your hand inside a girl who is saying Oh shit into your neck, and then, at dusk, putting your face into the crevasse made by two pillows as a man pushes into you, saying these same words again and again.”

(I will be thinking about these two paragraphs for the rest of my life.)

———

“I look back at Beth. They have stayed where we were, feet in the wet sand, the canvas of their shoes surely soaked through by now. Their eyes are closed like they are praying or simply calm, free of anxiety. It is their calmness, their peace, how not afraid they are, that chills me and makes me shudder. My child is magic, cheating sorrow, bathing in love in a way the world has never known and will not allow.”
(From a short story about a woman and her polyamorous daughter)

“I knew about gay men and saw them all the time, but I wouldn't know the word lesbian until years later. I definitely heard it in high school, but somehow I never saw it, and certainly never believed in it.”

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Thanks to the author for my ARC audiobook!* 3.5 stars

As a Philadelphian, this one felt like a secret passed between friends. I recognized the streets, the bars, the heart of the city that I've called home for over 20 years.

The title story, Fat Swim, was easily my favorite. It’s such a beautiful, tender look at a daughter growing into her body while her dad is struggling to love his own. It really hit. I also loved Mother and Lanternfly.

Emma writes relationships in a way that feels soft, warm, and real. Some stories grabbed me more than others, but overall it’s a really heartfelt collection centered on fatness, queerness, and closeness.

[Naima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another NetGalley ARC yay!! I really enjoyed this book and the way the separate stories overlapped with each other. The titular story was my favorite I think. Would recommend to other people who liked David Levithan’s short stories in the 2010s although it is not really like that at all.

[anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
my favorite story was by far the titular story, Fat Swim. I loved Beauty. Camp Sensation closing it out was excellent. I'm sad it's over, and I can't wait to pick up the author's other book.

[menschorama · Rating 4 out of 5]

I SPED through this! Which I guess means that I liked it a lot? Honestly there are a few stories that I don't remember very well, but some that I will remember for a long time like the titular one, Lanternfly, and Camp Sensation. I liked this a lot better than Housemates but am taking off a half star for the stilted/unrealistic dialogue throughout it. Reading this really put into perspective how infrequently fat characters are written with any freaking dignity in literary fiction and in that way felt extremely refreshing and necessary and life giving like sliding into a pool on a hot day.

[hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

honestly just exceptional! there was something to love within every story, and i usually struggle with short story collections feeling uneven. not so with fat swim! eisenberg has no doubt become one of my favorite contemporary writers.

[Alcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - I like Eisenberg’s writing style and the way she is able to explore the concepts of hunger, body image, and fatphobia in non-obvious ways. I originally felt like the links between the stories were weak, but I enjoyed the way the final one tied the characters together. That being said, some of these stories were much stronger than others. I also think that reading “Her Body and Other Parties” before this tainted this book for me, as it was another collection of short stories focused on the body and womanhood, that I found more compelling.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced copy.

[Sarah Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Already he wants all our stories.”

Probably already my fave book of the year. An abundance of relatable details, tight phrases, emotional honesty and pov

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a wow kind of book - queer, real, powerful, and unforgettable. Just read it.

[Remi]

i think this could be my therapy

*thank you to Hogarth for the ARC*

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was not for me. I gave it a try and got through a third of it.

[annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Emma❤️

[Keatyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved almost all of these stories there were only a couple that felt a little too in your face with their message. The way the final story pulled together characters from throughout the rest of the stories and showed their different struggles in a new way was brilliantly done.

[Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this collection of fictional (but linked) short stories, Emma Copley Eisenberg's unmistakable voice and style dive into topics of fatness, queerness, and sexuality. In the title story, a preteen girl seeks guidance from a group of fat women swimming at her local pool about her changing body and emerging queer identity. Other stories include parasocial friendship between a fat makeup blogger and her middle school fan, a parent trying to understand her daughter’s polyamorous relationship, and a reality-bending “sensation” camp. Though each story is independent, the characters float in and out of each other’s stories, reminding readers our bodies are just as much a part of our own stories.

I don’t often read fictional short story collections, but Emma Copley Eisenberg reminds me why I should! I was excited to read this collection, and it absolutely lived up to its hype. There’s no hiding behind our bodies or orientation: this is the definition of being unapologetically fat and authentically queer. While there’s a different character in each story and thus a different perspective, Emma Copley Eisenberg's unifying voice and candid observations make this book such a delightful read and I can’t wait to keep reading more.

Reviewed as part of #ARC from #NetGalley. Many thanks to Hogarth Books for the #gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Read this book if you:
🥪 watched the Disney movie Heavyweights
🍴 resonate with Roxane Gay’s intro to Hunger: “The story of my body is not a story of triumph. This is not a weight-loss memoir. There will be no picture of a thin version of me, my slender body emblazoned across this book's cover with me standing in one leg of my former, fatter self's jeans.”
📖 like intersecting stories that stick with you

Follow me on Instagram for more book reviews!

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to thank Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing access to this arc copy. This was my first experience with Eisenberg’s work but it won't be my last - short story collections can be such a challenge because I think it’s hard to feel fulfilled and not left wanting more or disappointed.

I have felt in the past that short stories say trust me you want to read this and then its a cutting cold plunge that ends and I am left in shock and forever wondering about the character and cursing becoming so invested forced to debate if I have the strength to repeat. This was not my experience with Fat Swim, and I valued the links that exist between each story, making it easier to flip the next page as you will continually receive more layers and instead of a peep hole enjoy a dynamic prism gaze to life and bodies and how "we" view ourselves, sexuality and co-existence.

I think there is phenomenal fluidity represented in multiple works and I appreciate that not one character felt one-dimensional or less than determined than the previous.

I would recommend this short story collection to anyone who struggles with short stories, I think it was a re-introduction for me, and I would also say that while the book is being described as confronting or assertive I think it is quietly powerful and more of a goosebump intuition than a megaphone demand of attention.

Quotes living in my brain rent free include, “And in all that time, the body in question changed. If, at the start, it did not believe that its involvement was necessary for the writing of this story, it is now, here, nearly at the end, able to believe in itself at least enough to ask the question: Without me, where would you be?” and also this jewel “people love breasts but hate fat.”

[s_evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Hogarth for an advanced read (my first!) in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 rounded up

I did not realize going into this novel that it is connected short stories. My reason for not typically liking short stories is if they are good, I want MORE than it being short… so even though these were incredibly well written short snippets of characters’ lives - exploring elements of queerness, body, relationships (familial, friendships and romantic), and gender - I did want more; in this book we get (a little to a lot) more of some of the characters in additional "chapters."

I found the characters and writing more poignant for me than those in Housemates, a book by the same author that I enjoyed, which is why I was excited about this one. In Fat Swim, I equally appreciated seeing lives and situations that felt honest and reflective of the QT community and traits of people I know, but in this book, from what I can remember to compare, there is more of a focus on fatness/comfort in bodies and the narrators felt more mature or insightful… even the child in the first story which is the title story. Perhaps this is a reflection of my own state of when I am reading, the author’s skills, or an intentional aspect. Either way, I was expecting to like this because of Emma Copley Eisenberg but not as much as I did!

[Sacha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

I really enjoyed this author's novel, _Housemates_, and I'm generally a huge fan of short story collections. There are some highlights here, but overall, I had overt struggles during the read.

The description of this book includes that the central motifs are queerness, bodies, sex, and power. In most cases, all of these are intertwined, and this happens in some particularly provocative ways. At times, this entanglement became too uncomfortable for me: so much so that I got lost in the gross-out of situations like a dad looking at a teenage daughter's body for too long (I'm scowling and flaring my nostrils as I type this). These stories might work very well for someone who finds these motifs - at least as they're presented here - less challenging. I don't typically have low tolerance for any of them, but this collection overall just...too much for me on that front.

It's funny because one of the aspects of _Housemates_ I really liked was the realism with which an inappropriate relationship plays out. I think this author has a real knack for pushing boundaries and bringing the characters and situations into reality. I also think this went too far for me this time and am sure other readers will have a different, more positive experience.

I am going to take a long walk and brush this off, and I'll definitely be back for more from this author, but I might crack the next book with a little more caution.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Hogarth for this arc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

This set of kind of bizarre, interconnected short stories by Emma Copley Eisenberg were an interesting read for me. On one hand, they were visceral and sometimes yucky- I felt like a fly on a wall where I wasn’t totally sure I wanted to be, but couldn’t look away. On the other, I appreciated how Emma writes about bodies in no other way than that we have one, regardless of its size and shape. I LOVED the first story and would have happily read a full novel about that little slice of the world. I found it charming and sweet and more hopeful, even if as the interconnectedness of the stories emerges it takes a weird turn. My one major gripe is that eventually the stories all started to blend into one another. What I initially thought was how one narrator spoke within the confines of one story suddenly turned into ten stories that felt indiscernible from the others before and after it. I think these would be best read with enough time to let each storyline settle before embarking on the next one, and I think a closer second reading sometime would probably shed new light.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg is a book of interconnected stories, which is an important distinction because of the jarring effect in moving from the first to the second story within this book. The book was a study in themes such as bodies, sex, queerness and power dynamics within relationships, with certain characters weaving their way through stories that seem unrelated at face value and culminating in a story where certain characters who appeared in earlier stories were brought together at Camp Sensation.

The book began with a story about an 8-year old, Alice, who inserts herself in the lives of a group of fat women, described as such in the book, when she sees them frequenting the community pool across from her house. I would read a book about Alice. The focus on bringing marginalized characters to the forefront in these stories was admirable and really well done.

I would definitely read more from the author. I’d like to thank Random House, Hogarth, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advanced copy in return for my unbiased review. This book releases on April 28th.