Although Lindy West’s “Shrill,” just released in paperback, contains 19 essays that cover everything from writing and politics to menstruation and abortion, the collection has a distinct arc. “The arc is from shy to loud,” West said. “And from afraid to unafraid — to bold.”
She blends sharp truth-telling with an often riotous humor. “I was writing the book that I needed to read when I was maybe 15 or 20 years old,” West said. “I was exploring the ideas of: How did I become this person? How do you thrive when you are a nonconforming woman, when you don’t fit these very strict requirements that we put on women?”
West’s most visible nonconformity is her size. She writes frequently about being fat — the word she prefers, she said, because “it’s just more honest. There’s something condescending about a euphemism, because it implies that my body is something to be ashamed of, and something we can’t talk about openly. And I resent that.”
For many years, West tried to conform to a society that “communicates very clearly that you will be punished if you don’t conform.” But those years are past. “I really want young women to know that it’s better over here,” West said. “I got sick of apologizing and hating my body and being miserable and waiting for my life to start,” she added. “I made the conscious choice to decide that I had value and live as such.”
West was among the first writers to chronicle the relentless misogyny on social media. “This is real life; this is hate speech,” she said. “I actually think that the online abuse culture directly contributed to the election of Donald Trump.”
West will read at 7 p.m. Sunday evening at First Church JP, 6 Eliot St., Jamaica Plain ($6 tickets at papercutsjp.com/events) and 7 p.m. Tuesday at Harvard Book Store.
Kate Tuttle, president of the National Book Critics Circle, can be reached at kate.tuttle@gmail.com.