gifted by the publisher

In this intimate & unique collection of personal essays, Rozario details her experience growing up as a queer, brown, fat girl in Singapore. Blending memoirs with history, pop culture, horror films, and current events, DINNER beautifully explores the concept of monsters in various forms.

I loved Rozario's writing, which perfectly balances the private moments and searing commentaries. While the essays vary in length, I find each one profound & memorable, with no throwaways at all.

Here's a summary of each essay (because I loved all of them) and some of my favorite quotes.

• Salvation: complex mother-daughter relationships due to her mom's faith and Rozario's sexuality; a heartbreaking read reminiscent of MA AND ME (Putsata Reang)

• One Size Fits Small: growing up fat in a country with government control of everything, including one's body

• I Hope We Shine On: on mental illness, heredity depression, self-harm, and how family history repeats itself. "Are we all destined to become our parents? Do they persist in their unfinished business from beyond the grave? Is to live in resistance of my genetic inheritance still to live haunted by it?"

• Conflict Circle: Rozario's experiences attending an all-girls catholic secondary school made me nostalgic for my all-girls-high school days, still one of the best times of my life. "I cannot remember ever loving as unabashedly as I did when I was in secondary school. I can't think of another time in my life in which I offered of myself so freely."

• My Year of Magic: a year of battling depression and how an adventure with friends rekindled Rozario's hope. This essay reminds me of MARTYR! (Kaveh Akbar) and I teared up a little