Published: 2025
Author: Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell
Illustrator: Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell
Genres: Graphic Novel, Memoir, Nonfiction, Comics, Biography
Audience (Grade Levels): 12, Adult
Number of Stars: 3-Stars
Goodreads Link: The Joy of Snacking: A Graphic Memoir about Food, Love & Family
Triggers: Disordered Eating, Eating Disorders, Mental Health Struggles, Toxic Relationships, Strong Language
Review By: Heather Turner
Publisher’s Summary
New Yorker cartoonist and author of Murder Book Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell returns with a riotous and radically candid comic memoir about snacks, connection, and developing a taste for freedom. From standup comedian, New Yorker cartoonist, and the author of Murder Book comes this fresh comics memoir about being a snacker in a world of foodies. With equal parts humor and unflinching honesty, Hilary traces her life story through from her childhood as the ultimate picky eater, her teenage and young adult years of disordered eating, and finally learning to love herself again. Punctuated throughout with ridiculous (but very real! and important!) snack recipes like “a baggie of goldfish” and “burnt toast,” Campbell captures the reality of growing up in a woman’s body in the ’90s and ’00s in how it shaped her life in work, friendship, and dating. Especially dating. Aren’t we all seeking love, self-acceptance, and a good snack to get you through it? These hilarious stories of family, romance, and belonging prove that if food can isolate us, it also has the power to connect us to what matters most.
Review
I found The Joy of Snacking to be a bit of an odd reading experience. Honestly, it was not what I was expecting. To be fair, I am not even sure what I expected from a graphic memoir with this title. Based on the cover and title, I anticipated something that celebrated food, favorite snacks, and the connections we make around eating. Instead, this is a much more personal memoir about the author’s complicated relationship with food, body image, and disordered eating. That is certainly a worthwhile story to tell, but it caught me off guard because the tone was much heavier than I expected. The cover itself is a visual reminder of the Joy of Cooking from Irma S. Rombauer but did not really connect to it.
I appreciated Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell’s honesty and vulnerability. Sharing experiences with disordered eating cannot be easy, and I am sure many readers will find pieces of their own experiences reflected in these pages. The book also explores relationships, family dynamics, and self-acceptance, all through the lens of food. That said, I never completely connected with the memoir. The narrative felt somewhat disjointed to me, jumping between different moments in the author’s life, and the ending arrived more abruptly than I anticipated. I finished the book feeling like there were still pieces of the story left unexplored.
I think readers who enjoy graphic memoirs or stories about complicated relationships with food and body image may connect with this much more than I did. It simply was not the book I had built up in my head before I started reading. Overall, this was an interesting concept, and I respect the author’s willingness to share such a personal journey. While it did not fully work for me, I know there will be readers who appreciate both its honesty and its message. This one lands at a solid three stars for me.
Classroom & Curricular Connections
- Health / SEL (Social-Emotional Learning): This graphic memoir serves as a deeply honest resource for high school seniors exploring body image, self-acceptance, and the psychological complexities of disordered eating. It offers an opening for discussions on mental health struggles and navigating toxic societal expectations regarding women’s bodies.
Readalikes
- Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley
- Food School by Jade Armstrong, Hot Dog Taste Test by Lisa Hanawalt
- Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
- Louder than Hunger by John Schu
