Adopted as an infant, Harry Hamilton spent the first six years of his life believing himself to be the true son of a proud and loving family, with a lineage of which any young boy would be proud. But in his seventh year, Harry’s world was shattered by the mindless words of a grandfather. The ensuing revelation that he was adopted began his life-long journey of selfdiscovery, desperately looking for answers that would tell him who he was, connect him in a meaningful way to anyone or anything outside of himself, and finally allow him to recognize the person looking back at him in the mirror. With deeply ingrained feelings of inferiority and isolation, made steadily worse by setbacks and abuse, Harry spends his life battling mental illness from guilt, shame, and a lack of self-esteem. Manifesting early as childhood obesity, this burden follows him like a shadow his whole life. When he finally gets the answers he’s looking for, he realizes that unearthing the past does not necessarily resolve the present, it simply strengthens its foundations. Harry’s story is a chronicle of helpful information about physical health in general and the numerous and dangerous consequences of obesity, and the ways and means to beat the disease once and for all. Luckily, sometimes the truth is all you need to change your life.

本作の魅力は、アイデンティティの喪失から始まる魂の漂泊を、誠実な筆致で描いた点にあります。鏡の中の自分さえ他者と感じる孤独が、肥満という肉体的苦痛へ転化する過程は、精神と肉体の壮絶な相関図として胸を打ちます。血の神話が崩れた後の自己との対峙は、まさに実存を懸けた闘争です。 過去を暴くことが救済ではなく、今を生きる土台に過ぎないと喝破するリアリズムも圧巻。羞恥心を振り払い、健康を勝ち取るプロセスは、自己肯定へと至る聖なる旅路そのものです。真実が人生を変える瞬間の煌めきをこれほど切実に伝える作品は稀有であり、読む者の魂を激しく揺さぶります。