Well, the thing is, I have nothing inherently against a white/twenty-something female main lead. After all, such folks do exist and it sounds like you're doing a good job of rounding out the character and of adding some actual culture and history behind her.
I find a lot of the protagonists in UF have no culture because apparently being white means you're acultural, that you're not an ethnic group, that you're "normal" and everyone else is "ethnic".
Do you mind if I voice a slight hestitation I had when I read your description? I say this this is as a fat person, and I understand that descriptions can be completely deceiving and maybe it reads different in your draft. But (there's always a but). When I see a fat/overweight/larger-sized character that is portrayed to love a certain food that is considered a "junk" or "bad" food, I often wince because it's a landmine for us larger folks, especially fat women or fat women who are of color, disabled, etc - because society increasingly polices your body as intersectionality comes into play.
One thing that fat people are often accused of is being fat simply because all they do is eat huge, gluttonous, unhealthy meals and don't exercise. When we go out to restaurants, people make comments on what we eat. I've had this happen. People feel that their job is to concern-troll my nutritional needs.
Thing is? I eat a 1200 calorie diet and walk/jog 4 miles every morning. Haven't lost that much weight (but have drastically improved my health), but because of my size, people assume I sit home eating big macs all day and watching day time TV. Even when I don't.
Again, it depends on how you write it and how it's laid out in the book. But that was just my initial reservation when seeing that part.
That said, it sounds like a really fascinating book and I'd love to read it some day.
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I find a lot of the protagonists in UF have no culture because apparently being white means you're acultural, that you're not an ethnic group, that you're "normal" and everyone else is "ethnic".
Do you mind if I voice a slight hestitation I had when I read your description? I say this this is as a fat person, and I understand that descriptions can be completely deceiving and maybe it reads different in your draft. But (there's always a but). When I see a fat/overweight/larger-sized character that is portrayed to love a certain food that is considered a "junk" or "bad" food, I often wince because it's a landmine for us larger folks, especially fat women or fat women who are of color, disabled, etc - because society increasingly polices your body as intersectionality comes into play.
One thing that fat people are often accused of is being fat simply because all they do is eat huge, gluttonous, unhealthy meals and don't exercise. When we go out to restaurants, people make comments on what we eat. I've had this happen. People feel that their job is to concern-troll my nutritional needs.
Thing is? I eat a 1200 calorie diet and walk/jog 4 miles every morning. Haven't lost that much weight (but have drastically improved my health), but because of my size, people assume I sit home eating big macs all day and watching day time TV. Even when I don't.
Again, it depends on how you write it and how it's laid out in the book. But that was just my initial reservation when seeing that part.
That said, it sounds like a really fascinating book and I'd love to read it some day.