Publisher's Weekly Review
Fashion model and muay Thai fighter Kang retraces her reckless path to self-love in this brave memoir confronting past abusers--most notably herself. Growing up in Hong Kong as the daughter of an alcoholic, Mia found solace in her older siblings, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and food. When faced with fat-shaming bullies, her defense was self-deprivation. At 13, she dangerously cut a third of her body weight in four months and was rewarded with a modeling career. So began a period of extremely disordered eating, drug abuse, morbid anxiety, body dysmorphia, and an obsession with "thigh gaps and protruding collarbones." Cigarettes, laxatives, coke binges, and "ana and mia" (anorexia and bulimia) blogs pushed her through modeling campaigns and grad school. Exhausted after fasting for yet another shoot, she booked herself a vacation in Thailand, where she happened upon a muay Thai gym and emerged with new goals: health, strength, sobriety. "I learned how to feed myself at twenty-seven years old.... Eating like other humans and it was super weird--I had only seen that in movies." The epilogue--a letter to her younger self--suggests an escape route for readers stuck in abusive cycles. This is a tough, triumphant memoir. Agent: Meg Thompson, Thompson Literary Agency. (Oct.)
Kirkus Review
The dramatic life trajectory of an international fashion model. Kang's story begins in Hong Kong in the 1990s, where she grew up with a host of stepsiblings within a familial "mixed bag of Asian and Caucasian lineage." Though overweight and fat-shamed in school, she found solace traveling with her father while cringing from the cruelty of her Korean mother's rampant alcoholic rages. Kang soon found motivation in a dangerous crash diet that shaved a third of her bodyweight in just four months. At the suggestion of her modern dance teacher, she approached modeling agencies and scored a lucrative contract at age 17 that took her around the world and garnered her long-awaited attention from men. Rushing in behind that sudden fame, however, came body-image issues and toxic relationships with drugs, transient friends, and a grab bag of potent laxatives and diuretics able "to get me to shrivel down to the smallest possible Mia I could be." The author delivers the gritty details via a raw, street-wise narrative voice that feels engrossingly authentic. As her modeling career took off, the industry's dark-sided pitfalls came into focus. "Everything about me was the same except that number on the scale," she writes, "but that seemed to have determined my whole life." She continued to struggle with eating disorders, drug addiction, and an obsession with maintaining the coveted "thigh gap." During a vacation in Thailand, Kang accidentally discovered and fell in love with the martial art of muay thai, which eventually freed her mind and shocked her body into a healthier new direction that she believes saved her life and inspired the sobriety she enjoys today. A closing letter to her younger self reflects on her mistakes and the epiphanies that rescued her mind and body. Budding models and those who have ever battled weight issues or drug dependency will find Kang's transformational narrative rewarding. A vibrant, motivational debut memoir. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Kang, a mixed-race child raised in Hong Kong, spent most of her life fighting inner demons. As an overweight child, she was bullied at school. At age 13, she resolved to lose weight by basically starving herself, which led to a vicious cycle of anorexia, bulimia, and body dysmorphia, topped by years of drug and alcohol abuse and crippling depression. In the midst of all this trauma, as she recounts in this remarkable memoir, Kang navigated a turbulent relationship with her alcoholic mother and balanced a career as a successful international model, while earning an advanced degree in finance. A pivotal moment in her story comes when she experiences a suppressed memory of being abused as a child. It is not until the closing chapters that we learn how Kang exorcised her demons and reclaimed her self-worth. The key was her discovery of the combat sport of Muay Thai, a form of martial arts and the national sport of Thailand. As Kang observes, it's not a "chichi boxercise class." Without missing a beat, Kang's writing style flows from matter-of-fact intimacy to raw tenderness as she transforms from destructive self-hate to empowering self-love. Knockout is a must-read memoir for the #MeToo era about a resilient young woman who kayos the myth of perfectionism.Women in Focus: the 19th in 2020
