American Bulk

Essays on Excess

By: Emily Mester

Narrated by: Chloe Cannon

What if we explored our relationship to consumption with the same depth and feeling we use to tell stories of great loves and losses?

Americans are caught up in bulk. We guiltily watch Amazon boxes pile up on the porch, wade through endless reviews to find the perfect product, and crave the comforting indulgence of a chain restaurant. In American Bulk, Emily Mester intertwines cultural critique and personal history to explore how the things we buy, eat, amass, and discard become an intimate part of our lives. With humor and sharp intellect, she reflects on the joys and anxieties of family Costco trips, how a seasonal stint at Ulta Beauty taught her the insidious art of the sale, and what it means to get Mall Sad. In a nuanced examination of diet culture and fatness, Mester recounts her teenage summer at fat camp and the unexpected liberation she finds there. Finally, she ventures to Storm Lake, Iowa, to reckon with her grandmother's abandoned hoard, excavating the dysfunction that lies at the heart of her family's obsession with stuff. American Bulk introduces listeners to a striking new literary talent from the American heartland, one who dares to ask us to regard consumption not with guilt but with grace and empathy.

©2025 Emily Mester (P)2024 Tantor Media

Excellent

I love what the author did here. These essays are a fantastic analysis of American culture, and its analysis that few (if any) other academics are offering up. I loved the writing. I loved the lists. I loved the overthinking. I even loved the subtle self-loathing. Emily is all of us. (The narrator is robotic at times, but the book is worth the slight irritation of that.)

Interesting essays

The most interesting ones are the essays in which the author focuses on her father and grandmother. The essays in which she writes about herself were the least successful—the essay about her boarding school days was incredibly boring, though the fat camp one was good.

Terrible narrator

Hard to listen to hours of vocal fry. Not sure if I can finish the book as a result, even though it’s mostly interesting