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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
I have no strong attachment to Portia de Rossi -- maybe Arrested Development? Anyways, I went into this cause I wanted to read about anorexia, and it was recommended as a book on that.
I ended up crying a lot while reading this book (a good sign, I think). It was deeply personal, and very, very good. As a person who has struggled with obsessive behaviors most of my life, reading this book was a deep dive into my emotional baggage, especially revolving around food.
I read it for writing reason, but in the end, I feel like it helped me for personal reasons, and that's always a fun thing.
I ended up crying a lot while reading this book (a good sign, I think). It was deeply personal, and very, very good. As a person who has struggled with obsessive behaviors most of my life, reading this book was a deep dive into my emotional baggage, especially revolving around food.
I read it for writing reason, but in the end, I feel like it helped me for personal reasons, and that's always a fun thing.
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
harrowing bio of being closeted and the pressure to be thin when ur famous. 2 stars bc its so triggering lol
Heavy and in depth. There is nothing humorous about Portia de Rossi's discussion of the horrors of her eating disorder so don't expect a light read.
In this book Portia de Rossi's struggle with her weight and self-esteem led her to extreme diets which eventually developed into anorexia/bulimia. It's a cautionary tale about how a negative body image can lead to more deadly consequences, and I think if we heard more stories like this it might make a difference in how girls view their bodies.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Vomit
Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia
Minor: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Outing
The writing style itself wasn't especially great and there were places where I questioned her choice of structure and ordering, but as a story I thought it was important and well-told. In my opinion, the strength of this book lies not in the actual words, but in the detail and the emotions and the raw honesty. She takes you to a dark place, a very scary place, and that is very commendable. I think Part Two was the best-written, and also filled with the most tension as she spirals deeper and deeper into her disorder (not sure if 'spriraling deeper' is an actual expression...).
I would have liked to read more of her recovery. To see her disorder in such great detail and to be in her mind so much, I wished she could have talked a little more about her recovery. But the end does send a good and positive message.
I would have liked to read more of her recovery. To see her disorder in such great detail and to be in her mind so much, I wished she could have talked a little more about her recovery. But the end does send a good and positive message.
so sad and very well-written. my favorite part was the epilogue and i wish portia's recovery had been given more prominence in the book. but as she says, recovering from an ED sucks and feels worse than having the disorder. that rang very true.
De Rossi is not a writer, and could have used more help from an editor. However, she is smart enough and capable enough that this was very readable, just know that it's a book that you read for the story, not for the writing.
So about the story: The story surprised me with the level at which de Rossi revealed herself. She really laid herself bare for us; I was surprised throughout at her honesty and willing vulnerability. The book is almost as much about her struggles with hiding her sexuality as it is about her eating disorders, as the two are linked for her, with a sprinkling of behind the scenes Hollywood thrown in (I personally could have read more about what it was like on the set of Ally McBeal, but that's just because I don't ever read that kind of thing so it's interesting to me).
I was fascinated by how clear it was that this was an experience in which a woman's mind was truly ill, where she is honestly and truly believing things that are completely ludicrous to anyone outside the illness. The thought processes that she details are beyond unreasonable, and get to the point of being delusional. In fact, when I was about half way through, I googled images of de Rossi when she was in Ally McBeal, because the way she saw her appearance was so completely the opposite of what I remembered that I started to wonder if I had forgotten what she really looked like. I had not, she was stunning. It's shocking that a woman who is that beautiful could look in the mirror and see only ugliness.
I appreciated that de Rossi talked about the effects of personality, personal experiences, societal expectations, and Hollywood expectations on her experience. For me, this made it clear that the intersection of these factors is a complicated brew, although she could have looked at that a little more explicitly. I also appreciated that she took some time in the epilogue to look at the even broader issue of feminism and body image.
This is a lendable Nook Book, if friends with Nooks would like to borrow it from me.
So about the story: The story surprised me with the level at which de Rossi revealed herself. She really laid herself bare for us; I was surprised throughout at her honesty and willing vulnerability. The book is almost as much about her struggles with hiding her sexuality as it is about her eating disorders, as the two are linked for her, with a sprinkling of behind the scenes Hollywood thrown in (I personally could have read more about what it was like on the set of Ally McBeal, but that's just because I don't ever read that kind of thing so it's interesting to me).
I was fascinated by how clear it was that this was an experience in which a woman's mind was truly ill, where she is honestly and truly believing things that are completely ludicrous to anyone outside the illness. The thought processes that she details are beyond unreasonable, and get to the point of being delusional. In fact, when I was about half way through, I googled images of de Rossi when she was in Ally McBeal, because the way she saw her appearance was so completely the opposite of what I remembered that I started to wonder if I had forgotten what she really looked like. I had not, she was stunning. It's shocking that a woman who is that beautiful could look in the mirror and see only ugliness.
I appreciated that de Rossi talked about the effects of personality, personal experiences, societal expectations, and Hollywood expectations on her experience. For me, this made it clear that the intersection of these factors is a complicated brew, although she could have looked at that a little more explicitly. I also appreciated that she took some time in the epilogue to look at the even broader issue of feminism and body image.
This is a lendable Nook Book, if friends with Nooks would like to borrow it from me.
Difficult book to read -- the relentless negative self-talk de Rossi partakes in is all consuming for her AND the reader. It gets tiring and annoying, which is probably the point. I also thought more time could have been spent on the time she spent getting better. That part was kind of glossed over; it just seemed all rosy at the end, whereas my reading about eating disorders seems to indicate it is a lifelong struggle. But everybody is different. However, as celeb bios go, it was well written.