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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
If Portia ever decides to walk away from acting, she should absolutely be a writer. One of the most honest and well-written memoirs I have read.
This book might not be the best written book, but it does hit close to home. Wonderful story, that offers great insight.
A colleague at work recommended and gave me a copy of this book to read. I knew about anorexia and bulimia, and I knew that those are primarily psychological diseases, but getting an insight into the head of a person suffering from them is a completely different experience.
Portia de Rossi (or Amanda Rogers) has, it turns out, suffered from these diseases since she was 12 years old. She was so preoccupied with her looks (and later on with her sexuality), that she was constantly going through diets and then eating her heart out again after. By the time she became an actress, she was so obsessed with maintaining (although she would consider it achieving) the image and body weight, the society today demands women to have. For that purpose she starved herself until, at age 25, she could barely stand on her feet because of joint pain, she developed osteoporosis, cirrhosis and lupus. And even after she witnessed her brother and mother breaking down crying in fear for her life, and after her doctor told her what serious health issues she developed, she struggled with conquering anorexia and bulimia.
This book is her story of struggle. It shows how the image the society demands of people to maintain, is ridiculous and just plain wrong, and can lead to problems with serious consequences. I was shocked with the better part of this book, because, although not completely satisfied with the way I look, I've never gotten to the point where I would call myself worthless and starve myself to loose weight. I also remember her from the few episodes of Ally McBeal I watched when I was a kid, and I just can't connect the person I saw on TV with the one in the book. I t was like I was reading about a completely different person (her wife, Ellen, had the same reaction). It goes to show that looks can be deceiving and you never know what is going on in someone's head or behind closed doors.
I've seen a lot of reviews here on Goodreads that were not favorable towards Portia. Some said that she shouldn't have published the book because it wasn't a "How-to" guide and it didn't tell people how to get rid of the disorders. Also, a fan accused her of being selfish throughout her illness. Well, the book wasn't meant to be a how-to guide. It was, first and foremost, her way of letting go. And she did give advice on how to conquer the eating disorders:
Accept yourself as you are, eat whatever you want and use your body as a calorie counter. It will tell you everything you need to know. It's definitively a process, but it's achievable.
As for her being selfish, I don't know what person isn't selfish when sick (especially if he/she doesn't acknowledge the existence of the disease). It's always easier to be in denial and think that the whole world is against you, than accept that the problem lies with you.
All in all, the book is great and so gripping you can't stop reading, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get a look inside an anorexic's head.
Portia de Rossi (or Amanda Rogers) has, it turns out, suffered from these diseases since she was 12 years old. She was so preoccupied with her looks (and later on with her sexuality), that she was constantly going through diets and then eating her heart out again after. By the time she became an actress, she was so obsessed with maintaining (although she would consider it achieving) the image and body weight, the society today demands women to have. For that purpose she starved herself until, at age 25, she could barely stand on her feet because of joint pain, she developed osteoporosis, cirrhosis and lupus. And even after she witnessed her brother and mother breaking down crying in fear for her life, and after her doctor told her what serious health issues she developed, she struggled with conquering anorexia and bulimia.
This book is her story of struggle. It shows how the image the society demands of people to maintain, is ridiculous and just plain wrong, and can lead to problems with serious consequences. I was shocked with the better part of this book, because, although not completely satisfied with the way I look, I've never gotten to the point where I would call myself worthless and starve myself to loose weight. I also remember her from the few episodes of Ally McBeal I watched when I was a kid, and I just can't connect the person I saw on TV with the one in the book. I t was like I was reading about a completely different person (her wife, Ellen, had the same reaction). It goes to show that looks can be deceiving and you never know what is going on in someone's head or behind closed doors.
I've seen a lot of reviews here on Goodreads that were not favorable towards Portia. Some said that she shouldn't have published the book because it wasn't a "How-to" guide and it didn't tell people how to get rid of the disorders. Also, a fan accused her of being selfish throughout her illness. Well, the book wasn't meant to be a how-to guide. It was, first and foremost, her way of letting go. And she did give advice on how to conquer the eating disorders:
Accept yourself as you are, eat whatever you want and use your body as a calorie counter. It will tell you everything you need to know. It's definitively a process, but it's achievable.
As for her being selfish, I don't know what person isn't selfish when sick (especially if he/she doesn't acknowledge the existence of the disease). It's always easier to be in denial and think that the whole world is against you, than accept that the problem lies with you.
All in all, the book is great and so gripping you can't stop reading, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get a look inside an anorexic's head.
One of the most powerful audiobooks I have ever listened to. I admire Portia so much for her honesty and courage.
At a certain point while listening to this book, it got be almost too much listening about her lack of eating and all the exercise. Being that eating disorders/unimaginably low self imagine it was very eye opening to learn about this through someone who has been through it. I am happy that she has gotten healthy and has finally found happiness with Ellen and her life.
It was very informative, although it did drag a bit in parts.
I'm glad I chose to listen to this and not read it. It made it easier to bare the very sad story.
It was very informative, although it did drag a bit in parts.
I'm glad I chose to listen to this and not read it. It made it easier to bare the very sad story.
For the first half I kept thinking this was so shallow. The focus was mainly on dissecting the appearance of herself and others, on trying to lose weight pre-ED and constantly losing and gaining the same few pounds. Weight loss memoirs are dull until there's disorder.
This is a memoir for the gawker or people like me, turning back and seeing what they escaped from. For someone with an active ED this would be more like a how-to, an explicit guide to nurturing their ED.
I both love and hate memoirs like this. I loved them wholly when I was ill.
This is a memoir for the gawker or people like me, turning back and seeing what they escaped from. For someone with an active ED this would be more like a how-to, an explicit guide to nurturing their ED.
I both love and hate memoirs like this. I loved them wholly when I was ill.
As a writer writing about her personal experiences with eating disorders, Portia de Rossi is wonderful. I was painfully engrossed by her story, I could hardly put it down. It seemed like she took snapshots of her emotions and thoughts when they happened because she described them with such detail that I couldn't help but believe that everything happened just the way she said it did. I was amazed by the truth that she let the readers see about her life. The only thing that tainted the story was the epilogue when she starts to talk about other people, their motivation, how they live. She lost me when she turned to speculation about why other people do what they do. As long as she talked about what she knew for sure it was a five star book.
Each year or so I find myself wanting to diet. Needing to. Whatever. This year, being only at its beginning, I just treated myself to a nice dinner and my favourite dessert in the whole world, two Reese's peanut butter cups which I'll probably regret later. Or not. I'm thinking about the way I look, sometimes I care too much, sometimes I just ignore it. But thank goodness my life and work never depended on my looks, I never struggled to be accepted, to be admired, to fit in the latest trend of skinny jeans and whatnot. And although I was blessed to grow among healthy friends and colleagues, I know there are millions of girls out there having eating disorders and not willing to admit or get help. Again, thank God I'm not one of them.
I first read about Portia's story on Octavian's blog, but I wasn't interested, because 1) Portia was always just the skinny blonde from Ally McBeal I was never very interested in and 2) eating disorders, seriously? I could read other things, thank you very much. But then one night I caught a rerun of Ellen's show where Portia was invited to promote her book and talked about her struggles with both anorexia and her coming out. I was touched, ended up weeping and I knew I had to read it. But really, what she talked about during the show is merely a glimpse of the truly emotional and devastating thing she went through. Reading about it hurts beyond words.
(Ellen is such a sweet, warm-hearted woman; such a shame I don't watch her show more often.)
I first read about Portia's story on Octavian's blog, but I wasn't interested, because 1) Portia was always just the skinny blonde from Ally McBeal I was never very interested in and 2) eating disorders, seriously? I could read other things, thank you very much. But then one night I caught a rerun of Ellen's show where Portia was invited to promote her book and talked about her struggles with both anorexia and her coming out. I was touched, ended up weeping and I knew I had to read it. But really, what she talked about during the show is merely a glimpse of the truly emotional and devastating thing she went through. Reading about it hurts beyond words.
(Ellen is such a sweet, warm-hearted woman; such a shame I don't watch her show more often.)