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happyladyjadereads's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
Deeply emotional book, which weaves in memoir of Freeman's ongoing battle with eating disorders and body dysmophia, with her analysis of depictions of food in classic and recent literature. A fantastic read that will inspire empathy and a desire to read the classics
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Body horror
cmoo053's review
4.0
This memoir is at once lovely and disturbing. Freeman writes with unwavering honesty about her illness, and in doing so, gives a real insight into what it is like when your mind is not your own. Such a narrative has the potential to be immensely bleak; overwhelming. This instead, is balanced. It is as much a story of a lengthy battle against an unrelenting illness, as it is a love letter to books and reading. It is a reminder that when the world fails us, when our minds fail us, there is always solace and healing to be found in books.
caitlinsbooks's review
5.0
5+ stars!!!!
Please brace yourselves for some food related puns......
I’ve definitely savoured this book. It took me a few months to read it (every time I read this book I got hungry, you have been warned) but I’m so glad that I took as long as I did. This book has carried me through the last few months when my mental well-being hasn’t been the best. I originally picked up this book because I had heard reviews about it, and, although I have never suffered with anorexia I’ve definitely had thoughts similar to ones that Laura Freeman speaks about in this book. The feelings of self hatred, needing to ‘earn’ food, obsessing over food and then starving until I can’t even think. It’s a dark and scary place and while I’m slowly wading through the worst of it (thanks to therapy, and an amazing support system) it’s lovely to read from the perspective of someone who has made it through and is open about still struggling.
Laura’s obsessive research and love for this topic, along with her incredible writing really did make me hungry every time I opened the book. I don’t think I’ll be reading all of the books that she has about food to cure what ails me (check out the bibliography in the back, it’s INSANE).
Please brace yourselves for some food related puns......
I’ve definitely savoured this book. It took me a few months to read it (every time I read this book I got hungry, you have been warned) but I’m so glad that I took as long as I did. This book has carried me through the last few months when my mental well-being hasn’t been the best. I originally picked up this book because I had heard reviews about it, and, although I have never suffered with anorexia I’ve definitely had thoughts similar to ones that Laura Freeman speaks about in this book. The feelings of self hatred, needing to ‘earn’ food, obsessing over food and then starving until I can’t even think. It’s a dark and scary place and while I’m slowly wading through the worst of it (thanks to therapy, and an amazing support system) it’s lovely to read from the perspective of someone who has made it through and is open about still struggling.
Laura’s obsessive research and love for this topic, along with her incredible writing really did make me hungry every time I opened the book. I don’t think I’ll be reading all of the books that she has about food to cure what ails me (check out the bibliography in the back, it’s INSANE).
zoer03's review
5.0
A thought provoking book. One that has given me an intriguing look at books that I have read and have never really focused on the food,as I haven’t ever been anorexic so reading books now or thinking about books I have read it is fascinating to discover the amount food that is mentioned in novels. Though it’s not surprising. But reading through the eyes of someone trying to recover from anorexia has opened my eyes to how I take my sense of pleasure and love of eating for granted because like the author I could so easily just not eat and it doesn’t have to be from anything just something small like a comment on Facebook or instagram. This is an eye opening read.
halfmanhalfbook's review
4.0
At the young age of fourteen, Laura Freeman was diagnosed with anorexia. Where everyone saw a really thin girl with almost transparent skin, she saw something utterly different in the reflection in the mirror. It was the culmination of months of avoiding certain foods, before almost stopping eating completely until she reached the point where she was starving to death. While she let very little pass her lips in the form of nourishment, she still devoured books, and it was literature that was to hold the key to her recovery.
The road to recovery for an anorexic is long and fraught and it was no different for Laura, but where others just had the mental battle, she had the extra support from the books she was reading. In between the covers of Dickens, Sassoon, Woolf, Lee and Leigh Fermor, she would discover how they were able to consume vast plates full of roast beef, bowls of soup and exotic sounding breads without a care in the world. She reads of soldiers who treasure the moment of a scalding hot cup of tea after an intense battle in World War One. In fact, what she discovered was that these authors loved food; they reveled in the taste of what they were eating and sharing the moment with others. These passages in the books, slowly gave her the confidence to rediscover food for the pleasure of eating it rather than purely as a fuel.
Even though her mind had driven her to the point of abhorring food, one thing that she never lost was her love of reading. Most people do not realise just how debilitating anorexia is and there is some painful moments in here as she recalls the lowest points of her illness. But there are the moments too, where she is sustained by her mother's love, an invitation from a friend that arrived at just the right moment. I have read a fair number of the books that Laura talks about in here and whilst the eating and celebration of life between friends and strangers is a key part of them, it is not something that particularly stood out for me, until now. Just reading the descriptions quoted in the book made me very hungry! However, it did for Laura and this list of childhood favourites and other classics has played a crucial role in her accepting that food is not something to avoid and can be enjoyed.
The road to recovery for an anorexic is long and fraught and it was no different for Laura, but where others just had the mental battle, she had the extra support from the books she was reading. In between the covers of Dickens, Sassoon, Woolf, Lee and Leigh Fermor, she would discover how they were able to consume vast plates full of roast beef, bowls of soup and exotic sounding breads without a care in the world. She reads of soldiers who treasure the moment of a scalding hot cup of tea after an intense battle in World War One. In fact, what she discovered was that these authors loved food; they reveled in the taste of what they were eating and sharing the moment with others. These passages in the books, slowly gave her the confidence to rediscover food for the pleasure of eating it rather than purely as a fuel.
Even though her mind had driven her to the point of abhorring food, one thing that she never lost was her love of reading. Most people do not realise just how debilitating anorexia is and there is some painful moments in here as she recalls the lowest points of her illness. But there are the moments too, where she is sustained by her mother's love, an invitation from a friend that arrived at just the right moment. I have read a fair number of the books that Laura talks about in here and whilst the eating and celebration of life between friends and strangers is a key part of them, it is not something that particularly stood out for me, until now. Just reading the descriptions quoted in the book made me very hungry! However, it did for Laura and this list of childhood favourites and other classics has played a crucial role in her accepting that food is not something to avoid and can be enjoyed.
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