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vale1049's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
amandabrookem's review against another edition
4.0
this book wasn’t something i’d anticipated reading because i hadn’t heard of it but i snagged it off the shelf at my library’s new arrivals shelf because i work in a clinic for eating disorder recovery in adolescents. this book really got into how ravaging anorexia can be and how ruthless it is. i enjoyed hadley’s perspectives and her own life story as well as anecdotes from people she knew in her time in hospital as well as the inclusion of a breadth of research. she is clearly very self-aware, very resilient, and incredibly well-spoken/written. the amount of detail and self-reflection in this memoir is astonishing and it takes a really strong and intelligent person to write an autobio this raw.
now…
i docked a star because of how she chose to write about gender dysphoria and gender identity. i’m all for exploring the intersection between gender identity and eating disorders because there’s a point to be made, but the author’s “gender critical” lens made it appear that she compared GD to ED and provided research that only confirmed her bias. i believe gender affirming care is life saving, which is not the sentiment i was getting from her and it made me a little uncomfortable. i was not expecting TERF ideology when there is a clear need for compassion and understanding around trans folks who experience anorexia. trans adolescents who have ED’s are not just loathsome females who hate their bodies in most cases, they are trans teens who don’t feel comfortable in the sex they were born in. i think this section could’ve been redone to have a more affirmative stance after more careful research, or taken out all together.
now…
i docked a star because of how she chose to write about gender dysphoria and gender identity. i’m all for exploring the intersection between gender identity and eating disorders because there’s a point to be made, but the author’s “gender critical” lens made it appear that she compared GD to ED and provided research that only confirmed her bias. i believe gender affirming care is life saving, which is not the sentiment i was getting from her and it made me a little uncomfortable. i was not expecting TERF ideology when there is a clear need for compassion and understanding around trans folks who experience anorexia. trans adolescents who have ED’s are not just loathsome females who hate their bodies in most cases, they are trans teens who don’t feel comfortable in the sex they were born in. i think this section could’ve been redone to have a more affirmative stance after more careful research, or taken out all together.
3camels's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
shellybomelly's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
wayward's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
The parts that recount her memories and reflections on her own experience with eating disorders are interesting. However where she ventures outside of her own experience it seems lightly researched and too comfortable in cliches focusing on well-off too-thin Western white girls rather than more contemporary research on eating disorders manifesting outside of that narrow group. There's also two brief-ish sections of shoehorned-in terf concern-trolling that repeat the same "information".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Transphobia