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tildahlia's review
5.0
I am always confused as to why Wright isn't better known and celebrated. Her writing is so exquisite ('my prune of a left breast') and she explores themes (such as anxiety, mental health, eating disorders) in such new and compelling ways. She is also so good at capturing a sense of place. This collection of essays is excellent.
katdid's review
5.0
I thought that eating disorders only happen to women who are vain and selfish, shallow and somehow stupid; it took me years to realised that the very opposite is true, that these diseases affect people, men and women both, who think too much and feel too keenly, who give too much of themselves to other people. I knew I wasn’t vain, I wasn’t selfish; but I have always felt vaguely, indeterminately sad, too vulnerable to being hurt, too empathic and too open, too demanding and determined in the standards that I set for myself and my life.
Recently I was lucky enough to talk to an emeritus professor of Australian literature about [b:The Natural Way of Things|25876358|The Natural Way of Things|Charlotte Wood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1436420572s/25876358.jpg|45752195], and during the chat she pulled this book out of her bag to show me and was clearly impressed by it which was one reason I sought it out – and I'm so glad I did. If you have any kind of pretensions to being a writer yourself, this collection of essays is the kind that will simultaneously fill you with despair (because you will never ever be that skilled) and exhilaration (because it is a fucking treat to read the words of a writer that skilled).
Anyone who was into [b:The Empathy Exams: Essays|17934655|The Empathy Exams Essays|Leslie Jamison|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405924561s/17934655.jpg|25142547] needs to read this immediately; in fact, I think it’s probably better than The Empathy Exams because every essay in this is so effing strong; I think it’s helped by the fact that they are all about anorexia in some manifestation or other (e.g. explorations/depictions in fiction) underpinned by the author’s own personal experiences. The fact that it’s set in the inner west of Sydney where I live with references to general landmarks (e.g. cafes on Glebe Point Road) and at the university where I work really resonated with me. I realised in reading this that I am more or less a perfect match for the personality type most likely to be affected by an eating disorder, and it really made me think a lot about my own attitude towards food and eating (because I more or less think about food constantly, and I do wonder sometimes if I’m eating enough to counter-balance all my physical activities).
desterman's review
4.0
A powerful and often academic/clinical set of short essays on finding meaning in the seemingly meaningless disease of anorexia. The exploration of the concept of hunger, it's roots in history, representation in literature, and the way in which it is a form of addiction were insightful and perceptive. My only criticism was that it felt like Wright was holding herself back too much - in the same way she says the disease makes her feel detached, that was the (intentional?) effect for the reader too. There is also a desperate sadness that permeates this book - the realisation that eating disorders are rarely "cured" but, like many other mental illnesses, you learn to live with it.
liralen's review
5.0
This quiet book of linked essays packs a punch. I forced myself to take my time with Small Acts of Disappearance—I do have a tendency to race through books rather than savour them, and I could tell early on that this was one I was going to be sorry to finish.
Wright's work is meditative but manages to avoid the sort of navel-gazing that leaves the reader eyeballing pieces of lint. She deftly sidesteps the pitfalls so common to eating-disorder memoirs, focusing not on the chronological facts but on the questions behind them. But even then Wright goes a step further, pinpointing the first when—when she developed a digestive problem and started to involuntarily throw up many of her meals, and subsequently cut back her intake—and investigating that, but then, in later essays, walking it back even further. What about before then?
There aren't easy answers here—just an acknowledgement that such answers are hard to come by, and Wright's still working to figure it out. Altogether a win of a book.
Wright's work is meditative but manages to avoid the sort of navel-gazing that leaves the reader eyeballing pieces of lint. She deftly sidesteps the pitfalls so common to eating-disorder memoirs, focusing not on the chronological facts but on the questions behind them. But even then Wright goes a step further, pinpointing the first when—when she developed a digestive problem and started to involuntarily throw up many of her meals, and subsequently cut back her intake—and investigating that, but then, in later essays, walking it back even further. What about before then?
There aren't easy answers here—just an acknowledgement that such answers are hard to come by, and Wright's still working to figure it out. Altogether a win of a book.
wendoxford's review
2.0
Such very personal powerful chapters/essays.
That said, whilst I found the writing and narrative fascinating for me, it was too overpowering and overly focused.
I empathised, understood, despaired along with the writer but felt at too many steps removed
That said, whilst I found the writing and narrative fascinating for me, it was too overpowering and overly focused.
I empathised, understood, despaired along with the writer but felt at too many steps removed