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A review by whimsicalmeerkat
Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler
1.0
I would not give this book to an at-risk child or teenager, for all that it is essentially a cautionary tale about eating disorders with some fantasy trappings. The author clearly intended something good, but the execution and writing were not strong enough to make this anything other than horrible and offensive to both feminists and mental health advocates. She clearly researched the physical symptoms of the disease, but seems to have skipped over the mental* and emotional.
In fact, this entire book seems to lack thought. It is a story about a spoiled middle-class white girl with a severe eating disorder we later learned developed in a moment when she started dating her boyfriend. No one in her life has noticed or mentioned it to her until a week before she reaches the point where her hair is falling out, even though she does things like orders lettuce and Diet Coke at the local diner. She takes 3 pills, Death as a Kurt Cobain clone offers her the job as Famine, which she promptly forgets. What she's supposed to do as Famine, no one seems to know or be willing to tell her. She gets a pretty, praline-loving horse.
This book presents a severe picture of anorexia and, in another character, bulimia, but primarily as a simple problem. Lisa just needs to stop listening to the "Thin voice" and realize she's strong. She needs to stop being friends with another girl with an eating disorder and go back to being friends with the girl who was willing to call her anorexic. She needs to stop equating calories eaten with time on an exercise bike. All of these problems were caused because some mean girls looked at her like she wasn't worthy of her boyfriend. Nothing about eating disorders is that simple. Nothing. This book took on a complicated, heart-wrenching subject and made it trite. If she has enough willpower she can overcome it. That's not how it works.
I don't know what I was expecting from the book, but clearly it was too much. Nuance, I suppose. I wanted nuance. An interesting story or anything to do with the Riders other than their names and color of their horses might have mollified me. Overall though, I expected more than this book gave. At a minimum, I didn't expect to be distressed and offended. I didn't see that coming.
*The author also had someone plan to commit suicide by taking Lexapro, a SSRI which, even when a whole bottle was taken, would be incredibly unlikely to kill. Additionally, the medication is later referenced as being useful for staving off a panic attack, which is simply not the way that class of drug works.
In fact, this entire book seems to lack thought. It is a story about a spoiled middle-class white girl with a severe eating disorder we later learned developed in a moment when she started dating her boyfriend. No one in her life has noticed or mentioned it to her until a week before she reaches the point where her hair is falling out, even though she does things like orders lettuce and Diet Coke at the local diner. She takes 3 pills, Death as a Kurt Cobain clone offers her the job as Famine, which she promptly forgets. What she's supposed to do as Famine, no one seems to know or be willing to tell her. She gets a pretty, praline-loving horse.
Spoiler
I'm still not sure what happened in the ending, except she goes to an eating disorder facility and comes home with artwork and a willingness to eat ranch dressing. Oh, and her parents love each other again.This book presents a severe picture of anorexia and, in another character, bulimia, but primarily as a simple problem. Lisa just needs to stop listening to the "Thin voice" and realize she's strong. She needs to stop being friends with another girl with an eating disorder and go back to being friends with the girl who was willing to call her anorexic. She needs to stop equating calories eaten with time on an exercise bike. All of these problems were caused because some mean girls looked at her like she wasn't worthy of her boyfriend. Nothing about eating disorders is that simple. Nothing. This book took on a complicated, heart-wrenching subject and made it trite. If she has enough willpower she can overcome it. That's not how it works.
I don't know what I was expecting from the book, but clearly it was too much. Nuance, I suppose. I wanted nuance. An interesting story or anything to do with the Riders other than their names and color of their horses might have mollified me. Overall though, I expected more than this book gave. At a minimum, I didn't expect to be distressed and offended. I didn't see that coming.
*The author also had someone plan to commit suicide by taking Lexapro, a SSRI which, even when a whole bottle was taken, would be incredibly unlikely to kill. Additionally, the medication is later referenced as being useful for staving off a panic attack, which is simply not the way that class of drug works.