2.0

Insatiable and Ravenous tell the story of a group of high school (and then college) students struggling with eating disorders.

I had a hard time giving these books credence based upon either the writing or the treatment of eating disorders. The plot is fairly thin, the characters flat (even into the second book I occasionally had to check to see which character I was reading about), and the lessons very, very heavy-handed. The treatment of eating disorders borders on pop psychology - everybody's reasons for having an eating disorder, and their triggers, are insanely clear-cut (and, yes, almost always come back to the parents).

The one thing that I did appreciate about these books was that they weren't unrealistically positive. Yes, the characters have eating disorders. Yes, some of them will get better. No, perhaps not all of them, and no, it won't be easy. I was glad that the books didn't wrap up tidily with a bow on top - but otherwise I was less than impressed.

Note: Cross-posted as a review for Ravenous.