Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia - Couverture souple

Hornbacher, Marya

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0006550894 ISBN 13 : 9780006550891

Editeur : Flamingo, 1998

Synopsis

A 'retired career anorexic' examines herself and her, and our, culture in a masterpiece of confessional literature.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

Precociously intelligent, imaginative, energetic and ambitious, Marya Hornbacher grew up in a comfortable middle-class American home. At the age of five, she returned from a ballet class one day, put on an enormous sweater, curled up on her bed and cried -- because she thought she was fat. By age nine, she was secretly bulimic, throwing up at home after school while watching The Brady Bunch reruns on television and munching Fritos. She added anorexia to her repertoire a few years later and took great pride in her ability to starve.

Why would a talented young girl go through the looking glass and step into a netherworld where up is down and food is greed, where death is honor and flesh is weak? Why enter into a love affair with hunger, drugs, sex and death? Marya Hornbacher sustained both anorexia and bulimia through five lengthy hospitalizations, endless therapy, the loss of family, friends, jobs and, ultimately, any sense of what it meant to be "normal." In this vivid, emotionally wrenching memoir, she re-creates the experience and illuminates the tangle of personal, family and cultural causes that underlie eating disorders.

Hornbacher's story gathers intensity with each passing year. By the time she is in college and working for a news service in Washington, DC, she is in the grip of a such a horrifying bout with anorexia that it will forever put to rest the romance of wasting away. Down to 52 pounds and counting, Hornbacher's body becomes a battlefield: the death instinct with the drive to live, mind and body locked in mortal combat.

Wasted is the story of one woman's travels to the darker side of reality, and her decision to find her way back -- on her own terms. A landmark book from a 23-year-old writer of virtuoso prose, Wasted takes us inside the experience of anorexia and bulimia in a way that no one else has ever done.

Revue de presse :

“A memoir that resonates with unflinching candor and ironic wit, Wasted is a book that can save lives. The courage that prompted it awes me. Yes, this one is not to be missed.” (Dorothy Allison)

“A scary but tentatively triumphant memoir....[Told] with grace, sharp humor and candor.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

“Her book will be value not only to fellow sufferers: Any woman who has ever been made gleeful by the diminishing of her physical self will gain from reading this painful and sharp-boned account. ” (Newsday)

“Hornbacher writes like an artist, shaping her themes without self-pity or self-importance, wondering with intelligence why the dissatisfaction everyone feels with life is so often blamed on the female body.” (Village Voice)

“Powerful, compelling, intelligent....A memoir that has the tension and movement of a well-paced novel. You simply cannot put Wasted down.” (San Diego Union Tribune)

“Startlingly frank, breathtakingly emotive.” (Elle)

“Stunning...A tortured-yet-compelling account of a life spent bingeing, purging, and starving...A primal scream of a story sure to resonate even with those who possess a healthy attitude toward food and weight.” (Glamour)

“Stunning..a tortured-yet-compelling account of a life spent bingeing, purging, and starving..A primal scream of a story sure to resonate even with those who possess a healthy attitude toward food and weight.” (Glamour)

“This is a terrifically well-written book, completely devoid of self-pity.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“An unsparing, terrifying, razor-edged self-portrait that cuts right into the heart of this most paradoxical of psychological disorders.” (Patricia Chao)

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Flamingo
• Date d'édition: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0006550894
• ISBN 13: 9780006550891
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 320