Customer Reviews

Early Disorders

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Willa is a a young teenage girl who is afraid to leave the love and security of her home to go live out in the real world. What starts out as a simple diet to lose her baby fat leaves her in a life and death struggle with anorexia. No one is able to help her because she does not want to get better. She really believes she doesn't need food to live and begins to lose her mind. I found this book very helpful as a struggling anorexic. I recommend it to any one who is dealing with this problem.

MY friend (no really...) is very interested in eating disorders in a bizarre and obsessive way. She nows a LOT about them. According to her this boo is really great. Supposedly very accurate especially for the date it was written.

The synopsis of this book might make it sound like it's centered on anorexia. Don't get me wrong, that disorder is a big part of this book, but there's much more to Willa than her anorexia. This story starts before she develops the eating disorder, and it's a very good book, especially in the light of what time this book was written.

It was the early eighties (but this story is actually set in the seventies - New Years 1975 is mentioned) AIDS hadn't exploded into the news yet. Teen pregnancy was still (for the most part) all hush hush. The Regan years (so far) were good. Eating disorders weren't generally known about. So I cannot help but wonder what made the author write this book. Not that I'm complaining, of course. I discovered this book quite by accident in my high school library, and it was very good. I wasn't disappointed, and actually enjoyed the dated feeling of it (vintage novels are fun to read) If you want a book about anorexia that is different, check this out.

This is my current favorite book. Josephs' intoxicatingly rich prose weaves a complete subjectivity for the main character, precocious, intellectual, perceptive and poignant Willa. The story feels like a slice of her life, including her struggles with her self-absorbed family, her difficulties making friends, her panics over growing up and her adolescent observations in general. Willa's anorexia is only one aspect of the book. Read this little-known novel if you want to truly get into the head of one of the most brilliant and pointedly observant characters in fiction. She will stay with you long after you have finished the book.