Customer Reviews

Hunger Point: A Novel

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was duly impressed with Jillian Medoff's Good Girls Gone Bad, and so I didn't hesitate to pick up this book. Hunger Point is a poignant novel about a young woman's struggles with the unraveling of her family.

Frannie Hunter, unable to sustain a job and an apartment of her own, moves back with her parents. As she tries to get her life in order, she witnesses her sister's battle with Anorexia, her mother's two-timing behavior, and her father's career woes. As a former anorexic, I can relate to the hardships the protagonist and the other characters go through.

The subject matters that Medoff addresses in Hunger Point -- eating disorders, depression, grief, etc. -- are mixed with poignancy and humor. Medoff is as witty as she is insightful. I laughed out loud in many occasions. Her work is similar to Anna Maxtet's; however, Jillian Medoff has a particular brand of comic timing and keen storytelling all her own. She is one of the best new authors out there and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

I cannot believe this one is out of print already. Track down a used copy of Hunger Point, it will be worth your effort. Hunger Point is a very funny, engaging story, with many more layers than the usual single girl in search of life, love and career. Frannie Hunter the protagonist has always been overshadowed by her brilliant younger sister Shelly. Frannie had just moved back home and is working as a waitress in a local restaurant and is single, but Shelly has just been hospitalized for anorexia. As their family tries to cope with Shelly's crisis, Frannie tries to deal with her own issues, on top of what's happening to Shelly. Hunger Point can be funny and sad at the same time. It is a wonderful exploration of family relationships and of eating disorders. Frannie is a warm, personable character you will find yourself rooting for. Find yourself a copy and enjoy.

I read alot (close to fifty books so far this year) and in all that time I have only read a handful of books that affected me as much as this one. I was greatly moved by this story. I think Ms. Medoff really dug down deep and drew from her well of experience for this novel. I don't think she could have written a book this good without having some experience and a deep knowledge about Anorexia and its effects on a family. I was moved to tears many times by this painfully honest novel, but just as many times I was laughing out loud at the author's acerbic wit.

Frannie Hunter is 26 years old and she is just part of majorly dysfunctional family. She can't seem to hold onto a job or an apartment and is forced to move back home and live with her parents. Frannie's mother, Marsha is obsessed with food, her body image and that of her children's not to mention the fact that she is also addicted to tranquilizers. Frannie's father, David is in the midst of a career crisis, he watches all the cooking shoes on T.V. and instead of talking with his family to find out what is really going on, he perfers to do the daily word jumbles and not say much to anyone. Shelly, Frannie's younger sister is a gifted graduate of Cornell, she wants to attend Harvard Law mainly to make her mother happy and she is the Anorexic one. Perhaps she is forced into that as well to please her mother or she just adopts this pattern of behavior because that is all she knows. Although this is a novel about Anorexia and other obsessive behaviors, it is also about women's relationships to men, sex and other women. It is the relationship between Frannie and Shelly that was the most heartwrenching for me. It is one that I am still thinking about even though I have finished the book and one that I am not likely to forget. Readers who loved this book as much as I did might also want to try a book about a man's struggle with drug addiction and that is: A MILLION LITTLE PIECES by James Frey. Both of these books are unforgettable!!

I found this book by Jillian Medoff to be, overall, a good read, skirting about the serious issues of anorexia and depression. I thoroughly enjoyed her style of writing, which seemed to capture well the day to day conversations that are necessary in a novel to pull you in and feel contained within the walls of the story. However, that being said, I often found myself thinking that the reactions of the main character Frannie were often over-dramatized, a Joan-Rivers-esque "I just can't DEAL with this. I mean, SERIOUSLY, people, don't you UNDERSTAND that this is traumatizing me beyond your comprehension. I can't be BOTHERED with this right now" often eliciting anger, jealousy and spite out of her. I kept reading, but in dealing with her sister's anorexia at the hospital, she always focused situations on her self, and her very surface concern for her sister seemed completely unrealistic to me. I enjoyed the character of her lonely grandfather, and her mother is another deliciously antagonistic character that will have you waiting to see what she does next. I think Medoff is a good writer, and my sense in this book is that she was trying to relate this character to something in her own life that happened, instead of letting the character be a stand alone character with realistic reactions to a very difficult situation.

As an anorexic female, I found this book to be very emotional, for two reasons. One, I can place myself in the main character's struggle for perfection and thinness but at the same time I also saw the family's struggle with the eating disorder. The book, I feel, takes an honest look at all the systems involved with a person who is struggling for meaning. I could not put this book down. I read it in one day and I would reccommend this book to those who are trying to understand eating disorders. This novel really struck some feeling in my heart.

From beginning to end, I was so interested in these characters and their stories. They became very real to me. For me this book is sort of a snapshot in how it portrays what some people do (so often women in particular) in their search to find love, feel loved, and gain control in their lives. Each character was searching in their own way and I related to them all. The first time I read it I was overcome with sadness, the second time I was struck by the humor and warmth. I look forward to this author's next novel.

Medoff's debut novel does an excellent job of portraying the mindset of 26 year old Frannie Hunter who moves back home to am unraveling family, not to mention her 24 year old sister Shelley's hospitalization for severe anorexia. 1.5 years out of college myself, I was able to relate to Frannie's drama and feelings of insecurity about the future since I have also experienced the death of a family member (my mother) and the associated depression of that loss.

I have read Hunger Point twice-- once in college and now after my mother has been dead for three years. The first time, I wasn't ready for it, but now that I am at the same point in my life as Frannie and Shelley I found Medoff's words to be a welcome balm for my grief and depression. Frannie's story is so poignant and inspiring that at times it's hard to believe it's fiction.

Medoff is a brilliant writer and I would like to know why this book was turned into a Lifetime Original Movie and not a blockbuster film.

This book is an excellent studu in character development. The author presents very realistic characters with very realistic reactions to those situations. Frannie (the main character)explores the non-relationships with the members of her family. Frannie has to deal with many problems, from the trouble she has finding a career to dealing with her parents' break-up and her bulimic younger sister's suicide. The author skillfully lets the reader believe that the actions that the characters' partake within the novel are believable and genuine. There are not any instances, in which, the action of the story is seems out of place or stuck in for shock value. The author weaves a delicate tapestry that has a connection with other parts of the novel presented beforehand. This novel is a wonderful piece of writing the characters found within the novel are not perfect, they are very human indeed. The reader may find himself sympathizing and hating the character in the span of a few pages which can be attributed to the excellent character development. I found my moods corresponding to the chapter I was reading in the novel. This, I feel, is effective writing. This is a first rate novel, which may not be the most palatable of reading for most men, but being a man myself I can still find this novel relevant with men. I feel that if males read this novel it would help them understand the female psyche, bulimia, and just what do some women want. Females would probably benefit the most, because the novel hits close to home with most of the women I knew. I have recommended this book to many of my female friends. To those interested mainly in literature, this is one tremendous story of breaking out of one's shell.

Hunger Point, by Jillian Medoff, is a story that will touch your heart, even if you can not relate to the characters. Frannie is twenty-six year old and still living at home. Her search for love and a career, even though her family is crumbling apart, are brought to life within each and every page. Her mother is constantly on a diet and is also having an affair. Her father is completely oblivious to everything going on. Her sister, Shelly, was hospitalized for severe anorexia, but even in the midst of that hardship, Frannie's relationship with her strengthens, or so she thinks.
If you have any interest in eating disorders, this book tells the story of one through the eyes of a family member. It shows what someone other than the victim. It tells their thoughts and how other people see them. Most people with eating disorders see themselves as fat, and this book describes what a normal person sees. It also describes the hurt and grief Frannie suffers from her sister's battle. At one part she says to herself, "I glare at my mother. I am so tired of Shelly's [freaking] anorexia. Who sits with her everyday while she spouts all of her [bull crap]? Who sits with Grandpa while you are at work? And who is hoarding your little love affair? That would be me, Mom. Or did you tell Shelly and now you don't need me? Face it, old lady. Without me, your life would be complete chaos." That paragraph tells what is going through her head at the first part of the book.
On a scale of one to ten, so far this book would get about an eight. I haven't finished it yet because I rarely have time to read. I would defiantly recommend this book to anyone. It does have some content some people might find objectionable. It is three hundred and seventy three pages and not hard to read. Anyone interested in eating disorders would like this book. As a survivor of one, I enjoyed reading this book.

In her eerily accurate portrayal of a family in crisis, Medoff fearlessly tackles her subject head on. Couched in the abrasive humor of a dysfunctional family run amok, Frannie Hunter is on the inside looking out. At 26, Frannie moves home, her own financial and emotional resources in a state of collapse. Frannie retreats to the bedroom of her childhood, at first burrowing into the comfort of sleep. Finding a job becomes less important than navigating the treacherous waters of family ties.

A supposedly "well-meaning" and ineffective mother hectors both daughters all their lives, chanting her mantra, "don't get fat". The distant father does the family food shopping and meal preparation, but otherwise refuses to engage in the family dynamic. With a critical eye, Frannie watches her parents brittle dance, their lack of connections ever more obvious.

For all her quirky comments, Frannie is ineffective at best and cannot tempt younger sister, Shelly, back from her free fall into anorexia nervosa. When Shelly becomes dangerously thin and is hospitalized, Frannie feels invisible and lost. In contrast to Shelly's literal starvation, Frannie compulsively consumes everything in the refrigerator, indiscriminate, a vain attempt to assuage her gnawing fear of what may happen. But there is no panacea for Frannie's pain, and neither sex, sleep nor food, offer the relief she so desperately desires.

The family concentrates on Shelly's critical condition, while Frannie marks the poignant distinctions of life in her parent's house as "ominous and depressing, weighted with the feeling of someone about to burst into tears". Adept at denial, the remaining family members struggle to maintain the status quo in the face of inevitability, unsure of the future and unable to comfort each other.

Medoff writes with unassailable conviction, flaying the myths that surround food and self-image, the young women and their mother victims of a society that disproportionately values packaging over content. Her incisive wit cuts through situations riddled with pain, and Medoff's account of the Hunter family is pitch-perfect.

There are certainly pitfalls in a novel that deals with such agonizing issues, one of which is the fine line between writing about a disease and authoring a do-it-yourself manual for anorexics. Medoff successfully refuses to pander to anorexia in this way. This story is cautionary, full of details about the seductive nature of addiction and the ease with which families evolve into a paradigm that allows denial to camouflage truth. Brutally honest, tempered with the wry humor of self-examination, Frannie is a character reference for hope and recovery. Luan Gaines/ 2003.