An engaging novel about body image, eating disorders, diet myths and the big fat fabrications and lies that the media forces us to swallow. A compelling, entertaining story infused with fascinating little-known facts about ancient goddesses, curious New Age remedies, the foibles of modern-day celebrities and the truth about retouched images in the world of fashion magazines, from which so much self-body-hatred comes. A story of compassionate vulnerability and determined empowerment. The Hungry Mirror is the fictional tale of a young woman overwhelmed. Lured by false promise and seeking fickle social acceptability, she starves herself and fast becomes trapped when seeming-sanctuary proves a cage of addictions walled by self-hatred and filled with doubt. Within the context of fashion magazines, the young woman is both participant and observer in the perpetuation of the myth of beauty; the retouched images, the impossible standards that ordinary women are expected to follow and achieve. A firsthand account of the role of the media in the war with body image, this is the story of everywoman and the relentless ghosts that pursue her. Increasingly ill, her marriage cold, her family well-intentioned enablers of mistaken social belief, the young woman realizes the choice is hers; to live or die. The work encompasses the complex friendships between women, the unspoken truths about marriage and sexuality as well as various religious and spiritual messages, ancient philosophies, fairytales and legends. In the end, the young woman learns the true value of size zero is indeed nothing.
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Book Description
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About the Author
Born in South Africa, Lisa de Nikolits has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Philosophy. She has lived and worked all over the world, and has art directed on magazines such as marie claire, Vogue, Vogue Living and Cosmopolitan. Her fiction has been published in the anthologies Stories from Our Black Book and Simply the Best. Her prize-winning poetry was published in The Boy from New Brunswick. Her first novel, Single Girls Go Mad Sooner, was published in 1995. She lives in Toronto.
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More About the Author
Born in South Africa, Lisa de Nikolits has lived in Canada since 2000. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Philosophy from the University of the Witwatersrand and has lived and worked in the U.S.A., Australia and Britain.
Lisa is the first-time author of the critically acclaimed novel The Hungry Mirror (Innana Publications), a fictional story about women, the magazine industry, food and body image. As an art director, Lisa de Nikolits has worked on Vogue Australia, marie claire South Africa, Cosmopolitan Australia. She is currently working on her second novel.
Lisa is the first-time author of the critically acclaimed novel The Hungry Mirror (Innana Publications), a fictional story about women, the magazine industry, food and body image. As an art director, Lisa de Nikolits has worked on Vogue Australia, marie claire South Africa, Cosmopolitan Australia. She is currently working on her second novel.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Riveting Look at Eating Disorders,
By Becca (Redford, MI, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Hungry Mirror (Inanna Poetry and Fiction) (Inanna Poetry & Fiction) (Hardcover)
The food-obsessed, self-starved young woman who is at the heart of Lisa de Nikolits novel The Hungry Mirror is intelligent, successful, savvy, and completely enslaved by her addiction to starvation and thinness.This was not an easy novel to read. It was well written and engaging, it's short chapters and first person perspective making it almost journal like in quality. But it's difficult to reconcile the amount of pain and suffering this woman puts herself through just to maintain some fractured ideal body image. Not that I don't understand the compunction to be thin, the societal imperative that thinness equals happiness and beauty. It's just painful to watch someone destroy their body in such a vicious way. Denying oneself not only the value of nutrition but also the pleasure of food itself is utterly cruel. To care so little about yourself that you can do this for years on end... frightening and sad. Lisa de Nikkolits cuts right to the bone in writing this novel. She creates a character we can really care about, and goes deeply into the heart of eating disorders in such a way that we cannot ignore them. It behooves all of us who are even the tiniest bit diet-obsessed to read The Hungry Mirror- you'll never look at your reflection or your dinner in quite the same way again.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bridget's Review,
This review is from: The Hungry Mirror (Inanna Poetry and Fiction) (Inanna Poetry & Fiction) (Hardcover)
I have been a fat girl ever since I was young. In high school most girls were wearing a 4, I was in a 14. At that time I felt worthless and I didn't like to look at myself in the mirror because it was depressing. There is so much more to being skinny or fat and I will never be the "right size" by the media's standards.If you have ever felt like you weren't good enough for something as trivial as your looks, read this book. While reading this, I felt like the book was my friend. Lisa understood me in a way that I didn't think anyone else could. I felt like this book made it's way into my soul. It touched me in ways I never knew a book could. Lisa rocks!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping and profound,
By
This review is from: The Hungry Mirror (Inanna Poetry and Fiction) (Inanna Poetry & Fiction) (Hardcover)
From the first page of the first chapter, this book took me in and wouldn't let me go. Every sentence packed a humorous, insightful and frequently devastating punch taking me into a world I didn't know much about and on a journey I won't soon forget. If you're looking to read something beautifully written and telling a story with substance, choose The Hungry Mirror. You won't be disappointed.
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