Inner Hunger: A Young Woman's Struggle Through Anorexia and Bulimia [Hardcover]

Marianne Apostolides (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1998

A painful, powerful, and ultimately enriching account of what it feels like to be young, confused, and controlled by food, "Inner Hunger" tells an important story of anguish, frustration, and ultimately, triumph.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this candid recovery memoir, the Canadian author details her decade-long eating disorder, which began when she was 14. Right after bingeing on a package of Oreo cookies at summer camp, she resolved to lose weight in order to improve her appearance and become more popular with peers. Compulsive dieting and exercise turned Apostolides into an angry teen who battled daily with her worried mother over her refusal to eat enough to maintain her body weight. The author is careful not to blame her family directly for the escalating self-destructive behavior that soon changed from anorexia into episodes of bingeing and purging bulimia, but she does maintain that the seeds for her condition were sown in a childhood with a distant father, a self-sacrificing mother and a successful brother whom she idolized. Those suffering from similar conditions will benefit from Apostolides's account of her psychotherapy, which provided the emotional insight to overcome her obsession with food. However, the author's self-absorption, perhaps necessary to her recovery, occasionally wears thin.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Apostolides presents a poignant personal account of living with and finally overcoming anorexia and bulimia. The book successfully fulfills the author's purpose of creating better understanding of the underlying causes of eating disorders in teenage girls and women. Apostolides pulls no punches as she graphically discusses the progression of her eating disorder and the long road to recovery. Her vivid narrative reflects the anxieties and frustrations she experienced throughout the years of starvation, purges, and binges. The recommendations for fostering social changes that support young people are outstanding. An appendix lists organizations to contact for help. While there are many books about eating disorders, personal narratives on the topic are not as readily found. Highly recommended for popular psychology collections in public and academic libraries.?Elizabeth Goeters, DeKalb Coll. Learning Resources Ctr., Dunwoody, GA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 171 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1st edition (August 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393045900
• ISBN-13: 978-0393045901
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,076,181 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Boring, October 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Inner Hunger: A Young Woman's Struggle Through Anorexia and Bulimia (Hardcover)

I expected to find wisdom I could apply to my own life and my own decade-long struggle with bulimia. Although I didn't find the author as self-obssessed as many eating-disorder memoir authors, the book was just plain DULL. A better writer might have made this story interesting, but as it stands, it's just a dull rehash of a story we've read a million times in TEEN magazine.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Same old analysis on the eating disorders, February 21, 2002

By 

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This review is from: Inner Hunger: A Young Woman's Struggle Through Anorexia and Bulimia (Hardcover)

As someone who suffered from eating disorders during her teens, I often read books and memoirs on Anorexia and Bulimia. I like to read about other people's experiences with the disorders and how their stories differ from, or resemble, mine. However, Inner Hunger offered nothing new to the complex world of eating disorders.

Apostolides researched the illness and illustrated the behavioral patterns of Anorexia by making thorough research and writing about her own experience. Fine. But everything that was said in this book was nothing new to me, I'm afraid. I know most of the things discussed in this book from having read other books or memoirs. However, if you are new to the subjects of Anorexia and Bulimia and you are looking for precise information on said disorders, then this is the book to look for. All and all, it can't be denied that her research was well done.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not appealing to everyone..., April 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Inner Hunger: A Young Woman's Struggle Through Anorexia and Bulimia (Hardcover)

This was a good book, and, as a sufferer of anorexia and bulimia, I could semi-relate to it. However, it seemed to be the same situations over and over again and the same solutions. I believe, if you want a better read of a personal account of anorexia/bulimia, read WASTED by Marya Hornbacher.