A young writer recounts the trials and treatment of her eating
disorder.Midway through graduate school, 22-year-old Johns checked
herself into the Wisconsin Eating Disorders Center, where she would
spend 88 days trying to break the self-destructive regimen of
restricting and purging that had plagued her since age 13. The
memoir tracks her time at the EDC and the many harrowing
experiences that led her there. Since she technically wasn't
underweight or morbidly obese, and still menstruated, the 130-pound
Johns was diagnosed with EDNOS, or an Eating Disorder Not Otherwise
Specified, what she terms an "island between anorexia and bulimia,
a no-man's-land that borrows from both diagnoses." Years of
limiting herself to 500 calories per day and compensating when her
intake exceeded that by popping diet pills, chugging Diet Coke,
purging and frantically exercising when overwhelmed all resulted in
Johns developing multiple health problems, including severe heart
irregularities. The author often narrates in present tense and
occasionally second person to mimic the compulsive urgency of her
fraught state of being: "There is no way out, so you binge on and
purge an entire tube of Pillsbury rolls (half-cooked - you are too
impatient to wait for them to bake), an entire box of chocolate
Malt-O-Meal, a pint of Godiva ice cream, and a mug of chai tea."
Spare and unyielding, Johns's prose distills the pain of her
self-loathing while objectively charting the efforts of the
center's staff to help her and her fellow "Sisterhood of the
Starving" curb and, hopefully, overcome such frenetic tendencies.A
revealing glimpse into the trauma wrought by eating disorders -
especially important for the afflicted and those who care for them.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Purge is a beautifully crafted memoir that has a Girl, Interrupted
feel. In this raw and engaging account of her months in rehab,
Nicole Johns documents her stay in a residential treatment facility
for eating disorders. Her prose is lucid and vivid, as she
seamlessly switches verb tenses and moves through time. She
unearths several important themes: body image and sexuality, sexual
assault and relationships, and the struggle to piece together one's
path in life. While other books about eating disorders and
treatment may sugarcoat the harsh realities of living with and
recovering from an eating disorder, Purge does not hold back. The
author presents an honest, detailed account of her experience with
treatment, avoiding the cliched happily-ever-after ending while
still offering hope to those who struggle with eating disorders, as
well as anyone who has watched a loved one fight to recover from an
eating disorder. Purge sends a message: though the road may be
rough, ultimately there is hope.
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