Appetites: Why Women Want

This book is amazing. I go to a large State College and see this sort of thing everyday. Girls spending money the don't have to buy an identity; girls giving themselves up to men just to feel wanted, girls starving themselves simply because they are so lost. This book says everything; very honestly. I think any female can relate to it. I couldn't put it down. I stayed up and read the whole thing in two days. I particularly rec this book if you are about college age from my generation.

By any scale, I've been a fortunate and successful woman. I deeply enjoy my work, have the opportunity to think deeply, have good health, loving family and children.This book was originally a recommendation from a friend, one of those 'think you might like it' things, that sat on the table. Why would I be interested? Opening it, reading it and being stuck almost motionless by recognition of deep truths has changed that attitude. I'm ordering 5 copies. Young, middle-aged and older women need to read this book and think about it. Both to appreciate the stresses and strains that our mothers experienced, and to realize the residual effect on our lives. Share this book, pass it along to others, it is important.

Oh, Caroline Knapp will be missed. "Appetites" is a powerful and profound exploration of her battle with anorexia in her twenties. She weaves the stories of other female bulemics and anorexics throughout her own-and also of other women with deep obsessions and cravings that lead to such behaviors as promiscuity, alcoholism, spending wildly, and shop lifting. What are they really hunger for, she asks. Love, acceptance, security? She writes with grace and force. The reader confronts these issues with her, but she eases them into the debate. And then he or she is engaged.Knapp explores the emotional, psychological, and cultural reasons that drive American women to such behaviors. She has a softer, gentler voice than most feminists and she does not indict men for the most part. But she does blame society. It's interesting-most pop psychologists would diagnose some of the behaviors she describes as examples of an "obsessive compulsive disorder" (anorexia is a manifestation of it in many cases). Yet she doesn't use that term once in the book-in many ways, she digs even deeper for the causes than simply a diagnosis. She analyzes what triggers the disease.I would recommend this book for most women, even if you haven't had an eating disorder. We all have appetites. I wouldn't recommend it for most men, except those who like women issue books or know someone who is anorexic.

While recommending this book to other women, it has been difficult to explain fully the scope of this incredible work. It's not just about anorexia; it is a must read for any breathing woman. Hurrah for self-ownership and self-love in a world of prescribed desires and destructive expectations.

An amazing, amazing book that not only opens a woman's eyes but acts as a support and reassurance that the never ending sorrowful hunger pains many woman feel are felt by so many and are something we need to embrace and nourish as a society. Caroline Knapp is an exsquisite writer who can touch and change lives dramatically just by sharing her story and wisdom through her perfectly written words.