Life-Size

This is one of my favorite books. Its accurate to the thought process and the author has an incredible writing style. Even re-reading it I am glued to the pages. (Yes, it really is that hard to put down.) I can't recommend it enough!

I've heard good things about this book. I'm anxious to read it!

'Life-Size' is an excellent piece of fiction, using black humour and artistic originality to create a gripping dramatic prose. The book is narrated by Josie, a severely anorexic young woman. The book is essentially a static one, with little plot except the memories and flashbacks in her mind. Starting off in the hospital where Josie has ended up and working backwards, we piece together the steps and events it has taken to get to this point. Written with complete accuracy, the author manages to effectively convey the thoughts and mentality of a person with anorexia right down to the specific details. As we see the world through Josie's eyes, we see everything from the persepctive of a disordered mind. And Josie's extreme polarised thinking is made bearable (and even enjoyable) by a sharp wit and a deeply dark sense of humour. It is crafted almost like a piece of horror, a piece of black humour where the reality presented to us is so horrific that it becomes almost funny. It is similar in a way to Bret Easton Ellis's 'American Pyscho', where the mentality of a pyschopath becomes the 'norm' for the reader, and you become used it. The narrative switches back and forth between past memories and present day, which gives the reader a brief and snatched reasons as to why Josie has become the way she has. Short insinuations about paternal sexual abuse quickly appears only to disappear just as quickly again, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions. This is an effective way of writing, as it accurately mirrors the way Josie's mind works - brief memories quickly pushed to the back of her mind, so as not to dredge up past horrors. It makes for a gripping read, always leaving you wanting more information. A truly great piece of fiction - and an inspired choice using an anorexic as a protaginist without resorting to using the novel as a piece of anti-anorexic propoganda. Highly recommended.

I've finished two books where I continously had to check the spine of the book to make sure it was fiction. This one is one of them. This book is one inwhich I intend to read again. The author describes each feeling, and each hour and minute of the patient's life, this time, in treatment, and not wanting to improve. Wanting to remain, in her own definition of "perfect".Josephine, the main character, is tough, resistent, and mysterious. The book goes into her mind. Answers questions as to why someone would want this kind of life. Why someone would not want to change themselves for the better, to remain with this type of exsistence. Then, you wonder if she recovers. You're left to guess. I read this book in five days. Too bad it's out of print. I feel very lucky to have obtained my own copy.

This is one of only a handful of novels describing a victim of anorexia nervosa. Although I do not know if Ms. Shute has ever had anorexia, she did a fabulous job understanding and explaining it without encouraging it (when I first read this book, I was utterly disturbed by Josie's compulsions) or unwittingly doling out "tricks-of-the-trade". Josie is a 25 year-old female graduate student. After her roommate accidentally walks in on her in the shower, she freaks and calls Josie's parents. Unwillingly, Josie allows her parents to admit her to an eating disorders treatment facility. Yet she rebels and has scorn for the insistence of the doctors and nurses that she is dying; at 5'2'' and a mere 67 pounds, it is Josie's goal to sustain herself as a skeleton living off of air. It is only under the threat of hyperalimentation (a frightening method of intravenous nutrition) that Josie begins to eat. The novel skips around a lot, giving subtle detail, and in parts, it is hard to understand. However, this is an accurate portrayal of the shrunken, distracted mind of an anorexic. The novel expresses all aspects of anorexia--degrading sexual experiences,perfectionism, our culture's emphasis on thinness, and family conflicts--not just offering a wrap-up explanation. Josie's acrid wit and humor are needed to keep the novel lively and give you a glimpse into the hidden pain and masked frustration she is faced with. I like how Josie is shown to be, despite her frailness, a woman who is not immature and weak (like anorexics are often betrayed) or on her knees at the hands of an omniscient therapist. Her pain has left her wary, and she is determined not to let anyone take control of her body away from her, even if accompanied by a loving hand.

This is one of only a handful of novels describing a victim of anorexia nervosa. Although I do not know if Ms. Shute has ever had anorexia, she did a fabulous job understanding and explaining it without encouraging it (when I first read this book, I was utterly disturbed by Josie's compulsions) or unwittingly doling out "tricks-of-the-trade". Josie is a 25 year-old female graduate student. After her roommate accidentally walks in on her in the shower, she freaks and calls Josie's parents. Unwillingly, Josie allows her parents to admit her to an eating disorders treatment facility. Yet she rebels and has scorn for the insistence of the doctors and nurses that she is dying; at 5'2'' and a mere 67 pounds, it is Josie's goal to sustain herself as a skeleton living off of air. It is only under the threat of hyperalimentation (a frightening method of intravenous nutrition) that Josie begins to eat.The novel skips around a lot, giving subtle detail, and in parts, it is hard to understand. However, this is an accurate portrayal of the shrunken, distracted mind of an anorexic. The novel expresses all aspects of anorexia--degrading sexual experiences,perfectionism, our culture's emphasis on thinness, and family conflicts--not just offering a wrap-up explanation. Josie's acrid wit and humor are needed to keep the novel lively and give you a glimpse into the hidden pain and masked frustration she is faced with. I like how Josie is shown to be, despite her frailness, a woman who is not immature and weak (like anorexics are often betrayed) or on her knees at the hands of an omniscient therapist. Her pain has left her wary, and she is determined not to let anyone take control of her body away from her, even if accompanied by a loving hand.This is a book that will leave you simultaneously in awe and terrified. Practically every sentence in it could be used as an important quote. I wish I owned this book, it left that kind of an impact on me.

I found this book to be very similar to what goes through the minds of eating disordered women (I am one of them). It is a sad look into a society that places all the emphasis on the female form and not on what really counts. Unfortunatley, societal pressure has a way of ingraining itself on your soul, and this book is a great example of that. I didn't feel it was romanticized at all. On the contrary, there is nothing even remotely "romantic" in about this story.