There is no question that this is a mental illness which seems to consume the entire way of life of the anorexic person. From the moment she woke up, Portia de Rossi was entirely fixated with how many calories she ate and how much she has burnt through the day. She resorted to lying to her nutritionist and family and friends to hide how little she was actually eating.
She seemed to blame her mother for starting her down this path where she felt her self worth was entirely based on how she looked. When she put on weight, she felt that she was an undeserving lazy person. This may be a timely reminder to mothers to be careful about the sort of message you send to your daughters.
I personally found the chewing gum binge scene quite disturbing. I did ask myself while reading this book how someone can expend so much time and energy on something which should be nourishing your body to do other more meaningful things. This mental illness seems very much tied to one's self confidence and perception of one's self image.
During our discussion, we felt that this book didn't really explain how she in the end was able to conquer this condition and was able to enter into a much publicised relationship with Ellen Degeneres. Or that she was lucky enough not to suffer any longer term detrimental effects on her health. Her shameful feelings of being gay seemed very much tied to her anorexia problem.
We rate this book 6 out of 10.
Our next novel is Bel Canto by Ann Patchett ( a great read!) and will take place on December 6th at 7:30pm at Sharon's.
It will also be our Xmas party so please bring along any suggested holiday readings.
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