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

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. (Aug.)