Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Armchair travels to a darker side of reality

Wasted, von Marya Hornbacher, ist, in einem Wort, heftig, als die Erzählung von einem vierzehnjährigen Kämpf mit zwei Essstörungen sein muss. Es war ein schmerzliches, faszinierendes, und ab und zu entsetzliches Lesen. Eine ganze Buchbesprechung würde ich lieber auf Englisch schreiben, also warte ich, denn ich habe versprochen, heute auf Deutsch zu schreiben, aber ich wollte dieses Zitat mit euch teilen (obwohl es nicht so ganz charakteristisch für das ganze Buch ist). Ich habe besonders gern ihre Beschreibung von der "kulturellen Kakophonie."

[Wasted, by Marya Hornbacher, is, in a word, intense, as the account of a fourteen-year struggle with two eating disorders has to be. It was a painful, fascinating, and at times horrifying read. I'd prefer to write a whole review in English, so I'll wait because I promised I'd write in German today, but I wanted to share this quote with you (although it’s not really representative of the whole book). I especially like her description of the "cultural cacophony."]

"This book is neither a tabloid tale of mysterious disease nor a testimony to a miracle cure. It's simply the story of one woman's travels to a darker side of reality, and her decision to make her way back. On her own terms.

"My terms amount to cultural heresy. I had to say: I will eat what I want and look as I please and laugh as loud as I like and use the wrong fork and lick my knife. I had to learn strange and delicious lessons too few women learn: to love the thump of my steps, the implication of my weight and presence and taking of space, to love my body's rebellious hungers, responses to touch, to understand myself as more than a brain attached to a bundle of bones. I have to ignore the cultural cacophony that singsongs all day long, Too much, too much, too much. As Abra Fortune Chernik writes, 'Gaining weight and pulling my head out the toilet was the most political act I ever committed.'"

- Marya Hornbacher
in Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

[Why I am posting in German, if you didn't catch it.]

Edited to add: Read my review here.

3 comments:

  1. This book sounds intense. I may actually have to check that one out. Or if you bought it I'll just steal it from you one day:)

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  2. For some reason, the title of this post makes me laugh.

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  3. 'Shleigh - the only mention in the book of this sort of mindchange, recovery, etc. is in the afterword. It may or may not be the kind of book you're interested in.

    Q - I've heard travel narratives called armchair travel; that's what made me think of it.

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