How to disappear completely : on modern anorexia

"Eloquent . . . An incredibly realistic portrayal of anorexia." — The New Yorker She devoured their memoirs and magazine articles, committing the most salacious details to memory to learn what it would take to be the very best anorexic. When she was hospitalized at fifteen, she found herself in an existential wormhole: How can one suffer from something one has actively sought out? With attuned storytelling and unflinching introspection, Kelsey Osgood unpacks the modern myths of anorexia as she chronicles her own rehabilitation. How to Disappear Completely is a brave, candid and emotionally wrenching memoir that explores the physical, internal, and social ramifications of eating disorders. "Osgood vividly portrays the creepy phenomenon of the 'pro-ana' movement and the claustrophobic, self-involved, achingly lonely world in which young women compete to be 'perfect' anorexics. . . . imbued with pathos and tenderness." — Publishers Weekly "What sets Kelsey Osgood's memoir apart from the existing literature on anorexia is the author's commitment to stripping the glamour and romance from the illness . . . Intelligent, moving, beautifully written, Osgood has written a paean to wellness, and taken a forthright look at everything that anorexia, 'bastard child of vanity and self-loathing,' took from her life." —Molly McCloskey, author of Circles Around the Sun: In Search of a Lost Brother "At fourteen, Kelsey Osgood became fascinated by the stories of women who starved themselves. She devoured their memoirs and magazine articles, committing the most salacious details of their cautionary tales to memory--how little they ate, their lowest weights, and their merciless exercise regimes--to learn what it would take to be the very best anorectic. When she was hospitalized for anorexia at fifteen, she found herself in an existential wormhole: how can one suffer from something one has actively sought out? Through her own decade-long battle with anorexia, which included three lengthy hospitalizations, Osgood harrowingly describes the haunting and competitive world of inpatient facilities populated with other adolescents, some as young as ten years old. With attuned storytelling and unflinching introspection, Kelsey Osgood unpacks the modern myths of anorexia, examining the cult-like underbelly of eating disorders in the young, as she chronicles her own rehabilitation. How to Disappear Completely is a brave, candid and emotionally wrenching memoir that explores the physical, internal, and social ramifications of eating disorders and subverts many of the popularly held notions of the illness and, most hopefully, the path to recovery."-- Provided by publisher