Purge: Rehab Diaries by Nicole Johns
A Review
Purge is a memoir about a graduate student named Nicole who suffers from EDNOS which means "eating disorder not otherwise specified". She doesn't meet the full criteria for either anorexia or bulimia but she frequently engages in either restriction or purging. This story is mostly about Nicole's journey in an eating disorder rehab as well as the other people she meets there.
I have read a few other eating disorder memoirs including what some people would consider the quintessential anorexia book, Wasted by Marya Hornbacher. At the beginning of the memoir Nicole talks about how many eating disorder memoirs are not well written, and I would have to agree. They are usually lacking in direction and spend to much time angsting and whining. In this memoir however, John's uses her expertise as a college teacher as well as a writing student to write the perfectly blended memoir.
Out of all of the other ED books I have read I think this one is the best. I loved that the author had EdNOS which is not frequently talked about. It's nice that she was able to bring some understanding to her readers about the disorder as many people with EDNOS are thought of as not having a serious condition because they may not be underweight. The writing also felt so real because you could tell that the voice of ED was constantly talking to Nicole and controlling her. However, you could also see that she was a rational and smart girl and she knew that her many health problems were truly scary.
I liked this book so much that I am excited to start a new release about eating disorders called Elena Vanishing by Elena Dunkle.
Have a great day bookworms!
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