Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | TEEN FICTION JOH | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Asking for help is only the first step. Jennifer can't go on like this -- binging, purging, starving, and all while trying to appear like she's got it all together. But when she finally confesses her secret to her parents, and is hospitalized at the Samuel Tuke Center, her journey is only beginning. As Jennifer progresses through her treatment, she learns to recognize her relationship with food, friends, and family -- and how each is healthy and unhealthy. She has to learn to trust herself and her own instincts, but that's easier than it sounds. She has to believe -- after many years of being a believarexic.
Using her trademark dark humor and powerful emotion, J.J. Johnson tells an inspiring story that is based on her own experience when she was hospitalized for an eating disorder as a teenager. The innovative format, in which Jennifer's story is told through blank verse and prose, with changes in tense and voice, and using forms, workbooks, and journal entries, mirrors the protagonist's progress toward a healthy body and mid.
To find out more about the book, the disorder, and lots more visit www.believarexic.com .
Author Notes
A girl struggling with an eating disorder realizes that asking for help is only the first step.
Jennifer can't go on like this-binging, purging, starving, and all while trying to appear like she's got it all together. But when she finally confesses her secret to her parents and is hospitalized at the Samuel Tuke Center, her journey is only beginning.
As Jennifer progresses through her treatment, she learns to recognize her relationship with food, and friends, and family-and how each is healthy or unhealthy. She has to learn to trust herself and her own instincts, but that's easier than it sounds. She has to believe-after many years of being a believarexic.
Using her trademark dark humor and powerful emotion, J. J. Johnson tells an inspiring story based on her own experience when she was hospitalized for an eating disorder as a teenager. The innovative format using blank verse and prose, changes in tense and voice, and forms, workbooks, and journal entries mirror Jennifer's progress toward a healthy body and mind.
Reviews (4)
Horn Book Review
It's 1988 in this autobiographical novel, and fifteen-year-old Jennifer is in a psychiatric hospital for bulimia and anorexia. The free verse and prose narratives cover her stay in the hospital, therapy sessions, treatment plans, and workbook pages. This affecting look at disordered eating, alcoholism, depression, and recovery ambitiously tries to tackle too much, resulting in a rather uneven and over-long story. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Can't deal with the monster inside. Not skinny enough. Not good enough. More weight to lose. Sick of being sick. Bulimarexia. Despite her parents' skepticism, 15-year-old Jennifer begs to be admitted to a hospital eating disorders unit and undergoes treatment for 10 weeks. Johnson's novel takes readers on a powerful, semiautobiographical guided tour through the trials of treatment: the pain and tears, the embarrassing searches and accusations by hospital personnel, the unwanted food that must be eaten, the self-realizations, the support craved, and the victories achieved. Initially told in rambling free verse, the narrative mirrors Jennifer's recovery process, becoming increasingly more complex and reflective as it transitions into a mix of journal entries, hospital forms, and workbook exercises. Therapy sessions reveal how existing family dynamics fuel Jennifer's problem, how food and good health work together, and, ultimately, how she must take charge of herself. Compelling and authentic, this story is impossible to put down. Readers who have experienced eating disorders, personally or through others, will be particularly drawn to the book's deep insights into the disease and its honest portrayal of the strength needed to recover. As companion material, the author's own journal written during treatment can be found on the book's website. Perfect for fans of Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls (2009), this is a raw, memorable reading experience.--Fredriksen, Jeanne Copyright 2015 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8-10-Jennifer's eating disorder is so severe that her entire existence is limited to restricting, bingeing, purging, and sometimes getting drunk. She confides in her mother that she needs to be hospitalized. The first chapters in this emotional book use a lighter, softer typeface, and the protagonist's desperation is described through sparse third-person verse. As Jennifer makes progress, the print becomes more substantial and the tense eventually changes to first person. The novel transitions to standard prose as Jennifer's voice gets stronger and she works to reach a healthy weight and to address her personal and family issues. The unique format and detailed portrayal of a teen girl's recovery in an in-patient hospital setting help readers feel as if they are on this journey with her. However, the amount of problems tackled in this book is overly ambitious. While in treatment, Jennifer confronts her eating disorder, alcoholism, and family issues. In a one liner buried amongst other musings, Jennifer questions her own sexuality-but this is never revisited or fleshed out. The complexity of her friends and fellow patients and the machinations of one of her nurses do not contribute to the main theme of recovery and, at times, detract from the overall story line. This work is set in the 1980s, but other than some cultural references and a now-revised diagnostic schema for eating disorders, it could have taken place anytime. Johnson carefully avoids potential triggers for readers suffering from disordered eating and body image by focusing firmly on recovery. VERDICT For general audiences, this title is enjoyable but too far-reaching, though for the many who have been personally affected by eating disorders, it can offer hope.-Tara Kehoe, New Jersey State Library Talking Book and Braille Center, Trenton © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In an autobiographical novel, Jennifer spends two months at a mental hospital in Syracuse, New York, undergoing treatment for her eating disorder. The story begins when Jennifer asks her parents to take her to the hospital. Though skeptical, her mother assents, and soon Jennifer is a resident in the Eating Disorders Unit at the Samuel Tuke Center. Immediately, Jennifer is thrust into a world of humiliating suspicion (a particularly nasty nurse is certain that Jennifer is manipulating her weigh-in results), complex social hierarchies (as a bulimarexic, Jennifer falls somewhere between anorexics and overeaters), and regimented treatment. Treatment-plan documents appear interspersed with the text, which begins as a verse novel and abruptly shifts into proseand from a third- to a first-person narratorwhen Jennifer enters her second of three treatment stages. The 1980s setting is vividly realized, clear not only from the dates in each chapter heading, but from well-chosen detailsthe cigarette-smoke-filled EDU lounge, the pop-music enthusiasm Jennifer shares with her favorite nurse, Chuck. Some storylines begin or end abruptly, however, and some details come seemingly out of nowhere. Jennifer is relieved midway through the book, for example, to have a new roommate who understands how much she misses a dog she's barely mentioned in the preceding pages. Despite occasional unevenness, a powerful story of healing and self-acceptance. (Historical fiction. 12-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
