Rating: 5/5
This is a different type of book than I usually read, obviously, if you look at my page. But I felt compelled to pick it up.
This book deserves every bit of hype it got. I'm still processing my emotions and thoughts so this might be a little chaotic, but I think I need to write this now.
I connect with Jennette's story on a personal level and I tend to keep my personal life under wraps. The most the interwebs has seen of my boyfriend is his hand over the past 7 years of us dating, for Christ's sake. And I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty here, but I will say, I have no personal contact with my own mother. We have a very dysfunctional, toxic relationship, like Jennette describes of her own.
It's always validating to see someone who has the same experience as you, even if it's fucked up to feel that way. Jennette discusses how her mom taught and encouraged her eating disorder to her at 11 years old. Yeah, you read that right. She talks about toxic relationships and how she navigated relationships with toxic men. She discusses how acting wasn't something she was passionate about, but rather something that gave her anxiety.
She also talks about recovery. She talks about healing and how it's an every day process. She talks about how slips don't define you. She explores what it's like to find who you are when your whole life was to make someone else happy. I understood this completely. I'm still recovering too.
I liked her tone, almost darkly funny. I liked how she answered your question as you were thinking it. I liked how bare and honest she was.
I'm proud of this woman I don't know, but I feel I have a camaraderie with.
Read this book. Even if you have the best family known to man, read it. Even if you never struggled with your weight, read it. Even if you never were forced to do a job you hate, read it.
Read it. You won't regret it.
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