The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller

 

As I was still recovering from Daniel Deronda after my last read, I decided to go for another young adult contemporary novel next. I picked up The Art of Starving based on the striking cover art a few years ago. The summary on the inside flap seemed interesting enough, so I bought it and added it to my shelf, where it has sat ever since. I was in the mood for something emotional and hard hitting, so I gave it a shot this week. 

The plot of the novel follows a high school junior named Matt. He's going through a difficult time as the story begins. He's gay and is relentlessly bullied for it in school, he doesn't have any close friends, his mom is about to be downsized from her job at the local hog rendering factory, and his older sister Maya recently ran away from home. Even though Maya has called home a few times and explained that she is fine and just taking some time for herself, Matt is convinced she left because something terrible happened to her. He suspects a group of boys at school of hurting her in some way, and he is determined to exact revenge on them. 

As everything in his life currently feels out of his control, Matt attempts to take charge by restricting how much he eats. The hunger constantly rumbling in his stomach is painful, but it gives him a sense of power. As he begins consuming less and less food, he starts to feel like he develops super powers. When he isn't eating, he can hear conversations happening miles away, sniff out people like a bloodhound, and even create wind and fire on demand. If he takes a bite of food though, his powers go away. Before long, he starts to feel like the only way to help himself and his family is to stop eating and use his abilities to solve all their problems. The only trouble is that doing this is slowly killing him.  

The Art of Starving is a pretty brutal look at the way eating disorders psychologically affect a person. Matt, who is an extremely unreliable narrator, truly believes that not eating makes him literally powerful, and watching him try to rationalize what he is doing throughout the text is a harrowing experience. The novel is structured as if Matt is writing a rule book to help other people uncover their own powers through restricting their food intake, with each chapter starting out with a quote or observation about how to push through the pain of starving yourself to unlock your enhanced abilities. Matt's narration is written in a way that makes you almost second-guess yourself as to whether he is being factual, because he is so entrenched in his delusion. I've never struggled with an eating disorder before, and I know that this experience is not reflective of how most people feel while going through one, but I thought that Sam J. Miller did an excellent job conveying the warped sense of power and control that lead people to harm themselves.

I appreciated also that Miller used a male protagonist here, since most of the discussion you hear about eating disorders centers around women. While it is true that more females are diagnosed with these kinds of disorders, there are plenty of men that struggle too. Men are also constantly bombarded with images of impossible physiques and negative comments about bigger bodies. I thought it was good to draw attention to the fact that anorexia or bulimia can affect anyone. I also learned through my reading that LGBTQ youth are more likely to develop eating disorders than other teens, and also to consider suicide, as Matt also does in this book. This is a tough subject to think about, but I think that Miller did a good job of telling an emotional story about this issue and raising awareness for it. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a dark read, but the way the Miller used the feeling of super powers to describe how people feel a sense of control with an eating disorder worked well. His writing style is also full of black humor, which makes the story actually funny in parts and breaks up some of the heavy mood. Matt is a protagonist that you want to root for, and watching him go down such a dark path with starving himself is emotional. It makes you invested in the story. This was a very engaging read for me as an adult, and I think the older teens it was written for will like it as well. I don't see myself wanted to read it again (so many books, so little time), so I'm going to donate it. Hopefully it will make its way to someone who will enjoy it as much as I did.

 

Challenge Tally

Clear the Shelves 2021: 11/50 (donate)

Total Books Read in 2021: 20