The Art of Starving

If you have teenagers, know teenagers, or ever were a teenager, you should read it. If you’ve ever been an outsider, or you’ve ever been lonely, you should read this book. If you’ve ever felt love and heartache, this book is for you. And if you want to teach someone about empathy, friendship, and self-acceptance, buy. Them. This. Book.

Matt lives on the fringe of his school’s society. He’s aloof, lacks confidence, and is gay. He’s convinced himself he’s fat and disgusting, and starves himself by counting calories and get away with eating as little as possible. He knows he has an eating disorder, but his research into them only gives him ideas to more effectively hide it from the people closest to him. He’s also dealing with bullies, and his older sister, someone he idolizes, has run away from home. Matt is, justifiably, angry. At himself, at the bullies, and at his absentee father, who he blames for causing his sister to leave. All he wants is revenge—which is when he discovers the hunger that twists his guts also gives him supernatural powers. And his only thought is to use them to destroy.

This is a tough book. It will challenge you in so many ways, and may change the way you think about your own inner demons. It will help open eyes and open minds toward recognizing and embracing the differences and secret pains of others. That is its power. How different, and how beautiful, our world would be if we could take its lesson of empathy to heart.