Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
It's remarkable when someone reaches into their own life to tell a story that has more than a hint of darkness, when her recovery is open to question, and she is trying to show where the toxic places in her life were and still are. Hayley Gold's Nervosa is a story that does just that. And It's told without fear or favor. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder. It's a fear of losing control, manifested in a distorted relationship with food. It's a puzzle for doctors, psychiatrists, parents and the (mostly) young women whose lives are touched by it. Current stats say that roughly 24 million people in the United States suffer from an eating disorder and the number has been growing every year for years on end. Hayley Gold knows this world and the people on all sides of the problem. In Nervosa she offers a powerful story of one young woman's experience. In a richly textured tale of one life touched by this disorder, Hayley offers not only the pain beneath this problem but a critique of how the medical system mistreats young women, and how their lives and their needs are distorted and destroyed by both the system and the disorder.
Synopsis
Unflinchingly honest and darkly humorous, Nervosa is a graphic memoir about disordered eating, chronic illness, and a profound relationship with hope and recovery.
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder. It is not a phase, a fad, or a choice. It is a debilitating illness, sometimes rooted in the fear of losing control which manifests itself in a distorted relationship with food. It is often a puzzle for doctors, psychiatrists, parents, and friends. And so those who suffer from it are belittled, or tragically misunderstood, not only by society but even by the healthcare system meant to treat it.
Nervosa is a no-holds-barred, richly textured portrait of one young woman's experience. In her vividly imagined retelling, Hayley Gold lays bare a callous medical system seemingly disinterested in the very patients it is supposed to treat. And traces how her own life was distorted and damaged by both the system and her own disorder. With brutal honesty and witty sarcastic humor, Gold offers a remarkably candid exploration of the winding road of recovery, and how, even when hope seems lost, it peeks back around.
Synopsis
"A vibrant graphic memoir full of dark humor,
Nervosa is an insightful look into the torment of disordered eating that will be a source of comfort to others who struggle with their mental health." --STARRED REVIEW,
Foreword Reviews
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder. It is not a phase, a fad, or a choice. It is a debilitating illness, manifested in a distorted relationship with food, but which actually has more to do with issues of control. It is often a puzzle for doctors, therapists, parents, and friends. And so those who suffer from it are belittled, or tragically misunderstood, not only by society but by the healthcare system meant to treat it.
Nervosa is a no-holds-barred, richly textured portrait of one young woman's experience. In her vividly imagined retelling, Hayley Gold lays bare a callous medical system seemingly disinterested in the very patients it is supposed to treat. And traces how her own life was irrevocably damaged by both the system and her own disorder. With brutal honesty and witty sarcastic humor, Gold offers a remarkably candid exploration of the search for hope in the darkness.