From Library Journal
After lengthy treatment at an eating disorder clinic, Josie, a 25-year-old anorexic victim weighing 67 pounds, confesses that she "never planned to disappear." Escalating self-degradation prompts her to seek perfection by starving her body at the vulnerable age of 16. She adopts fashion magazines and diet books as her mentors and seeks nirvana through their shallow promises. Absorbed in their own marital problems, Josie's parents fail to acknowledge their daughter's plight. Off at college, Josie isolates herself and devotes her life to exercise and starvation to become the quintessential woman who is never thin enough. Having lost all rational sense, Josie becomes dysfunctional. In a visceral, haunting account of the horrors of anorexia, Shute chillingly explores society's manic obsession with being a perfect size. For Shute, Life-Size is a splendid first novel. For readers, it is a compelling account of the psychological and physical torment experienced by anorexic victims who may not survive. Highly recommended. Literary Guild selection.
- Mary Ellen Elsbernd, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.