JJ Johnson (1973–)

As someone who has battled an eating disorder for over 16 years and has been through inpatient hospitalization for said eating disorder, I was able to see a lot of myself in this book. Johnson did a really phenomenal job at portraying how eating disorders, much like substance use disorders, are also family disorders. I think sometimes people fail to acknowledge just how much unhealthy family dynamics can contribute to an individual's patterns of disordered eating. While often extremely infuriating and difficult to read, Jennifer's relationship with her parents was so similar to my own that it was sometimes scary. I am both comforted and saddened to know that this experience is shared by both Johnson and I, and likely thousands of others.

I think my biggest issue with Believarexic is that I really wish Johnson would have just let this book be a memoir. I genuinely don't understand why it was necessary to fictionalize portions of a story that had the potential to be so impactful on its own. While I admire Johnson for omitting any mention of exact weights and measurements, so much of this book felt criminally juvenile. Yes, the book is targeted for a young adult audience, and that's great, but I feel as if there could have been so many ways to make this book have real depth that didn't include leaning into the angsty teenager trope. I wanted to know more about Jennifer as a person and we never really get that.

I also struggled with the fact that the language and general treatment approaches utilized by the professionals in this book are so unbelievably out of touch. The book is set in the 80s, but for readers with no outside knowledge of the mental health system or the way mentally ill individuals were treated during that time period, this book very much continues to perpetuate this idea that treatment facilities are scary places where patients are treated much like prisoners with little to no rights. While I 100% believe Johnson did receive inappropriate and unfair treatment during her hospitalization, it felt irresponsible for her to not address the fact that this was an experience very specific to her and that it should therefore not be applied to treatment facilities as a whole. I bring this up because I sought out information regarding Johnson's views on how the mental health system has changed since the 80s and was unable to find anything.

Having read a good majority of the available eating disorder literature out there, both fiction and nonfiction, I was really looking forward to reading this book and was very disappointed that I ended up not actually enjoying it as much as I had expected. For being a work of fiction, it didn't feel as if much even happened throughout. Jennifer kind of just exists at the hospital for 10 weeks and somehow manages to find the courage and strength to completely recover, something that takes many ED patients years and years to even be able to attempt. I don't think it's impossible, but I find it highly improbable.

I saw a review proposing the question, "Do we really need another account of life with an eating disorder", and at large, no. I don't think we do. This book doesn't offer any new insights to what it is like suffering from an ED. Quite frankly, we seldom get to actually understand Jennifer's motivation or thought processes behind her behaviors. What would have actually made this book interesting and impactful would have been having the opportunity to understand who Jennifer is as a person. Her eating disorder is the least interesting thing about her.

We know that eating disorders are inherently competitive illnesses and I think Believarexic will continue to be one of those books that people with disordered eating behaviors pick up and use as inspiration no matter how PG Johnson managed to keep the content. When strictly looking at this book from a literary perspective, it's bland and the writing is very amateur at best. I think there are people out there who will find this book to be really great, however I am just not one of those people.

2.5/5 stars.… (lisätietoja)

**I was given a digital copy of Believarexic in exchange for an honest review by Peachtree Publishers. **

This book is so deep. There are so many issues addressed throughout the book that don’t involve eating disorders. Yes, that’s the main theme, but there are also family issues, self-esteem issues, sexuality issues, alcoholism, drug abuse, and so many more.

I will say that it did strongly remind me of Girl, Interrupted, but in a good way. This book was sad in the right places and uplifting in the right places. Everyone I told about it while I was reading said, “That sounds sad.” I strongly replied that it wasn’t just a sad book. This book spoke to me, not that I have personally experienced all of these problems, but because the lessons can be adapted to apply to other personal issues.

Johnson’s writing is very interesting, as well. The very beginning is in second person, she addresses you or the audience. Then it moves to third person, speaking about Jennifer from above. Throughout most of the novel, it switches to first person, and remains that way to the end. I’m a sucker for creative writing styles.

I’ll definitely be recommending this to anyone I know that enjoys this kind of genre. I’m looking forward to reading other things JJ Johnson has to offer.… (lisätietoja)