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Born Round: The Secret History Of A Full-time Eater (2009)

by Frank Bruni(Favorite Author)

3.53 of 5 Votes: 6

ISBN

1594202311 (ISBN13: 9781594202315)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Penguin Press HC, The

review 1: This book was beautifully written, and is a vivid portrayal of eating disorders and disordered eating. My review has more to do with the content rather than the writing. His book is a tortured path of feeling inadequate and unlovable, while all the while using food and or exercise to cope. I had hoped that the purpose of his book was his journey to gain peace with food and come to terms with the internal landscape that was driving the behaviors. By the end of the book, he had gained some peace with food, thanks to living in Rome and a new job that let him eat as he said "quality over quantity;" however, his eating disorder seemed to morph from traditional bulimia to exercise addiction. He never seems to understand that love and acceptance are not based on the way he looks ... moreand he continues to feel terrified of gaining weight. It honestly left me feeling a little sad for him, and feeling like maybe he lost the weight, but he never really addressed this lifelong feeling of inadequacy. I hope that I'm wrong. I hope that his transformation was based on him addressing these deep seated issues, and it was not communicated very well in the book. Unfortunately, I could relate to the behaviors, to the never-ending drive to eat, to the family dynamics that made him feel less than. It was very tough to read at times, and yet impossible to put down.
review 2: Interesting to have a memoir regarding an eating disorder written by a man. The book did truly concentrate on Frank Bruni's problems with his weight since the time he was a child but the interesting part of the book was his stories regarding his family, his coming out and love interests, friends and famous acquaintances, his job(s) as a journalist and ultimately his profession as a restaurant critic. I actually liked best his early story of growing up in a large Italian family where love and food were closely intertwined and his later story as a restaurant critic who had found an acceptable relationship with food that allowed him a career. In between - the book read almost like a self help book or psychological memoir on how not to diet and how weight can bring on self loathing that spreads throughout life and relationships. Still - a good book and easy and pleasant to read but I would have liked more of the good years than the bad. less

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