The Art of Starving

I am generally pretty excited when someone whose short fiction I've been noticing and enjoying has a novel coming out... of course sometimes it doesn't work out (Seth Dickinson whyyy did you have to expand your novel from my least favorite thing you ever wrote) but sometimes it's Ninefox Gambit or the Tensorate series. So Sam J. Miller's The Art of Starving was on my to-read list even before it made both the Norton (Nebula) and YA/Not The Lodestar (Not A Hugo) finalists. And I really liked it.

Before I elaborate on my rec, though, I just want to make a big content note, which is that this is a first-person POV from a teen with an eating disorder, and the text is really right there in the details of that (and the distorted thinking he has going on around bodies and food). I am happy to answer questions from anyone who might need to know more specifics in order to decide whether they can safely/comfortably read this book.

That said, some comparisons: you might enjoy this if you liked Holly Black's Darkest Part of the Forest, or Patrick Ness's More Than This or The Rest Of Us Just Live Here, or Donnie Darko. And I'm going to do the rest of my discussing behind this nice spoiler cut. ( Read more... )