Eating Disorders in fiction | Nothing Tastes As Good by Claire Hennessy

I have just recently finished reading the book Nothing Tastes As Good written by Claire Hennessy. I read it during the 2016 BookTubeAThon.. In fact it was the only book I read during this readathon. But, life is short and must be lived. (Well.. that's my excuse, at least).

To start my (spoiler free) review, I would like to say kudos to Hennessy for writing a YA fiction book addressing mental health issues that aren't anxiety and depression. It's very encouraging to see authors branching out and covering a wider range. This is good. This is the progress we have been waiting for.

However, in my personal opinion, I think for someone suffering with an eating disorder, this book may cause more harm than good. Whilst reading this book, I became very conscious of my own body. The parts that wobble, specifically. Hennessy does such a great job at getting into the mind of a person with an eating disorder that it does make a reader very conscious of what they are putting into their own body. So, in a way I have to applaud Hennessy for her writing. But, it also worries me that this book could potentially be triggering for someone who may be on the brink of relapse.

TLDR: Approach with caution. But if you're someone looking for more insight into the mind of a person with an eating disorder, this is a nice place to start.

One thing I particularly liked about this book is that it sets you up for the most predictable "reason" as to why some people may develop an eating disorder. I daren't say much more than that for fear of spoiling this book for anyone wishing to read it. But, I will say that the plot twist was very unexpected and just what this book needed to avoid being brushed to the side with, what I don't wish to call but can't find another word for, "lazy writers". "Lazy writers" being those writers who find the most obvious cliche story lines and make zero effort to make something different (Vampire Fantasy Fiction writers I'm looking at you).

I do think that the end of this book came too quick. There was an awful lot of build up without enough ending. This is not a criticism of the book itself. This is just me wishing it was longer. I became quite invested in a lot of the characters and I wish that some of the relationships between characters had been explored further. I guess that's what my own imagination is for.

I picked up this book as a result of seeing it being hauled on CandySomething's YouTube channel. I paid for this book with my own money and all opinions are my own.