A review by katdid
Small Acts of Disappearance by Fiona Wright

5.0

I thought that eating disorders only happen to women who are vain and selfish, shallow and somehow stupid; it took me years to realised that the very opposite is true, that these diseases affect people, men and women both, who think too much and feel too keenly, who give too much of themselves to other people. I knew I wasn’t vain, I wasn’t selfish; but I have always felt vaguely, indeterminately sad, too vulnerable to being hurt, too empathic and too open, too demanding and determined in the standards that I set for myself and my life.

Recently I was lucky enough to talk to an emeritus professor of Australian literature about [b:The Natural Way of Things|25876358|The Natural Way of Things|Charlotte Wood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1436420572s/25876358.jpg|45752195], and during the chat she pulled this book out of her bag to show me and was clearly impressed by it which was one reason I sought it out – and I'm so glad I did. If you have any kind of pretensions to being a writer yourself, this collection of essays is the kind that will simultaneously fill you with despair (because you will never ever be that skilled) and exhilaration (because it is a fucking treat to read the words of a writer that skilled).

Anyone who was into [b:The Empathy Exams: Essays|17934655|The Empathy Exams Essays|Leslie Jamison|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405924561s/17934655.jpg|25142547] needs to read this immediately; in fact, I think it’s probably better than The Empathy Exams because every essay in this is so effing strong; I think it’s helped by the fact that they are all about anorexia in some manifestation or other (e.g. explorations/depictions in fiction) underpinned by the author’s own personal experiences. The fact that it’s set in the inner west of Sydney where I live with references to general landmarks (e.g. cafes on Glebe Point Road) and at the university where I work really resonated with me. I realised in reading this that I am more or less a perfect match for the personality type most likely to be affected by an eating disorder, and it really made me think a lot about my own attitude towards food and eating (because I more or less think about food constantly, and I do wonder sometimes if I’m eating enough to counter-balance all my physical activities).