A review by earlgreybooks
Small Acts of Disappearance: Essays on Hunger by Fiona Wright

4.0

Originally posted at Tea & Titles

Small Acts of Disappearance was my first book from the Stella Prize 2016 shortlist. I made a post about this the other day that I’ve linked here, if you’re interested in finding out more about the Prize.

The first time I looked at the shortlist and went through all the books on Goodreads, this was the one that stood out the most to me. I’ve been interested in books about eating disorders since high school. Like books about depression and anxiety, I think it’s something that needs to be discussed (in a positive way) more often in books, especially in YA (the only one I can think of is Wintergirls, but more about that another day).

Small Acts of Disappearance is a collection of essays about Fiona Wright’s own experiences with anorexia, and because of that I think it’s an incredibly important book. Not once does Fiona Wright use body shaming to get her point across, nor does she try and tone down her experiences. She’s honest about what her life has been and continues to be like. I really appreciate that she doesn’t make eating disorders seem less important than what they are. I know from my friends and I’s experiences in high school and University that body issues are tough. I’ve seen the way this issues are undermined, dismissed or made fun/light of. It was really nice to see a book talk about the issues in a real way.

I don’t know how else to review this, because it’s impossible to review other people’s real experiences. All in all, I think this is a very important book and it’s set a very high standard for the other Stella Prize books.