this absolutely delivers on what it promises by showing the horrors of eating disorders and the extremes of chasing societal beauty standards. it’s not horror in the classic sense, but it’s definitely horrific to read and there’s some ‘is it real or supernatural’ elements thrown into it creating a sort of weird horror’esque suspense. 

the forward of this talks of the body positivity movement and the lack of support of skinny women (or women with eating disorders, it’s unclear) and others have said how necessary a book like this is — and that’s true, for the most part, but i don’t really think chandler morrison is the voice for that. especially since it focuses more on glorifying EDs than anything else. 

despite that it’s not badly written, although it’s sometimes terribly slow paced and it didn’t feel as if the author really connected with his characters. maybe because men in horror tend to not be amazing at writing female characters? but otherwise it’s exactly what you can expect from the synopsis. so if that’s your thing, go for it and if you disliked dead inside because it was cringe, then this is less so (but it’s also less extreme too) and it might be worth a read.

with all that said, i do have an issue with the lack of accountability on writing a book like this without also adding resources at the end. i think if you’re writing about eating disorders this vividly and in a in-character positive light — you also have the responsibility to add resources in the book. especially when it’s essentially a how to guide to starving yourself tbh

anyway, as always with (extreme) horror check up on content warnings and know this one might be triggering if you’re recovering from an eating disorder.