The Story is About   +  young adult

Purge by Sarah Darer Littman

Purge by Sarah Darer Littman

Release Date: April 1, 2009
Publisher: Scholastic
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 240
From: Amazon Vine
Interest: author

Janie Ryman hates throwing up. So why does she binge eat and then stick her fingers down her throat several times a day? That's what the doctors and psychiatrists at Golden Slopes hope to help her discover. But first Janie must survive everyday conflicts between the Barfers and the Starvers, attempts by the head psychiatrist to fish painful memories out of her emotional waters, and shifting friendships and alliances among the kids in the ward.
This one has been sitting on my shelf for a long time. I'm not sure why I was so apprehensive about reading it. I think I was scared after reading Wintergirls by Laure Halse Anderson. I have to be in a mood for books that drain me emotionally like that. Wintergirls was difficult to read, and I don't think I was ready to tackle something like that again so soon.

But Purge was a lot different than Wintergirls. Besides the fact that it's about Bulimia and not Anorexia, it also very easy to read. Not saying that it was “enjoyable” to read about girls struggling with their body weight, but I enjoyed Janie as a character and I reading her story.

I loved that this was about more than just Janie's struggle, this novel really shows that eating disorders are a universal epidemic. That it's not only girls, there are boys too, that it's not only teens, there are adults as well.

It's heartbreaking to know that the author used her personal experience to write this novel. But I'm glad she shared her experience and hopefully has been an inspiration. Despite the topic of this novel, it had an uplifting message.