Dozens and dozens of books over the past thirty some years have tried to explain what anorexia and bulimia really are, but nothing quite gets it the way Gaining: The Truth About Life After Eating Disorders does.

Writer Aimee Liu sums it up best on page 125:

"Recovery is like a big old house…the anorexic or the bulimic is always going to live there. People sometimes think, I can evict her, I can get rid of that. But you don’t develop an eating disorder for no good reason. It’s a profound experience. So how can you wipe out that whole piece of your history? I prefer to think of it this way. She used to rule the house in a kind of tyranny. She was in charge of the kitchen, in charge of everything. Now she still gets to live there and she may still have some of those old fears and vulnerabilities, but she’s got only one room in the house and has to make way for more and more occupants as time passes."

It’s no wonder Aimee Liu captures the image of recovery so well, she writes from experience. In her teens and twenties, Liu battled anorexia and thought she had won the war, but found herself battling it all over again in her forties.

Her examination of this scary world covers so much: the people she’s met along the way (both men and women) who have been in her shoes, the causes of eating disorders (always up for debate depending upon whom you to talk to), the sadness, the triumphs.

Publishers Weekly says this book is "poignant even for those who have have not suffered from an eating disorder." The author’s sincerity is as touching as her website, where she shares letters from readers who have reached out to her in gratitude and their need to share what they’ve survived.

Books such as Gaining are crucial because they help put perspective on a misunderstood disease where the victim is often blamed. Free of any kind of sensationalism or need to romanticize eating disorders, Gaining lays everything on the line for patients (both past and present) and their loved ones. And while she’s not afraid to write about the grim truths of eating disorders, she leaves her readers with hope, not fear.
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A fascinating exploration of what restricting offered to women – the rewards they experienced and felt that went far deeper than just a super-skinny body: essentially, the void it tried to fill. Gaining includes the author’s personal experiences, those of other women, and existing research on anorexia, including the characteristics, personality traits, and early-life experiences shared by many female anorexics. ( )

This book is written from the point of view of a successful woman who has been recovered from anorexia for several years. In it she interviews other women of similar age who have also recovered from eating disorders, and explores the similarities in their experiences.
I found Liu's perspective interesting, but I found her generalizations about those who suffer from eating disorders to be speculative and not especially helpful. Most of her conclusions were appropriate for herself and others with similar experiences and backgrounds, but I felt much of her speculation about the personality types that suffer eating disorders and their lives were really only applicable to her own circle. It may have been a better idea for her to have written about her own experiences and those of her peers as what they were - specific case studies - and left out grand theories and speculations.
All in all it was an inspiring look into the life of a woman who was once at death's door, and an interesting perspective on eating disorders from a very articulate survivor. ( )