This is a well-written study of the drivers behind women’s anorexia. The author explores her own and other’s history of anorexia. Caroline Knapp delves into the societal pressures and foiled desires behind the need for control that drives one without autonomy to seize control of the one thing they can manage—what food enters their own bodies. It’s a shame that Knapp died at 42, she had a lot more to contribute. ( )

I was a bit confused with the book's structure at first, zooming in to Knapp's personal experience and then out to all the numerous forms of appetites, both at the physical and emotional level. It seemed formless and daunting, neither personal nor scientific. Little by little all the threads pulled together and from that emerged a cohesive whole, showing all the ways women sabotage themselves to feed a deeper hunger often unnamed.
It's a compelling and thought-provoking read; the topic and themes are not particularly novel, but its approach is unique. ( )

THE BEST BOOK EVER!!!! AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING! Incredibly eye-opening ( )

Much food for thought, going quite a bit beyond just eating disorders to hunger and desire -- of all types -- and why women feel compelled to deny them. Appetites includes numerous interviews with women, excerpts from classic feminist texts, and sociological statistics blended together in such a way to present a work that could be categorized as a cultural study. This title would, I believe, serve as a wonderful pick for a women’s book club that enjoys a more cerebral selection. For those with young daughters I believe it is particularly compelling as you are forced to realize the various gender characteristics you may unintentionally promote, even while, at the same time, each day you hate having to live under them and suffer their ill effects (‘promotion’ by virtue of the example we set as we accept them in our own lives). A reviewer on Amazon (“LCC”) adeptly summed up the general thrust of the book: “[it] focuses on the psychology of women and how society impacts women’s desires and sense of entitlement.” Appetites looks at what it means to feed, truly, the body and soul… and why so many women instead believe they deserve to starve. ( )

I would have liked this book a lot better had it been a full-on memoir, but then again, I have already read Drinking: A Love Story. It was just kind of like a rehash of The Beauty Myth and a lot of anecdotes about how women are socialized to hate ourselves. Maybe I would have been more open to it if I hadn't already read a ton of feminist books on the same topic. ( )