In the cafeteria at lunch, eyes closed, I slipped off my shoes and pressed my feet to the floor. The effect was many bizarre scenes that seemed dreamy and weird, and yet they were not part of Matt's imagination. Male teens with eating disorders are extremely rare in YA, so it wasn't as if the book needed to do something quirky to be different. I don't think it quite works, and I'm not really sure why it was added.

It isn't clear at first whether the powers are in his head or actually happening, but over the course of the novel certain events are influenced by Matt's powers, suggesting that they must exist outside of his mind. Matt starves himself to a point where his senses are heightened, and eventually they offer him supernatural abilities. The main problem was - what I believe to be - the unsuccessful addition of supernatural aspects. Because, as we are repeatedly told, our bodies betray us like that. There are some great discussions happening in The Art of Starving - namely, the relationship between misogyny and homophobia, and the complexities of bullying and how Matt both hates and desires the beautiful, popular boys who make his life hell. But, unfortunately, this book is up to its neck in bizarroland and I could not get into it.

A YA novel about a gay teenage boy with an eating disorder seemed too good and important a premise for me not to like it. I've been pushing myself through for the past ten days. I cannot tell you how much I wanted to love this book. I wanted desperately to tell him that I had very good hearing-because I was starving myself-because it gave me superpowers. Miller’s debut novel will resonate with any reader who’s ever craved the power that comes with self-acceptance. But Matt doesn’t realize there are many kinds of hunger… and he isn’t in control of all of them.Ī darkly funny, moving story of body image, addiction, friendship, and love, Sam J.

All he needs to do is keep the hunger and longing at bay. Matt decides to infiltrate Tariq’s life, then use his powers to uncover what happened to Maya. So what is lunch, really, compared to the secrets of the universe? Maybe even the authority to bend time and space. The knack of tuning in to thoughts right out of people’s heads. The ability to see things he shouldn’t be able to see. Matt’s hardworking mom keeps the kitchen crammed with food, but Matt can resist the siren call of casseroles and cookies because he has discovered something: the less he eats the more he seems to have. The hunger clears his mind, keeps him sharp-and he needs to be as sharp as possible if he’s going to find out just how Tariq and his band of high school bullies drove his sister, Maya, away. His stomach stabs and twists inside, pleading for a meal. More Happy Than Not meets Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future in this gritty, contemporary YA debut about a bullied gay teen boy with an eating disorder who believes he’s developed super powers via starvation.

The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller