MEMOIR
When you stop eating, it's not only your body that gets small. Friendship, ambition, desire—all is whittled into nothingness. The story's been told before, but Friedman, a poet and now a personal trainer, tells it well. She is especially eloquent on the connection between food and sex: Her appetites—all of them—terrify her. When she begins eating again, running becomes her drug: It numbs her, like a "needle into vein." Recovery for her means becoming a sexual adventuress again. And while we may fear for her a little, we're also deeply glad for her choice.
