Bread: A Memoir of Hunger

"It’s a razor’s edge I walk. How tempting it is to wolf down this slice and the rest of the loaf. How tempting it is to throw it into the sink as if it’s on fire, douse it with water, and then cram it down the garbage disposal." Dr. Lisa Knopp's book relates her personal struggle to deal with her eating disorder while growing up, raising two children, getting her Ph.d and becoming an accomplished and honored writer and teacher.Her experiences make compelling reading. I believe personal disclosures of this nature require a vast amount of courage, a desire to understand one's self, and the hope of helping others. Knopp's work mixes her personal experience with her investigations into the literature of the causes of anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating disorder. Beautifully written, her story begins in the late 1950's and describes growing up in small town Iowa during the days of Camelot and the Johnson administration. But Knopp's desire is for a more exciting life and varied cultural experiences.As her life unfolds, readers become aware of societal pressures and other factors that contribute her to desire to control her weight very strictly and live as a whisper of a woman. Eventually, she realizes that she is putting her health at great risk. In the final chapter, she relates the strategies that she uses to cope with this lurking disorder.Well worth reading for anyone who has an eating disorder, loves someone with an eating disorder, or as I read it, as a courageous and hard look at how you are living your life. Are you setting yourself up for unhappiness and struggle? Do you have habits and behaviors that are detrimental to your well being? Find the courage to make changes. Be creative and resourceful. Excellent reading.

Lisa Knopp’s memoir of her disordered eating—not “eating disorder,” because there are such strange, stringent criteria one must meet to be “officially” diagnosed—Knopp refers to it as her “malady”—traces the connections between experiences and anxiety, between hunger and craving, and between the awful shifting attitudes of society towards eating behaviors. Knopp restricted her eating, in different ways, during three separate periods: as a 15-year-old high school student, after college at 25, and as a 54-year-old woman, and she writes with a precision and poignancy that took my breath away. Knopp began restricting as a response to her hunger for her mother’s presence; she began restricting again as a response to a lack of control and fear for the safety of the things she consumed, and finally, as she grieved for the changes in her life as well as a response to her health concerns.Disordered eating is manifest, it’s everywhere, and no one is talking about it because it’s not a “real” disorder. But Lisa Knopp is talking about it, and she’s also talking about the other shunted-aside population—older women, who’ve learned how to hide their behaviors. This book is vitally important, and the vulnerability it takes to write about a disorder-no-one-calls-a-disorder is immensely moving.

I want to thank you Lisa Knoop for writing your story. I just finished reading it and your story has really given me hope and deeper insight into my ED.I never knew how prevalent eating disorders are in older women until I struggled with it and started my research. I was surprised and relieved when I found out I wasn’t alone. I’m grateful you decided to write your story because I haven’t found a memoir dealing with ED in middle age until I found yours. I put this book down with a clearer understanding of why I find myself with ED once again at my age and determination to get well. This is a great book for those struggling with ED in middle age and love ones that want to understand it.

Bread awakened a hunger in me long ignored. This beautifully crafted memoir kept me hooked. I read it cover to cover and could barely put it down. I have never personally struggled with disordered eating, but the way Knopp describes this semi conscious self destructive compulsion is easy to relate to my own experiences. I appreciated, also, her attention to the cultural, political, scientific, and spiritual in her exploration of this affliction. Her personal and often revealing story sheds light on issues widely known but little understood and rarely openly discussed. I highly recommend Knopp's memoir to anyone who has ever felt an indiscernable emptiness in their own life, a hunger for something unnameable. Truly fulfilling read.

In this beautifully written, brave narrative, Knopp writes about her struggles with disordered eating using three distinct periods of her life as the framework for the book. She manages to be deeply personal while simultaneously exploring, researching and questioning food, health, cravings and hunger as they relate to one's culture, upbringing, biology and age.This is a book for anyone who has struggled with disordered eating, knows someone who does, or is interested in the intersections of culture, family, societal pressure, and food.

In her intensely personal and meticulously researched memoir, Lisa Knopp brings attention to a previously unrecognized portion of the population: adult women who struggle with disordered eating. She describes three pivotal times in her life during which her malady became especially potent, as well as her subsequent triumph over it. Through her research on the subject, she also raises numerous questions concerning body image, peer pressure, and gender role stereotypes.That Lisa could write a memoir this honest is testimony to her significant courage, and serves as an inspiration to anyone else who may be struggling with similar maladies. Highly recommended!

This book by Dr Lisa Knopp was completely captivating. It was an easy read. She has a wonderful style of writing, and is very transparent. Whether struggling with eating disorders or not, I think this book has something for everyone. There's healing through transparency, for both sides. This is a wonderful, wonderful book!