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Life-Size (novel)
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Wikipedia article
'Life-Size' is the debut novel by South African author Jenefer Shute, published in 1992 and is a Literary Guild selection.[http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-395-60479-3 Fiction Book Review], 'Publishers Weekly', 04/01/1992 It is a first person account of Josie, a twenty five year old graduate in Economics, suffering from anorexia, who is hospitalised in an attempt to stop her from starving herself to death.
Reception
*Susan Reynolds writing in the 'Los Angeles Times' was unsympathetic to the main character "In the end, you might understand Josie, but you still don't like her; Shute has successfully created a character almost beyond empathy. Josie is relentlessly mean spirited, so alienated that you can hardly feel sorry for her in your haste to get away from her. She takes all the sap out of life, and she does it so actively and aggressively that it's hard to see her as a victim."[http://articles.latimes.com/1992-06-14/books/bk-749_1_jenefer-shute Through Thick and Thin : 'LIFE-SIZE', By Jenefer Shute] LA Times June 14, 1992
*In contrast Marek Kohn writing in 'The Independent' is far more positive: "a mordantly funny novel, though. In addition to its beady eyed wit, 'Life-Size' offers vital insight, stark and even lyrical by turns, into how anorexia looks from the inside. As a first novel, it is a virtuoso performance. Based on feminist analyses of the condition, as deriving from the tyranny of body images, its translation of theory into character is a notable achievement.[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/book-review--a-poor-thinner-lifesize--jenefer-shute-secker--warburg-pounds-799-1549575.html A poor thinner: 'Life-size' - Jenefer Shute], 'The Independent', Saturday 05 September 1992
*The NYU School of Medicine praises the book's authenticity: "Shute has researched the topic and reveals many of the traits which characterize this illness. The authors narrative technique aptly conveys the preoccupations of the protagonist; obsessive thinking is well delineated and gives a strong sense of how challenging it must be for caregivers to treat such patients."[http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=117 Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database] Retrieved 1st Nov 2013
Publication history
*1992, United States, Houghton Mifflin, , Pub date Apr 1992, Hardback
*1992, United Kingdom, Secker & Warburg, , Pub date 10 Aug 1992, Paperback
*1993, United Kingdom, Mandarin, , Pub date Jun 1993, Paperback
*1993, United States, Avon, , Paperback
*1996, United Kingdom, Minerva, , Pub date 11 Mar 1996, Paperback
*1997, United States, Avon, , Pub date Aug 1997, Paperback
References
Category:1992 novels
Category:Houghton Mifflin books
Category:Anorexia nervosa
Category:Novels set in hospitals
Category:Novels about eating disorders
Category:1992 debut novels
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