Good girls do swallow

By Rachael Oakes-Ash

Book Overview

Between the ages of 17 and 31, Rachael Oakes-Ash lost 63kg and gained 76kg on a roller-coaster of body image problems and food obsession. She went through anorexia, bulimia, bulimarexia, gym mania,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1840184809
• ISBN13: 9781840184808
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Mainstream
• Length: 189 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.6" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

3 1/2 stars - good book, but not what I expected

This is a very good book about eating disorders (all kinds) but also about almost any issue that women deal with, including alcohol and drug abuse, rape, family issues, shop alcoholics and many more. Oakes-Ash is open, honest, and witty. The book actually reads more like an essay, (which can be repetitious at times) and not a typical story, which was something that I wasn't expecting. None the less, I highly recommend it for those interested in eating disorders. If you are just looking for a good novel story, then this is probably not the book for you.

Good Girls Do Swallow

Having suffered from eating disorders myself for several years (anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating disorder) and having read practically every book on the subject, I have to say that this is the best eating disorder book of them all. Rachael is refreshingly honest and witty in her descriptions of the madness. She writes not only about her bizarre and excessive eating habits but also about issues that any female can relate to. The loathing of one's thighs, the envy of our girlfriends and the belief that when you are thin you will have it all. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever resented the beaming smiles of movie stars that look down on us from billboards and believed that when we are a certain size, we will have the perfect life.

A Fantastic Read

A darkly comic look at the tragic world of eating disorders. Books on this subject often tend to lean towards melodrama, but Oakes-Ash writes in a less serious, lighter way, thst helps to make the words more accesible to the reader. Any woman who reads this, whether they have an eating disorder or not, will certaintly recognize aspects of their own personality in Rachael's story. The fact that Oakes suffered anorexia, bulimia and copulsive overeating means that the story fundementally covers all basis on the eating disorder spectrum, and provides a range of varied perspectives. The most impressive aspect of the book is the sheer frankness of the author's writing. She is refreshingly honest, telling her story in graphic detail whilst resisting the urge to 'sugar-coat' her biography in order to make herself look better. It is this openness - this baring of the soul - that makes the reader immediately warm to Rachael, a factor which helps to make her words & her underlying message seem so much more genuine than the usual crop of 'Self-help' books that are dominating the market at the moment.