BOOK REVIEWS: This Mean Disease

This Mean Disease - Daniel Becker ©2005, Gürze Books, 192 pages, $14.95

This Mean Disease begins and ends with Daniel telling about his mother’s death from anorexia nervosa. The book starts with Daniel and his siblings dispersing her ashes in the Pacific Ocean. In the pages that follow, Daniel shares how her slow death felt to him and his family. Since most books about anorexia are written by or about girls or young women, the experiences Daniel describes are quite unique.

Daniel’s story lets the reader in on the pain he felt when his mother was away for several extended hospitalizations, the confusion that he faced as a child and even as an adult about her illness, and the sadness he felt as "anorexia robbed a part of her from me forever" (pg. 18). He describes how his own life was complicated: problems he had at school, difficulty in interpersonal relationships, substance abuse, and depression. He felt unable to get support from his parents. Throughout the book, Daniel experiences disconnection from both his mother, who was distracted by her illness, and his emotionally unavailable father.

Through Daniel’s eyes we see how anorexia nervosa destroyed Carol Becker. Daniel’s own psychological problems brought on in part from his troubled relationship with his mother show the toll that an eating disorder can bring on family members. One wise therapist told Daniel part of his own "recovery" would require that he accept the possibility that his life might be better than his parents’ lives. And in the epilogue, we learn that Daniel’s life does appear to be happier.