Blog contests are great. I love them. I won another book through the monthly blog contest at LDS Publisher (all you have to do leave a comment and you get entered into the contest). This time I won A Future for Tomorrow, by Haley Hatch Freeman.
I'll be honest, I was suspicious of this book. It's non-fiction, and immediately that made me think, 'Dry, documentary-type.' Also, the subject is Haley's battle and victory over anorexia. I had the opinion that this topic has been over-written, over-dramatized, and over-done. I've read a number of books on the subject and doubted that Haley's book had anything new or important to add.
I was wrong. Haley's book, written in the first person, is as tense and dramatic as a thriller novel. And though the information she gave might not have been new, she portrayed it in an engaging, personal, and interesting way. In fact, the journey she took as a young girl into an eating disorder and how she clawed her way out of that pit will have you biting your nails, wondering how on earth this will work out. (I mean, you know it's going to, since she survived enough to write the book. Though that would be an interesting plot twist.)
The only thing I really didn't understand was why she had the first part of the book in backwards chronological order. She explained it in the preface, that she wanted to reader to see the depravity of the situation and view all of the decisions that led to it. But I found it disconcerting. I loved the narrative of part one, but couldn't wait for it to end so I could read the events in the order they occurred. Maybe it was just me. Go figure.
All in all, it was a great book. I recommend it for all, even if you think you know everything about surviving from an eating disorder. And kudos to Haley. It took a lot of guts and courage to come forth and bare her soul like that, open for judgment and ridicule alike.
Sequel Stats:
today's goal: 23,561
actual: 23,581 (+2,020)
tomorrow's goal: 25,581
