More Than You Can Chew. Marnelle Tokio. Toronto, ON: Tundra Books, 2003. 234 pp., pbk., $14.99. ISBN 0-88776-639-0. Subject Headings: Eating Disorders-Juvenile fiction. Body image-Juvenile fiction. Self-confidence-Juvenile fiction. Grades 9 and up / Ages 14 and up. Review by Marsha Skrypuch. ** /4 Reviewed from advance reading copy.

excerpt:

"Start eating, girls," Nurse Brown says. The smiles fade.

Nurse Brown sits down at the other end. She clasps her fingers tightly in a church and steeple formation. And then tries to hide her religion under the table. She doesn't want me to see the white anger of her knuckles. She stares at me across the sea of food.

"What happens if I don't go get my tray?"

"We strongly encourage you to eat norm... solid food."

"And if I don't solidify?"

"You can consume your daily caloric prescription in liquid form."

"And what's my magic daily number?"

"Five thousand calories."

"You're NUTS! I'm not eating or drinking FIVE THOUSAND of anything!"

Nurse Brown's eyes tilt up at the corners. "Then we will have to tube you."

More Than You Can Chew is Marnelle Tokio's first novel, and the press release describes it as being "semi autobiographical." It is the story of a teen whose life spirals out of control so she latches onto the one thing she feels she can control, and that's the food she eats. When she is diagnosed with an eating disorder and put into a hospital treatment unit, she first tries to deny and trick her way out of getting better, and things spiral even more out of control. Her turning point comes when she tries to commit suicide and is admitted to the psychiatric ward of the same hospital. When she is finally well enough to get out of the psych ward and back into the eating disorder unit, she finds the inner strength to stop fighting and to confront her demons.

     The prologue plunges the reader into the first person narrative of high school senior Marty Black, as she begins her first day at the eating disorder unit. Anger and hostility drip from the pages. Next is a flashback from two years earlier. A heavy petting scene in boyfriend Zack's car. The revelation that she's not a virgin. The anger of her boyfriend. The next few pages introduce Marty's alcoholic divorced mother and her absent father, then fast forward two years and back to day one at the eating disorder unit.

     The core of the novel is written in a modified journal style, outlining events of the 245 days Marty spends in treatment and beyond until she's healed. Along the way, we're introduced to Nurse Brown, who is initially reminiscent of Ken Kesey's Nurse Ratchett from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but gradually evolves into a sympathetic and motherly figure as the narrator's filter becomes less jaundiced. The reader is introduced to the other patients, and the way the narrator describes them says more about her hostility than about the patients themselves. For example, Victoria has "corpse blue lipstick," and Elizabeth has "Yellow eyes with black eye shadow on top and purple moons underneath," and Rose has "SaranWrap skin around the bones of a carcass picked clean" and so on. The one fellow patient who is described in a sympathetic manner is eight-year-old Lily:

When I knock on the door, Lily is sitting on the bed next to the window. She doesn't say anything. It hurts to look at her. I didn't know little kids could be anorexic. Eight years that looks like eighty. I'm guessing thirty two pounds. It must have taken thousands of pounds of pressure to compress her into such a small package.

     Lily plays a pivotal role as the one character who breaks through Marty's tough shell. When Marty takes the little girl under her wing and tries to nurture her back to health, she is symbolically looking after the little girl inside herself who wants to be loved and noticed. Lily's death coincides with Marty's suicide attempt, and it is a turning point in the book. Marty realizes that all the love she pours on Lily cannot change the outcome. Marty resolves to love herself and not rely on others to save her. In a way, Lily's death is symbolic of the death of Marty's eating disorder.

     The novel is well written and compelling to read, but is a bit uneven. The journal entries are anecdotes about the regimented life of treatment: the continual meals, weigh ins, group therapy and "outings" like trips to the grocery store or an ice cream stand that are supposed to normalize the concept of food and eating for the anorexics and bulimics. Many of these anecdotes are funny and sad and are related with clever wordplay, but the sameness of them bogs down the novel in the middle.

     Similarly, the characters are cleverly drawn with sarcastic humour, but they're not forgive the pun fully fleshed out. Marty's fellow patients are so cartoonish that no reader at risk of an eating disorder would recognize themselves in any of them. Marty's boyfriend Zack should be a major character, yet he only appears at the beginning and is then tacked on in a scene towards the end. My visual image of Marty's parents keeps on changing as the novel progresses. This may be intentional to show how Marty's view of them changes over time, but it jars the reader out of the story. Also, there is an allusion to sexual abuse as the novel opens, but this is never developed. The novel would be stronger with fewer day to day anecdotes of treatment and more time spent on Marty's life prior to and following treatment.

     The eye catching empty plate on the cover of this book and the title itself will act as a magnet for teens who have issues with food. The fact that this novel is "semi autobiographical" will lead a teen reader to assume the author's authority. However, the author relies on personal experience rather than research. An example of this is Marty's distinction between anorexics and bulimics and the implication that they're two quite separate illnesses. The reader might also assume that eating disorders are caused by dysfunctional families. I also fear that this novel might scare someone out of getting treatment. It is too bad that the author did not include a resource list on eating disorders at the back of the book. While this novel is an interesting read, it should not be used as bibliotherapy.

Recommended with Reservations.

Marsha Skrypuch is the author of The Hunger and five other books.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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