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    The Art of Starving: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Art of Starving: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Art of Starving: A Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Art of Starving: A Novel

    Written by Sam J. Miller

    Narrated by Tom Phelan

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    “Matt toes the line between expiration and enlightenment, sparing no detail of his twisted, antagonistic relationship with his body. [His] sarcastic, biting wit keeps readers rooting for him and hoping for his recovery. A dark and lovely tale of supernatural vengeance and self-destruction.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

    “Matt is an admirably strong character who is out and proud, brilliant, creative, and determined to survive... Miller’s creative portrait of a complex and sympathetic individual will provide a welcome mirror for kindred spirits.” — Booklist (starred review)

    “Matt is a master at suppressing his urges, but there is nothing romantic about debut novelist Miller’s portrayal of anorexia... discussion of Matt’s future is brutally honest. As Matt’s body deteriorates and his ‘powers’ reach new levels, readers must decide for themselves what is and isn’t real.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

    “One of the most important books of the year… How different, and how beautiful, our world would be if we could take its lesson of empathy to heart.” — B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy blog

    “An extraordinarily vital and necessary book that deals with underrepresented characters, discussions of toxic masculinity, and the effects of bullying in raw and effective ways . . . the overall message of devotion and self-acceptance is beautifully told.” — Romantic Times BOOKclub

    “Funny, haunting, beautiful, relentless and powerful, The Art of Starving is a classic in the making.” — Book Riot

    “Miller’s powerful, provocative and daring work forces readers to question reality and how much of our world is shaped by what we see.” — Shelf Awareness

    “This book is an ache, a bruise, a slaughterhouse of a love story; every word is a blow, but every blow is an anthem. This is what truth feels and smells and tastes like, and it’s one magnificent monster.” — Margaret Stohl, bestselling author of the Beautiful Creatures series

    “Beautifully rendered. This novel will break your heart and heal it again.” — Coretta Scott-King Award and Newbery Honor winner Jacqueline Woodson

    “As gritty with salted wounds as are all great fairytales, The Art of Starving is The Outsiders with superpowers. It should be shelved alongside the classic stories of unexpected salvation.” — Maria Dahvana Headley, bestselling author of Magonia

    “Gut wrenching and powerful.” — BookPage

    “...A deeply tragic, if also deeply magical and hopeful story that breaks with expectations to subvert and challenge... I wish desperately I had read it when I was young.” — The Book Smugglers

    “The Art of Starving is as mind-bending as it is heart-rending. Sam Miller has written a searing, daring, and unflinching story that I will not soon forget.” — Alex London, author of Proxy

    “Brutal and brilliant, The Art of Starving seizes you and refuses to let you go. Matt is a complicated, compelling protagonist, and his raw emotional vulnerability is devastating. Hands down, The Art of Starving is the best book I’ve read this year.” — Alyssa Wong, winner of the World Fantasy and Nebula Awards

    “The Art of Starving is a humane, deeply felt, heartbreaking novel, observed with an edge as sharp as broken glass. A supervillain coming-of-age novel that made me cry—my god, I loved this book.” — Alaya Dawn Johnson, Nebula and Norton Award winning author of The Summer Prince

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJul 11, 2017
    ISBN9780062683465
    Unavailable
    The Art of Starving: A Novel
    Author

    Sam J. Miller

    Sam J. Miller is the Nebula-Award-winning author of The Art of Starving (an NPR best of the year) and Blackfish City (a best book of the year for Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, and more). A recipient of the Shirley Jackson Award and a graduate of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, Sam's short stories have been nominated for the World Fantasy, Theodore Sturgeon, and Locus Awards, and reprinted in dozens of anthologies. A community organizer by day, he lives in New York City.

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    Reviews for The Art of Starving

    4/5

    68 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A deep, insightful look into the mind of a boy dealing with an eating disorder.

      There aren't a lot of books like this out there. At least, not from a boy's perspective. No one wants to talk about how boys get eating disorders and how boys have body dysmorphia. No one talks about how these issues might be more prevalent in the LGBTQ+ community because we're hammered with white, cisgender, heterosexual dominated media. This book is not only a powerful look into what an eating disorder can do to a person physically and psychologically, but it's something that's not talked about much.

      I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for LGBTQ+ representation. Not only is the main character gay, but so it the author. It's also good if you're looking for more mental health rep, though if you're struggling with an eating disorder or are in recovery and think it might trigger you at all, then stay very far away from this book.

      I would love nothing more than to give this book 5☆s, but I think I missed something along the way and got a bit confused toward the end. I'll have to get a physical copy to reread some day.
    • 2/5
      I understand what this book was supposed to be but it wasn't. Insight into his justification of his actions is really sad but everything else is kind of boring, dull, repetative, ''oh no I have it the worst you don't understand me even tho we live under the same roof and you know more than I do but I have it the worst jeezzz''-that's main character in a nut shell
    • 5/5
      teen fiction - anorexic and somewhat suicidal gay male teen deals with the mysterious leaving of his older sister, alcoholic mother, and the negative outlook of a crumbling town, as written by a gay writer who himself suffered from an eating disorder when he was young. #ownvoices

      brilliant yet painfully sharp at the same time. Thank you, Sam Miller, that was outstanding.
    • 2/5
      A really horrible twist on something already horrible, I don’t recommend this book to teens who struggle with body image and eating.
    • 5/5
      Matt can’t control much of anything in his life. His dad left when he was a baby. His sister—his primary ally in teenagedom—has run away. His mom is working long hours and struggling to keep her job. Kids at school pick on him because he’s gay. And the school has identified him as at-risk and sent him to a psychiatrist. His life is pretty much a mess, and Matt is focusing on the two things that he thinks he can control—revenge on the boys he has decided are responsible for his sister, Maya, running away, and depriving his body of food. Each chapter of THE ART OF STARVING starts with a rule, and the first couple of rules lay everything out pretty starkly: your body is your enemy, and starving yourself makes you stronger. Matt offers example after example of this as his story progresses… though you begin to realize as you read that Matt, though both charming and interesting, is far from a reliable narrator. Fortunately, we don’t need to be assured that he’s telling the truth about events when he’s giving us deep insights like “…every great revenge story is indistinguishable from a love story” and acknowledges that he’s writing for “boys in general, especially the lost lonely isolated ones, the boys with no one in their lives to teach them The Rules…”. My favorite of Matt’s rules, though, comes late in the book. Rule #44 says “Your mommy really can make everything better.”THE ART OF STARVING is a gorgeous and heartbreaking book that had me saying “what the…?” while flipping pages so fast I barely cared about the answer to my own question. While dealing with all of his troubles, Matt’s search for love and acceptance moves beyond the specifics of his situation and speaks to every reader. The author of the book, Sam J. Miller, writes beautifully and weaves magical realism with an unreliable narrator in such a way that put me in a mode that was as uncomfortable and off balance as the book’s protagonist—but at the same time left me wanting to believe that all of Matt’s experiences were real.This is a book that I’ll want to read and re-read in order to glean those beautiful and sometimes painful truths that the author has hidden in Matt’s story. My thanks to Sam J. Miller for a fantastic book, and to YA Books Central and the publisher for an advance copy of THE ART OF STARVING in exchange for my unbiased review.