Appetites: Why Women Want

Knapp is an extremely talented writer who is not afraid to use her own life to discuss issues that are important to her (just as she has done in her previous writing). With this book she discusses how women today are made to feel divorced from their own appetites, or made to feel they are not worthy of them. Subsequently, women end up 'acting out' by enforcing rules upon themselves that don't make sense when it comes to being happy, and indulging in behaviours that are harmful.
One thing I had a problem with in this book is Knapp's continual reference to the mother-daughter relationship and how that relates to how women see themselves. I think here she was extrapolating just a little too far from her own perceived experience and making it a universal condition. While the mother-daughter relationship can be an highly formative influence on women and how they see themselves and act as they grow up, I just don't buy that it is always so important for every woman as Knapp seems to imply. But this is not really a huge part of her hypothesis and does not really diminish greatly the overall argument she has to make.
I read this book just after finishing a book on Zen Buddhism, and while Knapp never mentions Buddhism once in her book, it is amazing that what she says - that happiness is to be found within not with external 'things' including items and relationships, that we need to accept who we are as we are if there is ever to be any mental peace in our lives - could easily fit within a Buddhist philosophy.
It is a sad fact that Caroline Knapp died in 2002, the year before this book was published. She was only 42 years old.

I think every woman should read this book. I've been reading it for forever because I can only take it a couple of pages at a time. It's intensely personal and makes you do a double-take and rethink how many unnecessary "rules" you may be living by that are merely a sad by-product of our consumer-driven society. I agree with the person below who said that if you've ever had body-image or food issues, you need to read this book!!!

"The real struggle is about you: you, a person who has to learn to live in the real world, to inhabit her own skin, to know her own heart, to stop waiting for life to begin."

I've never had an eating disorder, but this book absolutely affected me. This is not just another 'Ana' memoir. It uses anorexia as a gateway to the deeper topic of women and why we want to be just a little bit more... something. Anything.

Incredibly moving and honest without being whiny or overbearing. She tells the story in a straightforward, simple way the hits home.

Ladies, you must, must read this book.

I believe that this book should be required reading for women everywhere. This book chronicles the author's struggle with Anorexia Nervosa while digging into the deeper issues surrounding womens appetites for food, love, power, sex, and acceptance. She digs even deeper, trying to find an explanation for why we as a society are so uncomfortable with excess and feel the need to punish ourselves in other areas of our lives to compensate for being too successful in another.This book also examines the ways in which childhood experiences, media influence and interactions with our own mothers have affected our attitudes about the nature of need and desire. Reading this book really forces one to think about the driving forces behind all of their self-imposed "rules" and really makes you direct your focus inward. This book is at times intensely painful to read but the perspective and insight it offers is invaluable. It is really too bad the the author passed away shortly after completing this book because I really would have loved to read more on her opinions of these subjects.

I really liked this book - then again, I was a fan of her book "Drinking a Love Story" before I read this. I don't think it give much new information, but certainly reminds us to be mindful of how we see the world and respond to its expectations.

Caroline Knapp's book about women in our society should be required reading for all of us. What insight!

Part memoir, part body image commentary and psychology. A good read. The main thesis is pulled together well, that women hunger for more than just food, but everything else in between and that *hunger*, and wanting, is the basis for not just eating disorders, but other vices such as drinking, shopping, sex, etc.

An insightful and brutally honest perspective about the female and her struggle to live up to society's expectations while also trying to satiate her own appetite(s). Knapp does a superb job illustrating the notion of "appetite" as something more than a desire for food. She takes this idea a step further and shows her readers that an appetite is a hunger for anything that is lacking within the self-- esteem, love, confidence, etc. This is a must read for any individual who wants to understand the depth of the female and the struggles that she faces in today's society.

Amazing. Insightful and surprising in how much it reveals about the habits you take for granted. Occasionally too much special pleading, and I'd like to know more about father/daughter vs mother/daughter dynamics, but otherwise: this hit home.