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My Confection: Odyssey of a Sugar Addict
A funny, candid, and original coming-of-age story told through sugar addiction
She doesn’t drink or do drugs, but like millions of other Americans, Lisa Kotin has a substance abuse problem. Kotin is addicted to sugar. My Confection is a darkly funny and candid memoir of where sugar took this teenage mime when she left her San Francisco Bay Area home in pursuit of artistic greatness. From the strict macrobiotic house where she is kicked out for smuggling Snickers, to her early days of Overeaters Anonymous meetings where she is bewildered by the idea of submitting to a higher power, to the stylish shrink who suggests she figure out how many minutes of tennis equal the calories in one jelly donut, to the men she unwraps and consumes like cheap chocolate bars, Kotin careens from romantic disasters to caloric catastrophes. Original and surprisingly affecting, this portrait of a sugar addict has nothing to do with losing weight or getting fit but rather with coming out of the (sugar) closet, finding allies who understand, and learning how to live healthfully, in spite of her compulsion.
She doesn’t drink or do drugs, but like millions of other Americans, Lisa Kotin has a substance abuse problem. Kotin is addicted to sugar. My Confection is a darkly funny and candid memoir of where sugar took this teenage mime when she left her San Francisco Bay Area home in pursuit of artistic greatness. From the strict macrobiotic house where she is kicked out for smuggling Snickers, to her early days of Overeaters Anonymous meetings where she is bewildered by the idea of submitting to a higher power, to the stylish shrink who suggests she figure out how many minutes of tennis equal the calories in one jelly donut, to the men she unwraps and consumes like cheap chocolate bars, Kotin careens from romantic disasters to caloric catastrophes. Original and surprisingly affecting, this portrait of a sugar addict has nothing to do with losing weight or getting fit but rather with coming out of the (sugar) closet, finding allies who understand, and learning how to live healthfully, in spite of her compulsion.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 26, 2016
11 people are currently reading
606 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Kotin
2 books16 followersLisa Kotin is a writer, director, actor, and performance artist based in Los Angeles. She graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and went on to perform original shows combining physical comedy, monologues, and short films in the United States and United Kingdom. Kotin’s show Temporary Girl, which drew upon her experiences at 100+ temp jobs, is about a dysfunctional family as seen through the eyes of an office temp, and was adapted into a movie that Leonard Maltin praised as “bright and original, with the definite ring of truth.”
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
November 25, 2015
1978. Twenty-one-year-old aspiring mime goes to macrobiotic rehab to recover from sugar addiction. Fails. Shows signs of being a sex addict as well.
Pared down to headlines, that’s how this fairly rambling memoir about Kotin’s relationships with food, family, lovers, and career opens. To fill in the background a bit, she grew up the youngest of four kids in a California Jewish family. Irony of ironies, her father was a dentist. She developed a constant pain in her side to go with her chronic constipation, and tried everything from macrobiotic camp to acupuncture to kick the sugar habit. Nothing worked, not even Overeaters Anonymous. She moved in with an aunt and uncle, then went to Manhattan on her own, where she got a degree and worked on solo dramatic performances while running through a string of boyfriends.
I kept waiting for a turn, some moment of revelation, when Kotin’s binge eating would be solved. But even after visits to multiple therapists who pushed her to examine her relationship with her mother – another sugar addict – nothing really changed. In a quick nod to the present day, Kotin admits she still struggles with food in her fifties. That’s as may be, but it means there isn’t much of a narrative arc. Still, her recreation of her obsessive younger self can be funny and charming, and her family sounds a bit like the Sedaris clan. I found this a bit dated, but others may find the time period and Jewish family background evocative.
Out on January 5th.
Favorite section: when she worked at a mall bookstore and would hit the food court for illicit snacks.
Favorite passage: figuring out what kind of cookie her family most resembles:
Pared down to headlines, that’s how this fairly rambling memoir about Kotin’s relationships with food, family, lovers, and career opens. To fill in the background a bit, she grew up the youngest of four kids in a California Jewish family. Irony of ironies, her father was a dentist. She developed a constant pain in her side to go with her chronic constipation, and tried everything from macrobiotic camp to acupuncture to kick the sugar habit. Nothing worked, not even Overeaters Anonymous. She moved in with an aunt and uncle, then went to Manhattan on her own, where she got a degree and worked on solo dramatic performances while running through a string of boyfriends.
I kept waiting for a turn, some moment of revelation, when Kotin’s binge eating would be solved. But even after visits to multiple therapists who pushed her to examine her relationship with her mother – another sugar addict – nothing really changed. In a quick nod to the present day, Kotin admits she still struggles with food in her fifties. That’s as may be, but it means there isn’t much of a narrative arc. Still, her recreation of her obsessive younger self can be funny and charming, and her family sounds a bit like the Sedaris clan. I found this a bit dated, but others may find the time period and Jewish family background evocative.
Out on January 5th.
Favorite section: when she worked at a mall bookstore and would hit the food court for illicit snacks.
Favorite passage: figuring out what kind of cookie her family most resembles:
My mom is no snickerdoodle. She is more a cross between a fine petit four and a chunky chocolate rugulach, the imperfectly formed, rolled-up miniature pastries swirled with fruit, cheese, or chocolate and embedded with nuts. And butter. And sugar. Rugulach are oddly shaped, dense, and intense, just like the females in my family. Growing up in Hillsborough, we were a plate of rugulach in a window display of snickerdoodles.
October 23, 2016
This is an entertaining memoir of one woman's food and sugar addiction. Lisa Kotin has both amusing and emotional stories to tell about the different things she's tried over the years to break her bad eating habits, including therapy, Overeater's Anonymous, and checking into a macrobiotic retreat, which was one of my favorite chapters.
The book is long-winded and unfocused in parts, but overall I thought this was an interesting and insightful read. Recommended for those who've struggled with sugar addiction.
Favorite Quotes
"My father is oblivious to my eating — and to me in general, as long as I'm not raising a ruckus. The only ruckus I am raising is in my body, I'm not hurting anyone except myself — and that doesn't count."
"I was never comfortable in my body. Looking at me, you'd think the opposite. I was physically gifted. Tall, but not too. Skinny, but not too. Who would ever guess there was a person crawling around under my skin not knowing where or how to be? Unnerved in the presence of others yet terrified to be alone. Desperate to express myself but secretly mortified by the slightest sign of criticism. I have to be the very best or the very worst. I detest the in-between. Was I always like this? Is it my fault? How did this happen?"
"All my life, I never thought I had enough. Of anything. No matter how much praise or opportunity I received, it was never going to fill me. I don't know if this feeling comes from my father and his fears or from my mother and her hunger. Or from being the last of four kids, always worrying I would miss out. Or all of the above. Or none of it. My life was a constant internal grind. A churning of self-doubt and worry. It ate away at me, and I just ate away."
The book is long-winded and unfocused in parts, but overall I thought this was an interesting and insightful read. Recommended for those who've struggled with sugar addiction.
Favorite Quotes
"My father is oblivious to my eating — and to me in general, as long as I'm not raising a ruckus. The only ruckus I am raising is in my body, I'm not hurting anyone except myself — and that doesn't count."
"I was never comfortable in my body. Looking at me, you'd think the opposite. I was physically gifted. Tall, but not too. Skinny, but not too. Who would ever guess there was a person crawling around under my skin not knowing where or how to be? Unnerved in the presence of others yet terrified to be alone. Desperate to express myself but secretly mortified by the slightest sign of criticism. I have to be the very best or the very worst. I detest the in-between. Was I always like this? Is it my fault? How did this happen?"
"All my life, I never thought I had enough. Of anything. No matter how much praise or opportunity I received, it was never going to fill me. I don't know if this feeling comes from my father and his fears or from my mother and her hunger. Or from being the last of four kids, always worrying I would miss out. Or all of the above. Or none of it. My life was a constant internal grind. A churning of self-doubt and worry. It ate away at me, and I just ate away."
June 29, 2022
Sugar addiction is a topic which flies under the radar so cannot be talked about enough. It hides in plain sight and thrives from denial. Kotin uses humor and a sense of absurd contradiction (food carts aren't healthy) to highlight the place sugar addiction is located in our culture (cupcakes as celebration!)
Oddly however hypoglycemia is never mentioned, although Kotin has all the symptoms, such as falling asleep in the afternoon. I guess the author just never managed to find the right Doctor at the right time.
Oddly however hypoglycemia is never mentioned, although Kotin has all the symptoms, such as falling asleep in the afternoon. I guess the author just never managed to find the right Doctor at the right time.
October 28, 2016
Wanted to like this book...but found the author and her voice much too unsympathetic for my tastes. She sounded harsh and insensitive, and this didn't sit well with me, so I didn't enjoy the book, though her struggles with sugar were horrifying and like that train wreck you just cannot stop watching never mind how terrible it is.
February 6, 2016
I expected this book to be in the same vein as "Year of No Sugar." I knew this woman was a binge eater; I figured she'd get a grip on her disorder once she realized how evil sugar is and tell us about her process. Instead, the book is about her extreme binging, a dysfunctional family, and her insufferable personality -- she was a spoiled brat who took money freely from her parents, totaled her sister's truck, and tells us way too much about all the sexual encounters she participated in while attempting to feel better about herself.
She refused to eat from fast food restaurants and street vendors because they were "too unhealthy." Yet there was no limit to how many candy bars and other processed sweets she'd consume.
The achievement of finally giving up sugar is mentioned in the first few pages (preface) and the last few pages of the book. It turns out all I needed to read were these lines in the preface, and I could have skipped the rest: "Maybe one day I'll be able to eat a cookie. For today, one is too many, a thousand are not enough."
She refused to eat from fast food restaurants and street vendors because they were "too unhealthy." Yet there was no limit to how many candy bars and other processed sweets she'd consume.
The achievement of finally giving up sugar is mentioned in the first few pages (preface) and the last few pages of the book. It turns out all I needed to read were these lines in the preface, and I could have skipped the rest: "Maybe one day I'll be able to eat a cookie. For today, one is too many, a thousand are not enough."
October 23, 2015
Ok so I was going to say 4 stars but I upped it to 5 because this is the best definition of "tragically comical" I've ever read. Also, while I knew trivia about sugar and sugar addiction, I didn't know that the experience of sugar addiction was this intense. I kept being astonished that I was reading about sugar and not cocaine, which snapped all the Nat Geo trivia I knew into a very harsh reality of what sugar actually is. This is not someone with a "sweet tooth" or someone who can't really say no to that last cookie on the plate. This is an addiction story. Even as you're laughing, Kotin never quite lets you forget that this is addiction and sugar is the drug.
December 1, 2015
This book is great! It left me wanting more and made me look at my own life. What is my crutch? What do I look to for comfort? Am I pursuing my dreams? There is some serious subject matter in this book, but the author is able to keep most of it humorous. I received this book through Goodreads giveaways. The opinions are my own.
August 20, 2020
I was hoping this book would give me some new insights, but it didn't.
However, it's an easy read. So I rated it 3 stars.
On to the next book on chocolate addiction...
However, it's an easy read. So I rated it 3 stars.
On to the next book on chocolate addiction...
April 21, 2016
Have you ever met one of those people who simply cannot seem to get themselves together, ever? Who seems to be on a perpetual emotional roller coaster all the time, despite apparently having a stable life with plenty of support and advantages? This book is the sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes headache-inducing, sometimes just plain baffling portrait of what that person looks like from the inside.
I almost don't even know how to characterize the author's approaches and choices. Certainly, there was a lot going on, and definitely her attempts at support groups and counseling experiences read more like a bad movie script than like any series of events I'd expect to see in real life. So she was clearly at a disadvantage there. That said, she came from a family (both nuclear and extended) that offered plenty of support and that had the money to help her access whatever help she needed... resources that she could apparently never figure out how to use effectively.
One of the biggest turn offs to reading this book for me was that the author just seemed to be a mess all the way around. It was hard to be empathetic or positive about anything she did, because she largely came off as a crazy roller coaster of bad decisions and desperation from start to finish. I don't mean that as an insult, it was just the feel I got from the book. It didn't make for pleasant reading, and I won't be recommending it to others, except possibly as a way to help them better understand what it's like inside the heads of their crazy, dysfunctional friends.
I almost don't even know how to characterize the author's approaches and choices. Certainly, there was a lot going on, and definitely her attempts at support groups and counseling experiences read more like a bad movie script than like any series of events I'd expect to see in real life. So she was clearly at a disadvantage there. That said, she came from a family (both nuclear and extended) that offered plenty of support and that had the money to help her access whatever help she needed... resources that she could apparently never figure out how to use effectively.
One of the biggest turn offs to reading this book for me was that the author just seemed to be a mess all the way around. It was hard to be empathetic or positive about anything she did, because she largely came off as a crazy roller coaster of bad decisions and desperation from start to finish. I don't mean that as an insult, it was just the feel I got from the book. It didn't make for pleasant reading, and I won't be recommending it to others, except possibly as a way to help them better understand what it's like inside the heads of their crazy, dysfunctional friends.
November 19, 2015
I'm reviewing a page proof provided to me by the publisher. Onward to the actual review...
This book was not remotely what I thought it would be, but I love that it wasn't. While sugar is ever present on the pages Kotin created, this book wasn't about sugar. It is about a girl (and eventual woman) who is trying to negotiate life and discover who she is and what her purpose is. Kotin clearly has an eating disorder that manifests itself in binge eating. What we find as we follow Kotin through her late teens and early twenties is that she faces the same struggles that most young people face: finding and creating her identity. We see her make mistakes and struggle and make realizations and ultimately come to terms with herself and the experiences she's had.
I have to say that I was convinced in the early pages that I would really dislike Kotin. My initial response was that I was reading yet another memoir by an entitled and privileged girl who just doesn't "get" it. I was very happy to find that that wasn't the case. Yes, she comes from a "good" family and grew up in a wealthy neighborhood. However, that isn't Kotin and she quickly realizes that. Ultimately she's very likable and easy to identify with. I found myself genuinely wanting her to overcome and succeed, the mark of a successful memoir. I have little doubt that I will read any future books.
This book was not remotely what I thought it would be, but I love that it wasn't. While sugar is ever present on the pages Kotin created, this book wasn't about sugar. It is about a girl (and eventual woman) who is trying to negotiate life and discover who she is and what her purpose is. Kotin clearly has an eating disorder that manifests itself in binge eating. What we find as we follow Kotin through her late teens and early twenties is that she faces the same struggles that most young people face: finding and creating her identity. We see her make mistakes and struggle and make realizations and ultimately come to terms with herself and the experiences she's had.
I have to say that I was convinced in the early pages that I would really dislike Kotin. My initial response was that I was reading yet another memoir by an entitled and privileged girl who just doesn't "get" it. I was very happy to find that that wasn't the case. Yes, she comes from a "good" family and grew up in a wealthy neighborhood. However, that isn't Kotin and she quickly realizes that. Ultimately she's very likable and easy to identify with. I found myself genuinely wanting her to overcome and succeed, the mark of a successful memoir. I have little doubt that I will read any future books.
January 17, 2016
This brave, honest look at addiction (in this case, sugar) is wildly compelling. Lisa Kotin tells her own story of sugar obsession, something that many of us struggle with, even if not at the extreme levels of Kotin.
Her stories of hiding food or being consumed with the pursuit of the sugar rush are not unfamiliar to many people who struggle with food obsession and/or addiction. Combine those food factors with a dysfunctional family life and the lessons of adolescence, and you've got yourself a hot mess of a story -- not unlike what so many of us experience growing up and into ourselves.
Kotin is unsparing with herself and so brave to lay open her life story. It is this honesty that makes her story so fascinating and freeing. Tamping down her emotions with food even as she seeks to put herself on stage for a career, she's a strange mix of attention-seeking even as she simultaneously seeks to hide beneath clothes many sizes too large for herself. This push-pull of the public-private person leads to some interesting life situations, even as she seeks to "cure" herself.
At the end of the day, there are no miracles, just the steady chipping away by Kotin at her problems (or growing up, some would say). This book is thoroughly enjoyable, even as it makes you squirm when you read some of its passages. Kotin has laid bare her soul and her readers are the better for it.
Her stories of hiding food or being consumed with the pursuit of the sugar rush are not unfamiliar to many people who struggle with food obsession and/or addiction. Combine those food factors with a dysfunctional family life and the lessons of adolescence, and you've got yourself a hot mess of a story -- not unlike what so many of us experience growing up and into ourselves.
Kotin is unsparing with herself and so brave to lay open her life story. It is this honesty that makes her story so fascinating and freeing. Tamping down her emotions with food even as she seeks to put herself on stage for a career, she's a strange mix of attention-seeking even as she simultaneously seeks to hide beneath clothes many sizes too large for herself. This push-pull of the public-private person leads to some interesting life situations, even as she seeks to "cure" herself.
At the end of the day, there are no miracles, just the steady chipping away by Kotin at her problems (or growing up, some would say). This book is thoroughly enjoyable, even as it makes you squirm when you read some of its passages. Kotin has laid bare her soul and her readers are the better for it.
February 9, 2016
I guess I didn't know what a sugar addict was going into this book, and am not sure if I, myself, am one even after reading this book. I enjoy my sweets as much as anyone, but they don't make me physically sick like the author of this book, to the point where she would seek out treatment repeatedly, and oftentimes have an ache in her gut and be constipated to the point that it wasn't funny. That's the brutal honesty the author brings to her story, laying herself bare. I'm sure it's not an accident that "My Confection" is extremely similar sounding to "My Confession" and that is truly what this book seems to be. The author talks about her love affair with sugar (and food in general) from the point of her high school years up until her present age of 53. She has finally gotten a diagnosis and has weaned herself off sugar in order to save her life, however it wasn't an easy road. She discusses her encounters with men, her road to finally graduating college, her interactions with her parents and three siblings, nothing seems to be off the table for this book. I enjoyed the book, but it wasn't as funny as I was hoping from the title and synopsis. Thank you for the copy via Library Thing.
December 31, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. I believe it brings a unique voice to this conversation. Which voice? A voice in someone's head. The voice that tells us all kinds of stories to get us do what it wants. The voice which rationalizes actions, whispers to us the same b*** all the time.
I believe this book was written in that voice, and that is why the narration might seem strange or illogical at places.
It had me within first pages, so smart, funny and important.
I am grateful that it exists.
I believe this book was written in that voice, and that is why the narration might seem strange or illogical at places.
It had me within first pages, so smart, funny and important.
I am grateful that it exists.
December 21, 2015
The tl;dr summary of this memoir could easily be "I compulsively overeat, but I'm not icky and fat, so it's more or less okay." There's not a lot of point to it, and what meaningful writing there is would have barely filled a pamphlet with all the dull, meandering slice of life essays chopped out.
January 8, 2017
I found this book to be compelling and heartbreaking at the same time. What struck me in so many of the passages is of how she is on the outside a modern "feminist" by pursuing her own career and dating many, many men, but still being so insecure and small on the inside. This is how I have felt as a modern women--just searching for something else.
Little thoughts and observations stuck out to me, like how she only worried about how he felt during sex and how she never asked to use a condom because that might be considered rude. Much of her book details how she wanted everyone to want her (especially men) including an inappropriate professor so that she would feel... I'm not sure? Needed? Empowered?
I had these moments throughout where I though, "This is where feminism goes wrong!" She struggles with so many things and giving into men who are totally inappropriate and putting herself at risk throughout the book.
I think the greatest relationship from the book describes her with her parents and the role that her parents had throughout her twenties and how they both helped and hindered her.
I read it over a few days because it was hard to put down!
Little thoughts and observations stuck out to me, like how she only worried about how he felt during sex and how she never asked to use a condom because that might be considered rude. Much of her book details how she wanted everyone to want her (especially men) including an inappropriate professor so that she would feel... I'm not sure? Needed? Empowered?
I had these moments throughout where I though, "This is where feminism goes wrong!" She struggles with so many things and giving into men who are totally inappropriate and putting herself at risk throughout the book.
I think the greatest relationship from the book describes her with her parents and the role that her parents had throughout her twenties and how they both helped and hindered her.
I read it over a few days because it was hard to put down!
March 9, 2021
It was the pun in the title that made me pick up this book, thinking it was going to be, if not hilarious, at least humorous. And there's no doubt that the author is trying to cast her experiences in a funny light, but it's the underlying sadness that really stood out for me. The author struggles to find validation for herself, seeking it from her mother and an endless stream of lovers. And since that doesn't work, she fills the gap with food. It's not a unique situation, and this case doesn't even seem to be that extreme, but the raw honesty of the writing does serve to bring home the trauma that she is experiencing. This is a quick read, though not always easy. There is a lot of internal monologue, which perhaps shouldn't be surprising, given the author's early career as a mime. As a technique, I thought it was a bit overused and I ended up finding the dithery conversations she had with herself a bit annoying. Overall, though, it's worth a read, and it may even prompt you to reevaluate your own relationships with your parents and food, or help you to understand others who have similar issues.
March 28, 2020
Emotional roller coaster. A deeply personal look at one woman's story through the lens of her addictions (especially sugar), anxieties, and hopelessness. Ends with hope, healing, and acceptance that this will always be a part of her, life's not perfect, she's not perfect, and that's OK.
The book has some good life lessons, and her story gives hope to those who identify with her. Raw and real, a very good read.
The book has some good life lessons, and her story gives hope to those who identify with her. Raw and real, a very good read.
March 31, 2025
I found myself struggling to finish this book. I've come to realize that all addiction stories are the same whether drugs, sugar, alcohol, whatever. There were a few funny stories, but all in all, I found it tedious.
March 21, 2017
The only reason I read the whole book was because I was hoping for the healing part. (spoiler alert) I should have just read the Chapter titles. The last chapter is titled: Chapter 21 Three Decades Later There Will (Still) Be Sugar
So I slogged through her sexually explicit escapades (she used men like she used sugar)....claims she's Jewish but refuses to acknowledge a higher power or God....for me this was a depressing book.
So I slogged through her sexually explicit escapades (she used men like she used sugar)....claims she's Jewish but refuses to acknowledge a higher power or God....for me this was a depressing book.
June 13, 2018
Excellent read. She writes fantastically, with humor about her illness. Couldn’t put it down
January 15, 2021
That feeling when you're with a group of people and it suddenly hits you -"these are my people"? That's what reading My Confection is.
November 28, 2022
Hilarious take on sugar addiction. Love Lisa's brave and compelling writing.
November 9, 2015
When the word "addict" is uttered, most people probably think of drugs or alcohol. But there are many other substances and activities which one can be addicted to, and Lisa Kotin is addicted to sugar. And eating compulsively. And men. She begins her addictions right out of high school, when she starts college. After a failed attempt at school, she tries to kick her sugar addiction at a macrobiotic house, but sneaks out to buy candy bars at the corner liquor store. She tries school again. Another fail. While living with her aunt, she meets a man who talks about his experience with Overeaters Anonymous, and she realizes she might be an compulsive eater. She tries one meeting, but is turned off by the faith aspect of the program, and again falls into bingeing and overeating sugary treats. Then she starts to sleep with many men. She still has her sugar addiction, but adds this extra layer to her life. She bounces from therapist to therapist, trying to find the reason for her super sweet tooth, trying to overcome her troubles with eating and men. She finally decides that going back to school again might help her fill a void in her life and her heart which may be causing her addictions; she enrolls at NYU to study theatre and theatre writing. When she finally graduates, she starts to become successful in her career, finds a man and gets married, but still has her addiction. She starts to feel ill, and goes to many doctors in order to try to get a diagnosis, but no one can find the trouble. Until they finally find that all the years of bingeing on sweets has caused inflammation in her stomach. Only at this point does she get serious about stopping eating sugar. This book wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I expected. I don't know why I expected anything different than a book about an addict: in and out of therapy, trying to fill a hole, not telling people about the addiction, trying to stop but not being able to without help or a serious scare. It was disappointing that there was no real progress in her character through the whole book, until the very end when her health was at serious risk. But I guess that is the case with addicts. I just got tired of all the bouncing around in therapy, all the men, all the scares that didn't seem to do any good. Interesting book, but not my favorite one.
September 28, 2016
I don't think I really clicked with this author. She writes the book in her 50s but reads more like her 20-something self. Which is fine, because that's the timeframe the book really covers. I just felt she sounded so immature, even as her 50-something self, that I couldn't relate. As I was reading, I wanted to tell her, calm down, start over from the beginning. But I read through to the end because I was curious about how she overcame her sugar addiction...but she never really gets to that. She mentions Overeaters Anonymous throughout but at the end, she's in her 50s, and she has a doctor visit where she tells her doctor that she used to binge and sugar is still sometimes a problem...And that's about it. From crazed bingeing and flushing an entire cake down the toilet straight to that final doctor's appointment with no in between. It's probably obvious, but I felt the book was somewhat disorganized and the writing was just average. I am a fan of eating disorder memoirs in general because I think it's important for people to share their stories. It often helps those who are struggling to read about people like themselves. But I wouldn't recommend this one if you're in active recovery. The detailed food and eating descriptions will definitely act as triggers (in my opinion).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2015
First, thank you to LibraryThing (Beacon Press, Boston) for a paperback copy of this book for my enjoyment and review, and that it was – very enjoyable from the very first chapter. It is the story of the author's addiction to sugar beginning her junior year in high school but not becoming so troublesome until she left for college. Sometimes humorous, and often painfully truthful, she makes statements that are very revealing about her self-understanding throughout the book: “All my life, I never thought I had enough, of anything. No matter how much praise or opportunity I received, it was never going to fill me.” And so develops her story of addiction to never getting enough sugar, no matter what. It kept me turning the pages, amused and very inspired by her experience with sugar as her life addiction.
Thank you Ms. Kotin – very well done!
Thank you Ms. Kotin – very well done!
February 21, 2016
When I go to the library and pick up a random book from a new author from the shelf that hasn't been specifically recommended to me, I give it the 7 page test. Open to a random page, skim. Is there language or sex? No? Open to a new random page. Is there language or sex? Yes? Put the book back on the shelf.
I don't get that benefit when entering giveaways through goodreads. I received this book from a goodreads giveaway. I'll still give the book as part of the charity project I'm collecting it for, but I won't read it. Because when I received it, I did the 7 page test. Correction, I did the 1 page test. Open the book to a random page. Language? Yes - the f word multiple times. In one page? Give me a break. Authors are supposed to have a cultivation of language. Literature is not an f-bomb.
I'm annoyed.
I don't get that benefit when entering giveaways through goodreads. I received this book from a goodreads giveaway. I'll still give the book as part of the charity project I'm collecting it for, but I won't read it. Because when I received it, I did the 7 page test. Correction, I did the 1 page test. Open the book to a random page. Language? Yes - the f word multiple times. In one page? Give me a break. Authors are supposed to have a cultivation of language. Literature is not an f-bomb.
I'm annoyed.
January 14, 2016
I feel mislead. The title and cover suggest a light-hearted, fun romp through a tendency to eat too many sweets. Not so, my friends. This is about addiction in the true sense of the word, and this book is heavy with psychological distress. I feel like Kotin wants us to learn from her struggles, but I didn't relate to her, I just wanted her to stop hurting herself. Or at least to stop telling me about it.
I do think she has a gift for writing, but this was not a joy to read. I don't know if it would be helpful to others struggling with an addition to sugar. The biggest upside I found was that this book didn't take too long to read.
I do think she has a gift for writing, but this was not a joy to read. I don't know if it would be helpful to others struggling with an addition to sugar. The biggest upside I found was that this book didn't take too long to read.
November 23, 2015
I received this book for free through goodreads giveaways.
This probably isn't a book I would normally pick out to read, so I am so happy I won a copy and got a chance to read it. I saw so much of myself in Lisa and it really made me consider a lot of things about myself. If you think you might not want to read this because you're not a sugar addict and can't relate, you're wrong. We all have addictions, overindulgences, the things we use to fill some sort of void in our lives.
I highly recommend this book. To learn, laugh, cry with the author, but also to look at your own life.
This probably isn't a book I would normally pick out to read, so I am so happy I won a copy and got a chance to read it. I saw so much of myself in Lisa and it really made me consider a lot of things about myself. If you think you might not want to read this because you're not a sugar addict and can't relate, you're wrong. We all have addictions, overindulgences, the things we use to fill some sort of void in our lives.
I highly recommend this book. To learn, laugh, cry with the author, but also to look at your own life.
March 9, 2016
As far as hilarious and disturbing book-length interior monologues go, I put this right up there with PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT and Joseph Heller's SOMETHING HAPPENED. If you're looking for a self-help tome with the answer to your problem; forget it. This is an addiction memoir, and as all true addicts know, there ain't no cure. Not really. But if you're like me--living a boring, normal life, but craving the catharsis of living in the head of a high functioning trainwreck for a few hours--this is the book for you.
November 13, 2015
Heartfelt and relatable. This book was hard to put down. I won this as a giveaway, honestly expecting it to be somewhat of a guide. But it is the recounting of the others tale of her own sugar addiction. You will laugh, feel saddened, and be brought in by the authors witty and refreshing style. Would recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading.
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