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Denae's Reviews > The Man Who Couldn't Eat
The Man Who Couldn't Eat
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Denae's review
bookshelves: random-discovery, dnf-life-is-too-short-for-bad-books, list-worst-books-read-in-2011, read-in-2011, challenge-1010-by-2020, dead-tree-book
Aug 15, 2011
bookshelves: random-discovery, dnf-life-is-too-short-for-bad-books, list-worst-books-read-in-2011, read-in-2011, challenge-1010-by-2020, dead-tree-book
Ugh. The amount of self-pity Jon Reiner displays throughout this book made it nigh unreadable. When I entered the giveaway for The Man Who Couldn't Eat, it was based on descriptions of the book as unique, compelling, and a very real depiction of what it is like to have Crohn's disease, from the point of view of someone with a special relationship with food. Instead, I received a book which seems to have been written from the point of view of a man who feels he is unique in having what is actually a sadly common disease. There are references to how hard it is for others to cope with his illness, but they seem to still be in light of how it makes him feel. Overall, this is not a book about a disease, this is a book about a man wallowing in self-pity.
Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy of this book for free through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway program.
Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy of this book for free through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway program.
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Reading Progress
August 15, 2011
– Shelved
August 15, 2011
– Shelved as:
random-discovery
October 9, 2011
–
Started Reading
October 10, 2011
–
Finished Reading
December 21, 2011
– Shelved as:
list-worst-books-read-in-2011
August 10, 2012
– Shelved as:
read-in-2011
August 10, 2012
– Shelved as:
challenge-1010-by-2020
July 4, 2013
– Shelved as:
dead-tree-book
December 5, 2017
– Shelved as:
wnf-life-is-too-short-for-bad-books
July 17, 2020
– Shelved as:
dnf-life-is-too-short-for-bad-books
Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)
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Petra-X Off having adventures
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Oct 19, 2011 05:18PM
My nephew has Crohn's so bad that he has collapsed in the street many times and had to be put into medically-induced comas because not even morphine would control the pain. He has had many operations. It might be a sadly common disease but some people have it in a very bad and thankfully rare way. However, my nephew does not have a special relationship with most food. He eats, he goes to the pub, he drinks and takes his medication and hopes for the best. I cannot see how even with his extreme condition he could write a good book about it though and having read your review I won't recommend this to him to read.
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Wonderful review! I, too, couldn't stand the book.
Crohn's Disease is becoming a more common disease but the kicker of it is that not one person dealing with Crohn's Disease will experience the same symptoms or course of the disease. This was just one man's experience with Crohn's. I have been diagnosed with CD for 4.5 years and I have yet to find a book that depicts what I experience with this frustrating disease in it's entirety.
