The Hungry Mirror
a novel by Lisa de Nikolits
a novel by Lisa de Nikolits
Comments by authors:
“In this intelligent, sensitive and candid portrayal of ‘the land of thin’, Lisa de Nikolits shows us how the
commodification of the female body in the market culture can become a pernicious force, imprisoning young
women in a terrifying cycle of self-negation.”
—EDEET RAVEL, Author of Your Sad Eyes and Unforgettable Mouth, Ten Thousand Lovers, A Wall of Light, Look for Me
"I read The Hungry Mirror, by Lisa de Nikolits. Readers who enjoy the story told in the first person and present tense
would feel as if they were listening to an old pal, especially those who had or still have anorexia and bulimia.
This novel is a mirror, which may reflect our own images. —ZOE S ROY, Author of Butterfly Tears
“In this intelligent, sensitive and candid portrayal of ‘the land of thin’, Lisa de Nikolits shows us how the
commodification of the female body in the market culture can become a pernicious force, imprisoning young
women in a terrifying cycle of self-negation.”
—EDEET RAVEL, Author of Your Sad Eyes and Unforgettable Mouth, Ten Thousand Lovers, A Wall of Light, Look for Me
"I read The Hungry Mirror, by Lisa de Nikolits. Readers who enjoy the story told in the first person and present tense
would feel as if they were listening to an old pal, especially those who had or still have anorexia and bulimia.
This novel is a mirror, which may reflect our own images. —ZOE S ROY, Author of Butterfly Tears
Disclaimer: The Hungry Mirror, The Corner of the Desert, West of Wawa and Cannibals of the Afterlife
are all works of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are
either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is
entirely coincidental.
A reading from The Hungry Mirror on YouTube:
http://bit.ly/aFk37p
http://bit.ly/aFk37p
Quill & Quire Review (May)
"Lisa de Nikolits' first novel is an unconventional treatment of eating disorders, which are often presented in fiction as merely an
adolescent phase. De Nikolits shows how such disorders can in fact continue into adulthood. The sufferer appears fully functioning,
while in reality their body obsession permeates every facet of their lives.
De Nikolits's beautiful, ambitious narrator has a husband and a great job designing layouts for women's fashion magazines.
Beneath this exterior, however, she is anorexic, bulimic and deeply obsessed with body image.
Her entire life revolves around her reflection, not least of all her professional life, where she promotes a heroin-chic aesthetic.
She subsists on apples and green tea, avoid social situations where there will be buffets, dresses in baggy clothing, and judges
her friends and co-workers' physiques, imagining all the while that they're judging hers as well.
And perhaps they are: de Nikolits' has embedded the narrative so deeply within her narrator's psyche that it's hard to tell where
the neuroses end and the reality begins.
Such close proximity to de Nikolits' unnamed narrator makes The Hungry Mirror an uncomfortable read. Part of this is intentional,
and effective – it becomes clear that the narrator is a prisoner of an obsession that exhausts her both physically and mentally.
However, the novel is undermined by too many ideas that aren't sufficiently integrated into the narrative.
The Hungry Mirror is stuffed with references to diet trends, tabloid culture, and statistics about eating disorders and body image.
For example, one of the narrator's co-workers announces, "Hey, I want to tell you some figures I found. from Dove.
I am going to use them in my screenplay," and then goes on to state that only 2% of women consider themselves beautiful.
In some cases, entire chapters are based around such flimsy constructs.
Though the novel's conclusion is thoughtful and strong, its narrator is too much of a receptor for these Google-gleaned factoids.
–Kerry Clare, a writer and reviewer in Toronto
"Lisa de Nikolits' first novel is an unconventional treatment of eating disorders, which are often presented in fiction as merely an
adolescent phase. De Nikolits shows how such disorders can in fact continue into adulthood. The sufferer appears fully functioning,
while in reality their body obsession permeates every facet of their lives.
De Nikolits's beautiful, ambitious narrator has a husband and a great job designing layouts for women's fashion magazines.
Beneath this exterior, however, she is anorexic, bulimic and deeply obsessed with body image.
Her entire life revolves around her reflection, not least of all her professional life, where she promotes a heroin-chic aesthetic.
She subsists on apples and green tea, avoid social situations where there will be buffets, dresses in baggy clothing, and judges
her friends and co-workers' physiques, imagining all the while that they're judging hers as well.
And perhaps they are: de Nikolits' has embedded the narrative so deeply within her narrator's psyche that it's hard to tell where
the neuroses end and the reality begins.
Such close proximity to de Nikolits' unnamed narrator makes The Hungry Mirror an uncomfortable read. Part of this is intentional,
and effective – it becomes clear that the narrator is a prisoner of an obsession that exhausts her both physically and mentally.
However, the novel is undermined by too many ideas that aren't sufficiently integrated into the narrative.
The Hungry Mirror is stuffed with references to diet trends, tabloid culture, and statistics about eating disorders and body image.
For example, one of the narrator's co-workers announces, "Hey, I want to tell you some figures I found. from Dove.
I am going to use them in my screenplay," and then goes on to state that only 2% of women consider themselves beautiful.
In some cases, entire chapters are based around such flimsy constructs.
Though the novel's conclusion is thoughtful and strong, its narrator is too much of a receptor for these Google-gleaned factoids.
–Kerry Clare, a writer and reviewer in Toronto
Reviews and comments from readers:
Not Consuming Becomes All Consuming
In her novel, The Hungry Mirror, author Lisa De Nikolits enters a world inhabited by those to whom food is a form of cruelty. We get a glimpse of that ethereal world where women starve themselves in order to feel thin. Sometimes it seems that it isn't so much a matter of looking thin or even being thin - but of feeling thin psychology. Eating (or none eating, or throwing up) is a constant head game. As a line in the book says, "How many calories in a gin and tonic?" The novel's main character (we never know her name making her seem even more wraith-like) counts calories by the one's and two's -- not by the hundreds.
As a backdrop, the fast paced world of media, advertising and graphic design offers us a troubled, but oddly likeable array of quirky characters. All of whom have problems -- from alcoholism to marriages that are less than ideal. But these problems and relationships, and how they intertwine, weave the fabric of this book in a way that makes the reader hope for a brightly colored new bolt of cloth at the end. De Nikolits offers a glimmer of hope in a world where not consuming can become all-consuming.
–Linda A. Fox, Senior Editor, Foxwrite Media
True Spin on Complicated Dance
…It really puts a true spin on the complicated dance of an eating disorder...and how it's so often tied into relationships. –Sarah N.
Communicates So Beautifully
This is a really important piece of writing. The life of an anorexic-bulimic is communicated so beautifully and with such an incredible vocabulary – it’s riveting how every moment of the character's life is controlled by her illness, and, even more that the writing is able to
get her pain across so fully and completely in every single line of prose inside this book. I especially love the insights about celebrities,
it's a very good take on that issue. I also really love the line about food being the artist's tool for torment – it sums up everything, really. Congratulations Lisa! You've written a book that needed to be written and you did it with beautiful pain. –Emily Saso
Turn to This Book to Understand
If you ever wondered what it's like to be under the spell of an eating disorder, you need only turn to Lisa de Nikolits's book, The Hungry Mirror. Avoiding honesty with oneself and within all relationships are clearly delineated, as is the way that eating disorder symptoms get used to distract away from dealing with anything real. "No one wants to admit that the promised land of thin is just a myth," says the main character. Recovery, we learn, requires recognizing that "thin rewards" are no where near as satisfying as the promise our mind seduces us into believing.
–Jane Shure, PhD co-editor of Effective Clinical Practice in the Treatment of Eating Disorders, co-author of Inside/Outside Self-Discovery for Teens, and writer for the Huffington Post, Philadelphia
A Riveting and Consuming Read
Eat this book whole. No small bites. It is worth it. –Kate O'Rourke
Made It's Way Into My Soul
“I have been a fat girl ever since I was young. In high school most girls were wearing a 4, I was in a 14. At that time I felt worthless and
I didn't like to look at myself in the mirror because it was depressing. There is so much more to being skinny or fat and I will never be the "right size" by the media's standards.If you have ever felt like you weren't good enough for something as trivial as your looks, read this book. While reading this, I felt like the book was my friend. Lisa understood me in a way that I didn't think anyone else could.
I felt like this book made it's way into my soul. It touched me in ways I never knew a book could. Lisa rocks! –Bridget Hopper
Gut-wrenching Yet...
The Hungry Mirror is a rapid paced, comical, yet gut-wrenching look into the hearts, souls and minds of many we may know. who may
or may not have an eating disorder. Subtle tragic intricacies are laced with quirky moments, yet it in no way makes light of the disease.
It actually brings it home hard. Kudos Miss de Nikolits....and now...what shall I eat? –Brenda MacKenzie
A Must Read!
In this thoroughly captivating, clever and shocking narrative we witness the struggle of one woman with the isolation and self loathing that constitute an eating disorder. Her deepest moments of darkness are illuminated by Lisa de Nikolits' energetic and quirky writing style, which makes this book impossible to put down. Through a behind-the-scenes look at the magazine publishing world, we are reminded of the way mainstream media has butchered the raw, natural femininity that has been reverenced for thousands of years. Ultimately though, we are reminded of the strength and beauty of a woman's spirit. In sum, this book is a must read. At the least it will be eye opening, but for some it might be life changing.
–Alexandra Pokras
Truly Engaging
Who would have thought that the devastating inner workings of an eating disorder could be engaging rather than repellent. de Nikolits, through incredible wit, humour and naked revealment pulls you in like Anna-Marie MacDonald – you feel the main character's pain and obsession. Delighfully laced through the story is a 'Devil Wears Prada' type expose that takes you behind the scenes of the frivolous and flighty world of publishing. Brilliant and impossible to put down!
–Andrea Mcbride
Gripping and Profound!
From the first page of the first chapter, this book took me in and wouldn't let me go. Every sentence packed a humorous, insightful and frequently devastating punch taking me into a world I didn't know much about and on a journey I won't soon forget. If you're looking to read something beautifully written and telling a story with substance, choose The Hungry Mirror. You won't be disappointed.
–Nancy Ceneviva
So Real!
Started reading The Hungry Mirror last night and could not stop. Quite the eye-opener and raw with truths, even for someone who's worked in the industry and seen it all. So real! What an accomplishment.
–Helen Fisher
Amazing
The Hungry Mirror is a remarkably authentic account of the struggles associated with eating disorders. Lisa's creative and insightful story is a must read for family members, friends, and individuals recovering from an eating disorder.
–Marilyn Strauch, M.A. (c) OACCPP Psychotherapist www.eatingdisorderstherapy.ca
Intriguing Portrayal
Through her very engaging and raw inner dialogue the author effectively conveys to the reader the kind of day-to-day struggle someone with an eating disorder wrestles with silently while the rest of the world goes on, oblivious to the intense fears that hover below the surface. While it is a serious commentary on the state of body image today, The Hungry Mirror is also an intriguing portrayal of a smart and funny protagonist. Unlike other novels in this genre that are dark (Skinny) and without hope, de Nikolits shows us someone who is anxious to understand and embrace herself and the strange world around her.
–Jennifer Brown
Powerful
As a reader, unintentionally we end up identifying and bonding with our subject. If you are aware of your own inner critic, you will be able to sympathize with the honest declarations of this entrapped addict. The Hungry Mirror takes our hand and invites us to join the author in her characters' tortured daily struggle. Behind every eating disorder, plain and simple is an addiction. The addiction serves the purpose of helping the addict deal with the seamingly unsurmountable trials of day to day life. Through this reading you will offered a first hand view of understanding the pains of any addict. With this gift of understanding, you can promote healing for yourself and others.
–Rija Rochefort
An Eye-Opening Read!
As a young man who was never really fully aware of food issues or concerns, The Hungry Mirror offered me a truly captivating perspective of a woman's daily struggle with food and body image. Not once has a book made me look at my own life in such detail, and made me question my own feelings towards food. With her keen writing sense, mixed with dark humor and interesting facts, Lisa de Nikolits has helped me better understand and sympathize with those that undergo similar struggles and has made me more aware and in tune with myself. Only truly talented writers have the ability to get inside people's heads and hearts, and Lisa de Nikolits has done just that.
–Brendan Fisher
Filled With Great Writing
If you know someone who fights with body image or food issues and you just don’t understand how their brain works but want to? Read it.
–www.raisingzoejane.com
Not Consuming Becomes All Consuming
In her novel, The Hungry Mirror, author Lisa De Nikolits enters a world inhabited by those to whom food is a form of cruelty. We get a glimpse of that ethereal world where women starve themselves in order to feel thin. Sometimes it seems that it isn't so much a matter of looking thin or even being thin - but of feeling thin psychology. Eating (or none eating, or throwing up) is a constant head game. As a line in the book says, "How many calories in a gin and tonic?" The novel's main character (we never know her name making her seem even more wraith-like) counts calories by the one's and two's -- not by the hundreds.
As a backdrop, the fast paced world of media, advertising and graphic design offers us a troubled, but oddly likeable array of quirky characters. All of whom have problems -- from alcoholism to marriages that are less than ideal. But these problems and relationships, and how they intertwine, weave the fabric of this book in a way that makes the reader hope for a brightly colored new bolt of cloth at the end. De Nikolits offers a glimmer of hope in a world where not consuming can become all-consuming.
–Linda A. Fox, Senior Editor, Foxwrite Media
True Spin on Complicated Dance
…It really puts a true spin on the complicated dance of an eating disorder...and how it's so often tied into relationships. –Sarah N.
Communicates So Beautifully
This is a really important piece of writing. The life of an anorexic-bulimic is communicated so beautifully and with such an incredible vocabulary – it’s riveting how every moment of the character's life is controlled by her illness, and, even more that the writing is able to
get her pain across so fully and completely in every single line of prose inside this book. I especially love the insights about celebrities,
it's a very good take on that issue. I also really love the line about food being the artist's tool for torment – it sums up everything, really. Congratulations Lisa! You've written a book that needed to be written and you did it with beautiful pain. –Emily Saso
Turn to This Book to Understand
If you ever wondered what it's like to be under the spell of an eating disorder, you need only turn to Lisa de Nikolits's book, The Hungry Mirror. Avoiding honesty with oneself and within all relationships are clearly delineated, as is the way that eating disorder symptoms get used to distract away from dealing with anything real. "No one wants to admit that the promised land of thin is just a myth," says the main character. Recovery, we learn, requires recognizing that "thin rewards" are no where near as satisfying as the promise our mind seduces us into believing.
–Jane Shure, PhD co-editor of Effective Clinical Practice in the Treatment of Eating Disorders, co-author of Inside/Outside Self-Discovery for Teens, and writer for the Huffington Post, Philadelphia
A Riveting and Consuming Read
Eat this book whole. No small bites. It is worth it. –Kate O'Rourke
Made It's Way Into My Soul
“I have been a fat girl ever since I was young. In high school most girls were wearing a 4, I was in a 14. At that time I felt worthless and
I didn't like to look at myself in the mirror because it was depressing. There is so much more to being skinny or fat and I will never be the "right size" by the media's standards.If you have ever felt like you weren't good enough for something as trivial as your looks, read this book. While reading this, I felt like the book was my friend. Lisa understood me in a way that I didn't think anyone else could.
I felt like this book made it's way into my soul. It touched me in ways I never knew a book could. Lisa rocks! –Bridget Hopper
Gut-wrenching Yet...
The Hungry Mirror is a rapid paced, comical, yet gut-wrenching look into the hearts, souls and minds of many we may know. who may
or may not have an eating disorder. Subtle tragic intricacies are laced with quirky moments, yet it in no way makes light of the disease.
It actually brings it home hard. Kudos Miss de Nikolits....and now...what shall I eat? –Brenda MacKenzie
A Must Read!
In this thoroughly captivating, clever and shocking narrative we witness the struggle of one woman with the isolation and self loathing that constitute an eating disorder. Her deepest moments of darkness are illuminated by Lisa de Nikolits' energetic and quirky writing style, which makes this book impossible to put down. Through a behind-the-scenes look at the magazine publishing world, we are reminded of the way mainstream media has butchered the raw, natural femininity that has been reverenced for thousands of years. Ultimately though, we are reminded of the strength and beauty of a woman's spirit. In sum, this book is a must read. At the least it will be eye opening, but for some it might be life changing.
–Alexandra Pokras
Truly Engaging
Who would have thought that the devastating inner workings of an eating disorder could be engaging rather than repellent. de Nikolits, through incredible wit, humour and naked revealment pulls you in like Anna-Marie MacDonald – you feel the main character's pain and obsession. Delighfully laced through the story is a 'Devil Wears Prada' type expose that takes you behind the scenes of the frivolous and flighty world of publishing. Brilliant and impossible to put down!
–Andrea Mcbride
Gripping and Profound!
From the first page of the first chapter, this book took me in and wouldn't let me go. Every sentence packed a humorous, insightful and frequently devastating punch taking me into a world I didn't know much about and on a journey I won't soon forget. If you're looking to read something beautifully written and telling a story with substance, choose The Hungry Mirror. You won't be disappointed.
–Nancy Ceneviva
So Real!
Started reading The Hungry Mirror last night and could not stop. Quite the eye-opener and raw with truths, even for someone who's worked in the industry and seen it all. So real! What an accomplishment.
–Helen Fisher
Amazing
The Hungry Mirror is a remarkably authentic account of the struggles associated with eating disorders. Lisa's creative and insightful story is a must read for family members, friends, and individuals recovering from an eating disorder.
–Marilyn Strauch, M.A. (c) OACCPP Psychotherapist www.eatingdisorderstherapy.ca
Intriguing Portrayal
Through her very engaging and raw inner dialogue the author effectively conveys to the reader the kind of day-to-day struggle someone with an eating disorder wrestles with silently while the rest of the world goes on, oblivious to the intense fears that hover below the surface. While it is a serious commentary on the state of body image today, The Hungry Mirror is also an intriguing portrayal of a smart and funny protagonist. Unlike other novels in this genre that are dark (Skinny) and without hope, de Nikolits shows us someone who is anxious to understand and embrace herself and the strange world around her.
–Jennifer Brown
Powerful
As a reader, unintentionally we end up identifying and bonding with our subject. If you are aware of your own inner critic, you will be able to sympathize with the honest declarations of this entrapped addict. The Hungry Mirror takes our hand and invites us to join the author in her characters' tortured daily struggle. Behind every eating disorder, plain and simple is an addiction. The addiction serves the purpose of helping the addict deal with the seamingly unsurmountable trials of day to day life. Through this reading you will offered a first hand view of understanding the pains of any addict. With this gift of understanding, you can promote healing for yourself and others.
–Rija Rochefort
An Eye-Opening Read!
As a young man who was never really fully aware of food issues or concerns, The Hungry Mirror offered me a truly captivating perspective of a woman's daily struggle with food and body image. Not once has a book made me look at my own life in such detail, and made me question my own feelings towards food. With her keen writing sense, mixed with dark humor and interesting facts, Lisa de Nikolits has helped me better understand and sympathize with those that undergo similar struggles and has made me more aware and in tune with myself. Only truly talented writers have the ability to get inside people's heads and hearts, and Lisa de Nikolits has done just that.
–Brendan Fisher
Filled With Great Writing
If you know someone who fights with body image or food issues and you just don’t understand how their brain works but want to? Read it.
–www.raisingzoejane.com
Guest blogs and interviews for The Hungry Mirror
Interview with Anne Walls:
http://wordhustlerink.wordhustler.com/
Using Real People in Fiction
http://bit.ly/dm0hQK
Everybody is Writing a Book:
http://bit.ly/a2TfQU
Readaholic
http://bit.ly/9kQceA
The Hungry Mirror Warped Mine
www.raisingzoeyjane.com/
Interview with Anne Walls:
http://wordhustlerink.wordhustler.com/
Using Real People in Fiction
http://bit.ly/dm0hQK
Everybody is Writing a Book:
http://bit.ly/a2TfQU
Readaholic
http://bit.ly/9kQceA
The Hungry Mirror Warped Mine
www.raisingzoeyjane.com/
Body Sanity, Lady Macbeth and
the Adventures of the Retoucher
www.healthygirl.org
Interview with Women on Writing:
http://bit.ly/baksJp
My Crystal Light Addiction
http://bit.ly/ds0kbW
Adventures in Writing
http://tiny.cc/keeob
the Adventures of the Retoucher
www.healthygirl.org
Interview with Women on Writing:
http://bit.ly/baksJp
My Crystal Light Addiction
http://bit.ly/ds0kbW
Adventures in Writing
http://tiny.cc/keeob
In The Skin
http://bit.ly/9Ud4i2
How to Create a Reading
on YouTube
http://bit.ly/byd53N
Taking an Author’s Pic:
http://bit.ly/bpF5M7
Interview with Cathy Stucker
http://bit.ly/aH8D6j
http://bit.ly/9Ud4i2
How to Create a Reading
on YouTube
http://bit.ly/byd53N
Taking an Author’s Pic:
http://bit.ly/bpF5M7
Interview with Cathy Stucker
http://bit.ly/aH8D6j
